What Is a PAR Lamp?
Many lighting fixtures use reflectors and lenses arranged around a disposable light bulb to shape and concentrate light for specialized tasks. A PAR lamp circumvents the need for these accessories by combining the light bulb, reflector and lens into one tidy disposable package. Does this Spark an idea?
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Definition
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PAR---which stands for parabolic aluminized reflector---is a type of sealed beam incandescent lamp. Inside a PAR lamp the light bulb is permanently fused to a reflector, which in turn is sealed tight with a lens.
Advantages
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The sealed PAR lamp neatly avoids problems encountered by light fixtures with separate lens/reflector assemblies, such as dust building up and reducing light output. And in nonsealed fixtures the alignment of the light bulb inside the reflector will slip over time, causing a noticeable drop in the quality of the light.
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Uses
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PAR lamps are used in a wide variety of applications and industries, such as automobile headlights, aircraft landing runways, museum exhibits, retail displays, architectural lighting, theater and film.
Beam
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PAR lamps produce a bright condensed beam of light with a distinct oval shape. Many types of lighting fixtures, such as the Source 4 PAR, have been designed to mimic this beam shape; however, these fixtures are not true PAR lamps but an alternative technology.
Types
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These lamps are manufactured in a variety of wattages and sizes. The PAR acronym is typically followed by a number indicating the width of the lamp in eighths of an inch. For example a PAR64 is an 8-inch-wide lamp.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Oldtimer 2 image by Konstanze Gruber from Fotolia.com
