Other applications are in alarm systems, emergency vehicle lighting, theatrical lighting (most notably to simulate lightning), and as high-visibility aircraft collision avoidance lights. 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. 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 beacons consist of a base, a LED or group of LEDs, and a cover.
The lens color can affect the intensity of light. These lenses come in a variant of colors, mainly clear, yellow, amber, red, blue, and green. The intensity of the light depends on the amount of electricity provided. When electricity is applied, the tube flashes and is magnified by the lens, and a 360 degree light is emitted. Gas strobe beacons consist of a gas-filled tube surrounded by a lens. Gas strobe beacons include Xenon flash lamp and halogen varieties.
Strobe beacons are similar to rotating beacons, but are more energy efficient, and with no moving parts, are more reliable and less likely to break. 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.Īpplications Strobe beacons Ī strobe beacon is a flashing electric lamp used in a variety of industries as an attention-getting device, either to warn of possible hazards, or to attract potential customers. For example, the SPOT strobe by Prism Science Works provides a flash duration of order 0.5 μs Strobes with significantly shorter flash durations are commercially available, some with flash durations less than 1 μs. 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. For a given strobe, higher light output corresponds to a longer flash duration. Strobes for studio lighting often have a range of power settings. The duration of a single flash depends on the particular strobe being used and its settings. 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 electrical breakers or causing voltage drops in the power supply line. 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. The capacitor's energy rapidly heats the xenon gas, creating an extremely bright plasma discharge, which is seen as a flash.Ī strobe without a capacitor storage device simply discharges mains voltages across the tube once it's fired. An arc is created inside the tube, which acts as a path for the capacitor to discharge through, allowing the capacitor to quickly release its energy into the arc. This generates the weak but high-voltage spike required to ionize the xenon gas in a flash tube. Once the capacitor has been charged, to trigger the flash a small amount of power is diverted into a trigger transformer, a small transformer with a high turns ratio. In a capacitor-based strobe, the capacitor is charged up to around 300 V.
Strobe lights usually use flashtubes with energy supplied from a capacitor, an energy storage device much like a battery, but capable of charging and releasing energy much faster. To obtain colored light, colored gels may be used. The light source is commonly a xenon flash lamp, or flashtube, which has a complex spectrum and a color temperature of approximately 5,600 kelvins. Larger strobe lights can be used in “continuous” mode, producing extremely intense illumination. The word originated from the Ancient Greek στρόβος ( stróbos), meaning "act of whirling".Ī typical commercial strobe light has a flash energy in the region of 10 to 150 joules, and discharge times as short as a few milliseconds, often resulting in a flash power of several kilowatts. It is one of a number of devices that can be used as a stroboscope. A strobe light or stroboscopic lamp, commonly called a strobe, is a device used to produce regular flashes of light.
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