High-Powered LEDs

LEDs used to illuminate an area. High Powered qualified LED lighting uses multiple illuminator LEDs inside a fixture to produce while light.

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What is Solid-State Lighting?

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Many tiny LEDs are used in
each fixture.
LEDs are part of a family of lighting technologies called Solid-State lighting. This family also includes OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) which consist of sheets of carbon-based compounds that glow when a current is applied through transparent electrodes. While not yet market ready, OLEDs will function like a thin film on a wall or ceiling that illuminates a room. Like LEDs, OLED technology is advancing rapidly.

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How are LED lighting products different from other lighting, like fluorescent or incandescent?

LED lighting is more efficient, durable, versatile and longer lasting than incandescent and fluorescents lighting. LEDs emit light in a specific direction, whereas an incandescent or fluorescent bulb emits light — and heat — in all directions.  LED lighting uses both light and energy more efficiently.

Incandescent bulbs create light by passing electricity through a metal filament until it becomes so hot that it glows. Incandescent bulbs release 90% of their energy as heat and can waste up to have the light emitted.

In a CFL, an electric current is driven through a tube containing gases. This reaction produces ultraviolet light that gets transformed into visible light by the fluorescent coating (called phosphor) on the inside of the tube. A CFL releases about 80% of its energy as heat.

LED lighting products use light emitting diodes to produce light very efficiently. The movement of electrons through a semiconductor material illuminates the tiny light sources we call LEDs. A small amount of heat is released backwards, into a heat sink, in a well-designed product; LEDs are basically cool to the touch.

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Basic parts of LED lighting

LED lighting starts with a tiny chip (most commonly about one square millimeter) comprised of layers of semi-conducting material. LED packages may contain just one chip or multiple chips, mounted on heat-conducting material called a heat sink and usually enclosed in a lens. The resulting device, typically around 7 to 9 mm on a side, can be used separately or in arrays. LED devices are mounted on a circuit board, which can be programmed to include lighting controls such as dimming, light sensing and pre-set timing. The circuit board is mounted on another heat sink to manage the heat from all the LEDs in the array. The system is then encased in a lighting fixture, architectural structure, or even a “light bulb” package.

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What is the difference between SMD and DIP LED Lighting?

In a LED light bulb, the SMD LEDs are soldered on aluminum-substrate PCB while DIP LEDs are on a fiberglass PCB. As a result, SMD lights yield better heat dissipation to lower lumen depreciation and longer life.

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What are the features of a high quality LED Lights?

To ensure that LED lighting products are of the highest quality, the lighting should display the following characteristics.

1. Brightness is equal to or greater than existing lighting technologies and the light is well distributed over the area lighted by the fixture.
2. Light output remains constant over time, only decreasing towards the end of the rated lifetime (at least 25,000 hours or 22 years based on use of 3 hours per day).
3. Excellent color quality with shade of white light appears clear and consistent over time.
4. Efficiency is as good as or better than fluorescent lighting.
5. Light comes on instantly when turned on.
6. No flicker when dimmed.
7. No off usage power draw as the fixture does not use power when it is turned off, with the exception of external controls, whose power should not exceed 0.5 watts in the off state position.