Luxim wants to brighten your block with ultra-powerful plasma lightbulbs

Posted Mar 18th 2008 9:58AM by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Sure, we all enjoy a Tic Tac from time to time, but what if that minty Tic Tac were also able to generate the same amount of light as an industrial LED? You probably wouldn't want to ingest that, though according to the company Luxim -- known to us for its work in the A/V world -- you might want to stick it in a streetlight. Apparently, the company has created a micro-sized bulb that uses 250 watts of power, but outperforms a 400 watt LED. Gas inside the tiny bulb is electrified by a component called a puck, which heats the gas into plasma and produces light, allowing a sizable chunk of energy to become light rather than heat -- thus the ultra-bright performance. Inside the mint-sized bulb the gas reaches 6000-degrees Kelvin -- or about the surface temperature of the Sun -- producing 140 lumens per watt, or roughly ten times that of a standard lightbulb. Really, it's quite bright. Still, a Tic Tac would probably be more refreshing. [Via CNET]

Luxim's 250W Tic-Tac Sized Bulb Blows Away 400W LEDs

Luxim's new bulb may only be the size of a Tic-Tac, but this little bugger can crank out way more light at 250 watts than a traditional 400 watt LED. It can achieve this feat thanks to gas that is heated inside the bulb via electrical energy delivered to it by a "puck." As the gas turns to plasma, the bulb is illuminated. However, since most of the energy is not lost to heat, the light can reach a high level of brightness. In fact, it can produce up to 140 lumens per watt which is twice that of an LED and around 10 times that of a standard bulb. Impressive. Hit the link to see the light in action. [CNET and Luxim]