Reinventing the light bulb: Philips goes flat

Referred to as the “SlimStyle”, Philips has released a new light bulb that looks fairly normal on the surface, but a quick flick of the wrist will show that the bulb is anything but. 

Yes, what you see above is, in fact, a flat light bulb, and the point behind Philips doing this goes beyond simply grabbing headlines. There are actually a number of benefits to this approach. For one, this allowed the designers to position the bulb’s LEDs in a horseshoe shape that arc out from the base, and better project 800 lumens of light.

And since the bulb is using LEDs, it’s not only dimmable, but quite efficient when in use, consuming a mere 10.5 watts total.

Now, this all could’ve been accomplished using the standard light bulb shape, but by going flat, the SlimStyle is able to better disperse heat away from the LEDs. This allows Philips to do away with heavy heat sinks which, in turn, helps drive down the cost of the bulb.

Oh, and it’s been noted that the skinnier bulb is also easier to screw in — so throw ergonomics into the reasons why this is a brilliant idea.

Those looking at the shape wondering how in the world they were able to get glass to shape like that should note that the material is actually plastic, which lends to the bulb’s durability.

Speaking of lasting a while, that’s exactly what the SlimStyle does — it received an impressive lifetime rating of 22 years, so the chances that you’ll need to replace it are, well, fairly slim. 

The SlimStyle goes on sale January 2, 2014 exclusively at HomeDepot.com

Story via phys.org