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A strobe light or stroboscopic lamp, commonly called a strobe, is a device used to produce regular flashes of light. It is one of a number of devices that can be used as a stroboscope. The word originated from the Ancient Greek ( ), meaning "act of whirling".
A typical commercial strobe light has a flash energy in the region of 10 to 150 , and discharge times as short as a few milliseconds, often resulting in a flash power of several . Larger strobe lights can be used in “continuous” mode, producing extremely intense illumination.
The light source is commonly a xenon flash lamp, or flashtube, which has a complex spectrum and a color temperature of approximately 5,600 . To obtain colored light, color gel may be used.
A strobe without a capacitor storage device simply discharges mains voltages across the tube once it's fired. This type of strobe requires no charging time and allows for much quicker flash rates, but drastically reduces the lifetime of the flash tube if powered for significant periods of time. Such strobes require a form of current limiting, without which the flash tube would attempt to draw high currents from the electricity source, potentially tripping Circuit breaker or causing in the power supply line.
The duration of a single flash depends on the particular strobe being used and its settings. Strobes for studio lighting often have a range of power settings. For a given strobe, higher light output corresponds to a longer flash duration. For example, the Flashpoint Rapid 1200 HSS Monolight has a flash duration as long as 5.6 ms (1/180 sec) at its highest output setting, or as short as 68 μs (1/14,814 sec) at its lowest output setting. Strobes with significantly shorter flash durations are commercially available, some with flash durations less than 1 μs. For example, the SPOT strobe by Prism Science Works provides a flash duration of order 0.5 μs
Some strobes even offer continuous mode of operation whereby the arc is sustained, providing extremely high intensity light, but usually only for small amounts of time to prevent overheating and eventual breakage of the flash tube.
Gas strobe beacons include Xenon flash lamp and halogen varieties. Gas strobe beacons consist of a gas-filled tube surrounded by a lens. When electricity is applied, the tube flashes and is magnified by the lens, and a Circle light is emitted. The intensity of the light depends on the amount of electricity provided.
These lenses come in a variant of colors, mainly clear, yellow, amber, red, blue, and green. The lens color can affect the intensity of light.
LED strobe beacons consist of a base, a LED or group of LEDs, and a cover. A solid state flash controller is located within the base, which allows the LED beacon to operate in a variety of flash patterns. LED Strobe Beacon Patent
Strobe lights are often used for aircraft anti-collision lighting both on aircraft themselves and also on tall stationary objects, such as television and radio towers. Other applications are in , emergency vehicle lighting, theatre lighting (most notably to simulate lightning), and as high-visibility aircraft collision avoidance lights. They are still widely used in law enforcement and other emergency vehicles, though they are slowly being replaced by LED technology in this application, as they themselves largely replaced Halogen lamp lighting. Strobes are used by as an emergency signaling device.
A common use of a strobe flash is to optimize a car engine's efficiency at a certain rotational period by directing the strobe-light towards a mark on the flywheel on the engine's main axle. The strobe-light tool for such ignition timing is called a timing light. Strobe lighting has also been used to see the movements of the vocal cords in slow motion during speech, a procedure known as video-stroboscopy.
EG&G ''now was founded by Harold E. Edgerton, Kenneth J. Germeshausen and Herbert E. Grier in 1947 as Edgerton, Germeshausen and Grier, Inc. and today bears their initials. In 1931, Edgerton and Germeshausen had formed a partnership to study high-speed photographic and stroboscopic techniques and their applications. Grier joined them in 1934, and in 1947, EG&G was incorporated.During World War II, the government's Manhattan Project made use of Edgerton's discoveries to photograph atomic explosions; it was a natural evolution that the company would support the Atomic Energy Commission in its weapons research and development after the war. This work for the Commission provided the historic foundation to the Company's present-day technology base.
Internally triggered Strobotrons (light-output optimized ) were available as well as flood-beam-CRT-type, grid-controlled Vacuum stroboscopic light sources with fast .
The strobe light was popularized on the club scene during the 1960s when it was used to reproduce and enhance the effects of LSD trips. Ken Kesey used strobe lighting in coordination with the music of the Grateful Dead during his Acid Tests. In early 1966, Andy Warhol's lights engineer, Danny Williams, pioneered the use of multiple stroboscopes, slides and film projections simultaneously onstage during the 1966 Exploding Plastic Inevitable shows, and at Bill Graham's request, Williams built an enhanced stroboscopic light show to be used at Fillmore West.
While no specific legal requirements are known for public usage, relevant safety control measures should be employed to minimize epileptic seizures and potential trips or falls from disturbed vision. Strobe light flash rates should not exceed 4 flashes per second; when multiple strobe lights are used, flashes should be synchronized. Warnings should be posted at venue entryways, e.g., “WARNING: Strobe lights are used during this performance”. Staff, crew, audiences and viewers should be informed prior to any usage of flickering lights or high contrast image changes.
The strobe rate of fire alarms in schools, hospitals, stadiums, etc. for any emergency notification should be maintained between 1.0 - 2.0 Hertz as a seizure precaution.
Most strobe lights on sale to the public are factory-limited to about 10–12 Hz (10–12 flashes per second) in their internal oscillators, although externally triggered strobe lights will often flash as frequently as possible.
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