1. Why do aged fluorescent tubes flicker?
- Author
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Nicolas Plihon, Jérémy Ferrand, Tristan Guyomar, Flavien Museur, and Nicolas Taberlet
- Subjects
FLUORESCENT lamps ,THERMIONIC emission ,ELECTRON emission ,ELECTRIC discharges ,PLASMA physics ,ELECTRODYNAMICS ,STATISTICAL physics - Abstract
Our everyday experience of aged and defective fluorescent tubes or bulbs informs us that they may flicker and emit a clicking sound while struggling to light up. In this article, the physical mechanisms controlling the initial illumination of a functioning fluorescent tube are investigated using a simple and affordable experimental setup. Thermionic emission from the electrodes of the tube controls the startup of fluorescent tubes. The origin of the faulty startup of aged fluorescent tubes is discussed and flickering regimes using functional tubes are artificially produced using a dedicated setup that decreases electron emission by the thermionic effect in a controlled manner. The physical parameters controlling the occurrence of flickering light are discussed, and their temporal statistics are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
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