Mountain sun
A sun lamp is a device for generating ultraviolet radiation for therapeutic purposes , both for domestic use and in clinics and sanatoriums. In the meantime it has been frequently replaced by other devices. It has been a trademark of the Heraeus Noblelight company since 1941 and is probably derived from the increasingly effective ultraviolet portion of sunlight in the mountains.
construction
The apparatus essentially consists of a quartz lamp without protective glass.
For technical reasons, this quartz lamp must be operated with a current limiter. This is either a series choke or a cheaper and lighter resistor . Heating coils that emit infrared radiation at the same time are used for the latter solution . For this purpose they are housed in a quartz glass tube and, like the quartz glass burner, are located in front of a reflector. Due to the simultaneous release of heat, the use of the lamp is much more convenient, since z. B. when using with a bare upper body no feeling of cold occurs.
Many models allow the heating wires to be operated without the quartz lamp; the resulting infrared radiation can also be used therapeutically on its own .
Additives in the quartz glass of the discharge vessel largely prevent the emission of UV-C (hard radiation component), which does not penetrate as far into the skin, but is considered to be particularly carcinogenic.
history
The mountain sun goes back to a patent from 1904. The inventor of the mercury vapor lamp and thus the forefather of the sunlamp was the scientist Richard Küch . For a long time it was used for artificial skin tanning and for the treatment of acne - the blue and ultraviolet components have a bactericidal effect and produce a precursor of vitamin D in the skin - as well as rickets . In the post-war period, classes of radiation were carried out in schools.
Previously, the lamps had significant emissions of harsh ultraviolet radiation. This was also expressed by the typical odor of ozone that was formed by radiation from the oxygen in the air .
In today's lamps, additives are used in the quartz glass of the burner, which largely prevent the escape of hard UV radiation. However, sunlamps have gone out of fashion because, like solariums that use special fluorescent lamps , they are still suspected of causing skin cancer .
safety
Due to the ultraviolet radiation and the high luminance, the use of a sunlamp also requires special protective goggles in the visible range , otherwise glare or conjunctivitis can occur.
The electric power commercially available device is about 250 to 400 W .
See also
literature
- NN: The Hanau large-scale industry - 5th "Höhensonne" - ORIGINAL HANAU - all over the world . In: Hanau city and country. A home book for school and home . Hanau 1954, pp. 420-427 (424ff).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ German Patent and Trademark Office , Trademark Register No. 535862 .
