December 2008 Archives

I read today the newest addition to the preliminary Energy Star specification on low bay lighting, this preliminary specification is an average of about 30 existing luminaries.

They are therefore trying to get LED lights to match the current technology.

This cannot be right as with the use of correct optics LED low bay lighting is able to meet much higher levels of evenness therefore not needing to accept the hotspots directly below each light unit. Thus the light fittings will be more efficient overall making the cost of ownership calculations even easier to prove that the new LED technology is the right way forward.

If I didn't know better I would say they want to keep the old technology! (That is cynical of me)

Anyway I trust you are all enjoying the LED festive lights that we see every ware and I wish you all a Happy Christmas and a safe New Year and here's to re-enlighting the world with LED's in the course of 2009.  

At least this makes it easier for us optics designers/manufactures in having a few more common parts going forward. We saw the first of this when Cree brought out the XP which as at least an optical match for the Rebel.

The question I leave you all with is this good or bad for the industry?

Please keep an eye on www.carclo-optics.com for optics to match the new Edison Fedral as we now have optics for the Luxeon Rebel and the Cree XP.

Lighting is definitely one of the most interesting areas of the electronics industry at the moment. After hardly any major changes in the near century and a half since Swan/Edison/A N Other first commercialised the concept, the humble light bulb now seems doomed unless it can be made efficient enough to compete with other lighting technologies.

While there are efforts to make light bulbs more efficient, other technologies are trying hard to replace them. The most promising of these is LED technology which is now in a position to fill many of the roles that are traditionally filled by incandescent lighting.

Manufacturers such as Cree and Lumileds are battling to have the top performing power LED, with regular announcements claiming either the best performance, or that LEDs have proven themselves for another new application, dental lighting and street lighting being the latest according to Lumileds.

•  Standardisation a way forward for LED devices.

A key concern amongst many Lighting manufacturers is the lack of standards in LED  lighting technology. This starts at device level, when if you pick a particular LED device and design the associated hardware - PCB's, optics, drivers - it becomes an expensive exercise to then swap to an alternative LED - which may offer an improved performance, and reduced costs.

Those cheeky chinese manufacturers Edison Opto have answered those concerns and launched the Edixeon - FEDRAL which to my eyes looks very similar to the Luxeon - REBEL.

The marketing team has even followed a similar theme in the product naming

Some say that the price of the Fedral may be significantly less than the Rebel, and that it's now widely available - well that's one difference at least !

Now who's the real rebel in all this..

Although many people are new to the world of high power LEDs, it's actually nearly 10 years since the first Luxeon high powered LEDs appeared on the market. If you want to see the evolution of LEDs from humble indicator to main stream lighting potential - visit the online LED MUSEUM

http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/ledleft.htm

I have some early examples of Lumileds in the shed somewhere - I'm hoping one day i can take them along to the antiques roadshow and cash in - some say that LED manufacturers take pricing advice from the antiques roadshow

Welcome, indeed, to Electronics Weekly's new LED blog, featuring the development of LED technology in general and LED lighting in particular. We hope it provides useful, informative and entertaining content. Please feel free to contribute with comments on the posts.

We're delighted to have as bloggers four knowledgeable experts and industry insiders from Dialight, Carclo, Farnell and SKK Lighting - that's Gordon Routledge, Ian Bryant, Alistair Winning and Oliver Sowerby, respectively.

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