Stella Electrodeless Xenon ФБ-3000 (FB-3000)

Russian lamp engineers have shown a long fascination with xenon discharges, and that country has created some of the most unusual and often ingenious applications of the technology to electric lighting. Whereas the xenon arc in the rest of the world is confined almost exclusively to flashlamps or short arc projection sources, the Russians adapted the technology to general lighting with surprising efficiency. Often their creations are based on extremely high power loading under which conditions the electrical characteristics begin to change markedly from other discharges, such as the unusual ballastless DKsT types rated up to 50kW.

The exact purpose and method of operation of the lamp featured on this page remains largely unknown, but is is clearly an electrodeless source and the geometry suggests that it may be intended for projection applications. The outer bulb is made from heavy-walled quartz and appears to be filled with xenon to a pressure of approximately 1 bar. It contains a coiled quartz tube coated on its outer surface with a white powder. One end of the cylindrical body formed by the coil is closed with a hollow disc of quartz, which is itself connected via open tubes to the centre and to one end of the coil. The legs of the coil penetrate the outer bulb and are fitted with water unions. A multi-stranded copper wire extends from each of these caps into the inner coil.

It is believed that the lamp is intended for water cooling through the inner coil and that a discharge in the outer vessel would be struck by microwave excitation. Possibly the white coating on the coil serves as a reflector to increase the brightness of the space within the coil, and that the lamp is intended for viewing via the open end of the coil.

Manufacturer:	Stella Moscow
Lamp Power:	3000 Watts
Lamp Current:
Lamp Voltage:
Cap Type:	Water Union
Bulb Type:	E-75	E-23.5 in eighths/inch
Bulb Finish:	Clear	Quartz
Electrodes:	None
Arc Length:
Atmosphere:	Xenon	Approx 1 bar
Luminous Flux:
Luminous Efficacy:
Colour Temperature & CRI:
Chromaticity Co-ordinates:
Rated Lifetime:
Warm-up & Re-strike time:	Instantaneous
Burning Position:
Overall Length:
Light Centre Length:
Factory:	Moscow	USSR
Date of Manufacture:	July 1983	Date Code 0783
Original / Present Value:


References:	1) Website of Stella Lamp Works, Moscow.
	2) References to similar lamp type on a Russian forum