Flux spatial emission obtained from technical specifications for a general filament light source

A new, to our knowledge, method for evaluating three-dimensional flux distributions for general filament light sources is presented. The main advantages of the developed model are its generality and its simplicity. From plots of the emitted luminous intensity, usually provided by the lamp's manufacturer, in three orthogonal planes a detailed account is given of how to establish flux emission from the light source in any direction. The method involves a selective smoothing procedure, a curve-fitting step, and a final interpolation. A full model is developed for a typical commercial filament bulb (Philips, Model P21W Inco K) that is quite common in many industrial applications. A fourth intensity plot, usually provided by the lamp's manufacturer, is used to validate the model. To confirm the validity of the model further, we present an industrial application (the photometric simulation of a car taillight) that uses the modeled Philips Model P21W source. A comparison between simulated data obtained by use of the developed P21W model and measured results at our industrial partner's laboratories reinforces the proposed source model. (C) 1999 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 120.5240, 120.5630, 350.4500.