A novel design for a fluorescent lamp with an air cleaning function and better lighting efficiency

In this study, a new type of fluorescent lamp is proposed, and it is demonstrated that the fluorescent lamp with a well-designed filter can provide higher illuminance and air cleaning function without consuming extra electricity power. The filter with high reflectance is used to cover the vents of the lampshade and the heat from the lamp is utilized to drive the air up and through the filter such that the air can be filtered and cleaned. The results show that the fluorescent lamp indeed provides higher illuminance and the increased rate of the illuminance due to the filters is far much higher than that of the power consumption of the fluorescent lamp due to the filters. Meanwhile, after the 14-week test on the filter, the light transmittance of the filters reduces below 50% but the illuminance just decreases 3.2%. Therefore, the filter can indeed capture the contaminants in the air but does not diminish the entire illuminance for the long time use. Furthermore, this concept can also be applied to design the new types of luminaire for all kinds of light sources or modify the existing luminaire to meet the energy saving and ecoproduct requirements.