Tanning lamp

Tanning lamps (sometimes called tanning bulbs in the United States or tanning tubes in Europe) are the part of a tanning bed, booth or other tanning device which produces ultraviolet light responsible for tanning. There are hundreds of different kinds of tanning lamps most of which can be classified in two basic groups: low pressure and high pressure. Within the industry, it is common to call high-pressure units 'bulbs' and low-pressure units 'lamps', although there are many exceptions and not everyone follows this example. This is likely due to the size of the unit, rather than the type. Both types require an oxygen free environment inside the lamp. Tanning lamps (sometimes called tanning bulbs in the United States or tanning tubes in Europe) are the part of a tanning bed, booth or other tanning device which produces ultraviolet light responsible for tanning. There are hundreds of different kinds of tanning lamps most of which can be classified in two basic groups: low pressure and high pressure. Within the industry, it is common to call high-pressure units 'bulbs' and low-pressure units 'lamps', although there are many exceptions and not everyone follows this example. This is likely due to the size of the unit, rather than the type. Both types require an oxygen free environment inside the lamp. Fluorescent tanning lamps require an electrical ballast to limit the amount of current going through the lamp. While the resistance of an incandescent lamp filament inherently limits the current inside the lamp, tanning lamps do not and instead have negative resistance. They are plasma devices, like a neon sign, and will pass as much current as the external circuit will provide, even to the point of self-destruction. Thus a ballast is needed to regulate the current through them. Tanning lamps are installed in a tanning bed, tanning booth, tanning canopy or free standing single bulb tanning unit. The quality of the tan (or how similar it is to a tan from the natural sun) depends upon the spectrum of the light that is generated from the lamps. High-pressure bulbs are 3 to 5 inches long and typically powered by a ballast with 250 to 2,000 watts. The most common is the 400 watt variety that is used as an added face tanner in the traditional tanning bed. High-pressure lamps use quartz glass, and as such do not filter UVC. Because UVC can be deadly, a special dichroic filter glass (usually purple) is required that will filter out the UVC and UVB. The goal with high-pressure tanning bulbs is to produce a high amount of UVA only. Unfiltered light from a high-pressure lamp is rich in UVC used in germicidal lamps, for water purification, but it damages human skin. The contents of a high-pressure lamp are inert gas (such as argon) and mercury. There are no phosphors used, and the mercury is clearly visible if it is not in a gaseous state. During installation, even a small amount of oil from fingertips can cause the quartz envelope to fail in operation. Most commercial replacement bulbs come with a special pocket wipe, usually containing alcohol, to clean the bulb in case it is accidentally touched during installation. Because the bulb contains mercury, great care should be used if a bulb is broken, to prevent accidental contact or vapor exposure. Like all fluorescent lamps, low-pressure tanning lamps have a ballast to start the lamps and limit the flow of current. The plasma of excited mercury atoms inside the lamp emits ultraviolet light directly. The lamps are coated on the inside with special phosphors. Unlike high-pressure lamps, the glass that is used in low-pressure lamps filters out all UVC. Once the plasma is fully formed, the plasma strips away the outer electrons from the mercury; when these electrons return to a lower energy level, visible and ultraviolet light is emitted. Some of the short-wave ultraviolet excites the phosphors, which then emits photons in the proper spectrum for tanning. In the older style (but still most popular) 'choke ballast', each end of the lamp has its own cathode and anode, however, once the lamp has started, the plasma flows from one end of the lamp to the other, with each end acting as a single cathode or anode. The starter is a plasma switch itself, and temporarily connects the cathode on one end of the lamp to the anode on the other end of the lamp, causing the lamp ends to heat up quickly, or 'preheat'. Many F71 lamps are still called 'pre-heat bi-pin' for this reason. Newer electronic systems work differently and always treat one end of the lamp as a cathode and one end as an anode. Whereas the choke style always works at 230 V AC at 60 Hz (220–240 V AC/50 Hz in Europe), newer electronics work very differently. This includes magnetic, pure solid state, and high frequency ballasts. These new ballasts operate at voltages up to 600 V AC, and at 20,000 Hz, with some high frequency ballasts operating as high as 100,000 Hz or higher. This allows the ballast to energize the lamp with more than raw power, and instead operates using a combination of electrical force and induction. This allows a 100 watt lamp to fully light with as little as 65 watts. The disadvantage of the newer electronics is price. It can cost 3 to 5 times more per lamp to use electronic ballasts than traditional choke ballasts, which is why choke ballasts are still used in the majority of new tanning systems. Another disadvantage of the older style choke ballast is they are designed for European electricity, and require incoming voltage in the range of 220 V AC and 230 V AC. Most US homes have 110 V service and businesses use 208 V three-phase service that requires these beds to use a buck-boost transformer in order to receive the proper voltage. Too low a voltage will result in the lamp starter not letting the lamp ignite (or at the least, very slowly) whereas too high a voltage can lead to premature failure in the starters and lamps. The average cost of these transformers is $200 to $250. While this makes the newer electronics cost about the same for the typical tanning bed, buckboost transformers are usually sold separately, so the total cost is not always obvious to the consumer at first glance.