IAEEL newsletter 3-4/97
Helical CFL not dead
Helical CFL not dead
Although GE lighting finally abandoned their attempts to produce a helical CFL, other manufacturers have picked up the idea. At least one European and one US manufacturer have helical CFLs on the market.
GE Lighting presented their Heliax CFL in 1995, claiming that the lamp emitted more light per unit length than any other CFL design of equivalent power. The integral versions mentioned when the lamp was first presented in 1995 quietly disappeared, but a high-power, pin-based version was promised, and prototypes were even distributed to luminaire manufacturers. However in mid-1997 we reported that GE lighting finally had to give up their attempts to produce their large pin-base helical CFL intended for the commercial market (see IAEEL 2/97 and 1/95).
GE´s surprising announcement that they finally had given up their attempts to produce the lamp in large quantities should probably not be interpreted to mean that the company found the lamp entirely impossible to mass produce. Rather, whereas the other manufacturers most likely are producing the lamps in machinery with a limited capacity in relation to investments, labor costs, etc., it is likely that GE found that they could not produce the lamps cheaply enough in high-speed machinery. The design of GE´s lamp may have been different too, making it difficult to produce. However, more data would be needed in order to compare the products.
The European product is made by the German manufacturer Narva B.E.L. under the Narvatronic brand name. The lamps received very high ranks from the well-renowned German consumer products test institute "Stiftung Warentest". Retail prices are well above US$ 10. US-based Technical Consumer Products markets a helical lamp under the name Spring Lamp at a similar price. Both products are electronic CFLs in several wattages.
Nils Borg
Additional research: Susanne Björn