Flat Bulb – Why are bulbs round?

 

This Flat Bulb an interesting bulb design. It seems like when something revolutionary is developed future designs tend to be very similar. Is there a good reason for light bulbs to be round?

"flat bulb is designed by korean designer joonhuyn kim. unlike ordinary bulbs its volume is 1/3 smaller, reducing the cost of packaging and transport. its slim shape allows bulbs to be easily stacked and prevents breakage as it does not roll. his work was on display as part of 100% design tokyo."

Via: Craziest Gadgets

19 Comments


  1. a yer before US forbid sell bulbs


  2. Bulbs are ’round’ to withstand atmospheric pressure with a thin light glass envelope.
    The glass in this design must be considerably thicker, thus what is saved in packaging volume is probably lost in weight


  3. Bulbs are round because the sphere is structurally rigid around the vacuum. Notice how it looks like he had to use 3x or more glass for a non-round bulb. The thinness of normal bulbs is what causes their fragility, not rolling.


  4. in these modern days, many bulbs are manufactured with inactive gas inside, such as argon or helium, and so the atmospheric pressure difference is very little. thin glass can be used for bulbs with shapes other than sphere.

    -/-


  5. Shine a light through anything that has a non-uniform shape, like a hexagonal Florentine, and you’ll see why. A perfectly round bulb throws light evenly in all directions except past the socket. A flat blub like this one will generate caustics from where the glass is thicker at the corners. So your lampshade and the wall behind your lamp will look kind of strange as a result.


  6. I’d buy it, it’s modern, new age, what’s not to love

    except of course the fact that it isn’t an energy saving bulb


  7. We call this a stupid question, why not just coat the filaments in glass?


  8. Damn, man! you’re creative!



  9. why not just coat the filaments in glass? – it would melt


  10. …coat the filaments in glass? – The glass envelope around a bulb has two functions:
    one, to contain the low pressure inert gas . Two, to stop anything coming into contact with the white hot filament.


  11. Modern Bulbs are Compact Florescent (CFL). Why make a flat incandescent when it going to be banned anyway.


  12. The problem is that current sockets for bulbs are round, meaning that when you screw this in there will be a void between the bulb and the sockets wall. Which means someone could stick something in there by mistake. and if the socket wasn’t round, then you couldn’t screw it in!


  13. “…someone could stick something in there by mistake…”

    wtf?
    it’s pandering to people that do those kind of idiotic things that keeps the rest of careful people from evolving to our potential.

    if people ignore warning sign and mess with things they know not enough about, then let natural selection take it’s course.


  14. “when you screw this in there will be a void between the bulb and the sockets wall”

    what about empty socket
    go on stick something in empty socket dirty dirty boy


  15. it is a creative idea but wen it comes
    down to it the bulb is impractical. mabye
    for artistic purposes but that is about it.


  16. Wow, that’s awesome looking, however I feel that the round shape of a bulb gives off more and even lighting. This is pretty cool looking, because it’s so different.

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