Everything You Wanted To Know About Projector Lamps

Ever wondered how do you see a movie in a movie theatre on such a big screen? What exactly

is the science behind it? We know that something called a projector is responsible for displaying

videos, images or other information on a big screen, but how does it do that? The answer is

Projector Lamps.

What are the Projector Lamps?

A projector lamp or an Ultra High Performance Lamp is, as the name suggests, an ultra-high

pressure mercury arc lamp which is used in multimedia projectors. The purpose of this lamp is

to transfer images from a projector to a larger screen so that the audience can view these

images.

You must have seen this technology used in movie theatres and projector television sets at

home and this technology has also been in use in the business and the educational sector for

displaying information to the audience.

The Discovery

Before we came out with these lamps, we were using halogen lamps for projection. But the

problem with halogen lamps was that their use resulted in a yellowish tinge on the images. You

must have noticed this yellow tone when you played something using an old projector.

Philips in 1995 came up with the Ultra High Performance Lamp or the UHP Lamp. It was

developed to be used in commercial and home projection systems. Pretty soon other

manufacturers came up with their version of the UHP, but since the name UHP was

trademarked by Philips, they came up with their own names for these lamps.

The popularity of these lamps has constantly risen and now you can easily find projector lamps

in Australia.

Working

Projector bulbs use extremely complex technology. In it, there is an ARC gap, which is a spark

gap that comprises of two electrodes separated by a gap. This ARC gap in a projector bulb is

filled with ultra-high pressure mercury vapour. When electric current is sent across this ARC

gap, it lights the mercury vapour and the lamp then produces a bright light. This bright light is

then projected on to a screen. This explains the bright light that you see in a movie theatre

coming from the overhead projector.

Uses

Projector lamps are used for several different purposes, which is not just limited to showing

movies and videos. Smaller projectors are used in business conferences to show presentations

and other important information. They are also used for educational purposes in schools and

universities. You can even purchase a projector for your home and watch television and movies

through it.

Longevity

When Philips came up with their UHP lamp, they claimed that their lamps can last up to 10,000

hours. But we know that a typical lamp lasts anywhere between 2000-4000 hours. That said the

longevity of a lamp also depends on several different factors like humidity, dust, temperature, air

pressure, physical impact etc.

Extending the Life of a Lamp

As mentioned above there are several ways to extend the life of a lamp. You must ensure

proper ventilation, getting rid of dirt and dust regularly and regular changing of the filter.

Apart from Philips, you can now buy projector lamps from many different companies. Benq

projector lamps are also known to be quite good and reliable. You can find many different

suppliers of these lamps in Australia that even offer free delivery for their products.

For more visit us at www.ozlamps.com.au