Philips Tornado Asian Compact Fluorescent

The helical compact fluorescent lamp was invented by Ed Hammer at GE in 1976. His proposal was to coil a long, thin high efficiency tube into this form, such that it would better match the size and light distribution of a frosted incandescent lamp. However GE felt that coiling glass tubes into this complex shape was not compatible with high speed manufacturing techniques, and the idea was shelved.

It was not until 1992 that GE completed a machine for bending the glass, and samples of the so-called Heliax lamp that it produced were issued to the market that year. Sadly the lamp never made it to mass production, owing to extreme difficulty in controlling the production process.

The commercial introduction had to wait a further three years until a Chinese firm, Shanghai Xiangshan, marketed the first successful design. The low labour rates in China allowed this company to economically undertake the manufacture by employing a small army of glassblowers to create the spiral form. Since then the market has taken off and many of the major firms now out-source a spiral CFL lamp from China. This is Philips' first lamp from 2003.

In fact the spiral CFL is a poor lamp in terms of efficacy. There are two ways to make it. The first is to coil the pre-coated glass tube. This causes damage to the phosphor layer during the deformation of the glass. The second is to first coil the glass, and then coat it. Owing to action of gravity, coating thickness cannot be uniformly controlled. It is too thick on the lower half of each coil, and too thin above. The result is a lamp of lower efficacy than when straight tubes are used.

Manufacturer:	Zhejiang Yankon, produced for Philips
Lamp Power:	23 Watts
Lamp Current:	0.165 Amps
Lamp Voltage:	220-240 Volts
Cap Type:	E27s/27	Nickel plated brass
Bulb Finish:	Triphosphor	Colour 875
Bulb Type:	TH4-10x60	Helical 4-turn 60mm dia.
Overall Length:	148 mm
Light Centre Length:	110 mm
Mass:	142 grams
Electrodes:	Triple coil tungsten	Triple carbonate emitter
Atmosphere:	Ar,Kr \| Hg
Luminous Flux:	1,450 lm	@ 100 hours
Luminous Efficacy:	63.0 lm/W	@ 100 hours
Colour Temperature & CRI:	CCT: 7350K	CRI: Ra 83
Chromaticity Co-ordinates:	CCx: 0.303	CCy: 0.310
Burning Position:	Universal
Rated Lifetime:	6,000 hours	Rated to 50% survival
Warm-up / Re-strike Time:	2 minutes	Instant re-strike
Factory:	Zheijiang	China
Date of Manufacture:	June 2004	Date Code F4
Original / Present Value:	HK $40 (2004)	£2.71 (2004)


References:	1) Philips & Yaming Factory, Malu, China.
	2) Spectral Lamp Measurement.
	3) Smithsonian Institute website, http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/20thcent/invent20.htm#in4.