Novel idea to bring spark back into dead tubelights

Meet the state’s own innovator who has figured out a way to bring the spark back into dead tubelights. The inventor is Narasimha Chary, 39, a resident of Navipet mandal in Nizamabad district.

He says he has helped revive 10 lakh tubelights with his patented technology.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Mr Chary said: “In order to make a tubelight glow, there needs to be several parts like a choke, a starter and a few filaments. If these items refuse to work in cohesion, the tubelight will not glow. To tackle this issue I removed these parts and created a circuit using resistors, diodes, nichrome springs, capacitors, resistors and other electrical components. This circuitry doesn’t require a choke or a starter or any of the other things that are required to light up a conventional tube light.”

His innovation relies on leftover mercury in the tubelight.

“Usually a tubelight has anywhere between 14 and 16 milligrams of mercury.

When this amount goes down over a period of time, the tubelight does not respond to the voltage that passes through the holder. But when a tube light goes defunct it still has at least six mg of mercury in it.

The circuit is connected to the blackened part of the tubelight, and current is passed through it. This system enhances the life of the light by another five years, until the residual mercury runs out,” he said.

Apart from being economical, this system also plays a massive role in protecting the environment, said Mr Chary, since the residual mercury is often discarded when the tubelight is thrown out. “Mercury, in any quantity, if exposed to the environment, could have devastating consequences on our ecology and health.

This is an ingenious way to use up all the residual mercury in the light until it’s safe to discard it,” he explains.

“A tubelight requires 230 volts of charge to function. But at the start it needs a boost of anywhere between 1800-2000 volts.

This current causes the electrodes within the light to heat up and makes it glow. In a regular fluorescent tubelight, this is taken care of by the starter, which gives the initial surge of voltage that is required to heat the cathodes and the stabilizer that stabilises voltage to 230 of constant voltage for the lights to function.

The action causes the light to flicker before lighting up. But what makes the light glow, is the milligrams of mercury gas present in the tubelight that keeps it glowing for 90,000 hours. But it needs all the other connections to function properly, otherwise it will fail to glow,” says a video clip on Chary’s work by a reputed TV channel specialising in science programming.

IN ORDER to make a tubelight glow, there needs to be several parts like a choke, a starter and a few filaments. If these items refuse to work in cohesion, the tube light will not glow.

A TUBELIGHT requires 230 volts of charge to function. But at the start it needs a boost of anywhere between 1800-2000 volts.