Retrofits give illuminating performance
A Surrey company is marketing a German-invented, retrofit electronic light ballast that allows the replacement of older fluorescent tubes with more modern and efficient units, without replacing the luminaries.
“Newer tri-phosphor tubes are much more efficient than halophosphor tubes and last twice as long,” says Patrick Wynne-Jones, marketing manager of Energy Conservation Solutions, “but they require high-frequency ballasts and cannot be driven at mains frequency.”
The basic idea is relatively simple: developing high-frequency ballast units that, fitted to the end of modern tubes, would allow them to be used as direct replacements for old tubes in existing luminaries. Yet their development took seven years, in order to ensure a weight less than 500g and to test to 50,000 hours rated life.
The newer tubes are much narrower than the units they are replacing and also shorter, which allows the new ballast units to sit between the ends of the tubes and their holders. In the case of eight-foot tubes, which are being phased out, it is possible to replace them with new six-foot tubes, with suitable extender units. Energy saving are generally in the range of 34-56%, while the cost of the ballast units is £12.50 each. The design is patented in 72 countries and the units are manufactured in China.
