Philips MasterColour Elite LightBoost CDM-T 70W/930
In 2010 Philips announced Elite LightBoost, the worlds first unsaturated vapour metal halide lamp. Other MH lamps are dosed with excess salt, only part of which is vaporised in use. The excess is necessary because it is consumed during life due to reactions with the arc tube materials. For ceramic lamps, materials limitations previously required 'protruding plug' seals, located some distance away from the heat of the arc to prevent their destruction. Since these naturally run cooler the salt accumulates here, and a large quantity is needed to then overflow into the arc tube to be vaporised.

The salt pool is a nuisance because its temperature changes with lamp power, burning position, luminaire thermals etc, resulting in colour variation. Its absorption casts a yellow shadow in the beam, life-limiting corrosion reactions take place where it touches the ceramic, and the large volume takes a long time to heat up before the lamp is stabilised.

These problems were solved with the new seal of this lamp, in which an iridium wire is sintered into the ceramic without any sealing frit. Its superior thermal and halide resistance eliminated the long seals and many degenerative chemical reactions, allowing lamps to be dosed with only the quantity of salt to be vaporised - via a tiny laser-sealed ceramic tip on the side of the arc tube. The wall tempeature is increased from 1250 to 1400K for higher efficacy and CRI, colour variation during life is held <3 SDCM, lumen maintenance is greatly enhanced, and run-up is extremely fast. Moreover the stable halide vapour pressures allow dimming with constant colour to 50% of lamp power. Regrettably due to manufacturing difficulties, these highly innovative lamps were abandoned in 2015.
Manufacturer: Philips Lighting
Lamp Power: 73 Watts
Lamp Current: 0.812 Amps
Lamp Voltage: 90 Volts 5 kV ignition pulse
Cap Type: G12 Ceramic + NPB pins
Bulb Type: T-19 T-6 in eighths/inch
Bulb Finish: Clear UV-Stop Quartz
Electrodes: Single Coil Thoriated tungsten
Arc Length: 6.0 mm
Atmosphere: Outer: Hard Vacuum
Luminous Flux: 7,800 lm (@ 100h)
Luminous Efficacy: 106.8 lm/W (@ 100h)
Colour Temperature & CRI: CCT: 3000K CRI: Ra=95
Chromaticity Co-ordinates: CCx: 0.427 CCy: 0.396
Rated Lifetime: 15,000 hours (to L80F50)
Warm-up & Re-strike Time: 20 seconds (to 80% flux) <15 minutes
Burning Position: Universal
Nominal Length: 103 mm 4 inches
Light Centre Length: 56 mm 27/32 inches
Factory: Turnhout Belgium
Date of Manufacture: 2011 November Date Code: 1L
Original Value: €51.75 (2012)
References: 1) Philips Catalogue 2012 NL,
2) Philips Brochure CDM Complete Range 2013 EU,
3) Philips Datasheet Elite Lightboost CDM-T 70W/930 2011 EU,
4) Philips Datasheet Elite Lightboost CDM-T 70W/930 2013 EU,
5) Philips Presentation Introducing MASTERColour CDM Elite Light Boost 2011, OEM Design Manual CDM-T/TC Elite Lightboost 70W 2010.
6) Unsaturated Ceramic Metal Halide Lamps: A New Generation of HID Lamps, J.Hendricx, J.Vrugt, C.Denissen, J.Suijker, Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on the Science & Technology of Light Sources, 11-16 July 2010, Eindhoven, pp.405-414.