Looking for technical engineering books, etc.

[LED Head]

I work for a solid state lighting company and (GASP!) we have acquired an incandescent bulb distribution company. I have to handle all of the engineering and design of incandescents for our customers. I am wondering, and I have searched with no luck, if anyone here can recommend any technical books, articles, newsletters or other information on the design of incandescent light bulbs.

For example, we have one bulb that is a T8, 40 watt blue glass, but our customer is having problems with filament breakage. Would adding more supports in the bulb help? Should we go to a coiled coiled filament instead of a coiled filament?

Another example, we have a customer that uses a T10 bulb, they want a certain lumen output and a 1,000 hour life and they aren't getting it right now. I have no idea to tell the factory what to do. Unfortunately the factories are all in China and they don't always know how to come up with a creative solution.

I know that obvious any books are going to be antiques and I might have some trouble finding them, but right now, I can't even come up with authors or book titles. Any input would be greatly appreciated. I am not looking for historical books, I need "nuts and bolts" books. I don't even know if this information exists.

[adam2]

The basic principles have not changed since the invention of the tungsten lamp, and therefore reference sources are very limited.
Old textbooks, and even some of the literature on this site may be more use than you expect, since not much has changed.

As regards the examples given above, fitting extra filament supports to a lamp will likely improve the life if the lamp is subjected to a lot of vibration.
If there is not much vibration, then extra supports will be of limited use.

The life of a lamp can be extended by reducing the filament temperature, but that reduces efficiency.
On all but the lowest power lamps, gas filling increases efficiency and is almost universal these days.
A coiled filament is more eficient, and on high voltage low wattage lamps, a coiled coil will give an additional though slight gain.

If the life of a lamp is fixed at 1,000 hours, then slight gains in light output may be achieved as above, but any great increase in light output can only be achieved by a higher wattage.


The basic principles of lamp manufacture are well understood, but many of the details that make a lamp slightly better or cheaper, may be patented or trade secrets.