LED: the lighting technology of the future

LED technology

The LED light source (light emitting diode) is more and more often referred to as "21st-century lighting". The LED lighting is an area where the market is growing rapidly as LED lighting has recently become an alternative source of lighting for traditional incandescent bulbs and fluorescent lamps. Compared to incandescent lamps (bulb type), LEDs have many advantages: they consume less energy and their life is much longer.

Their small size, high light output, extreme reliability, low energy consumption and long service life all contribute to the widely held view that LEDs are the technology of the future for lighting. In fact, we can already predict the disappearance of the incandescent bulb, the European directives go in this direction. We also bet that the competition between compact fluorescents and LEDs will undoubtedly designate LEDs for the reasons that follow in this talk.

Advantages of LEDs:

Consumption is 1/5 to 1/10 lower than conventional sources: LED lamps produce more light per watt than incandescent bulbs; 

• it's useful when looking for energy savings.                                                               
• LEDs can emit colored light without the need for color filters required by conventional lighting methods.                                                                                  
• It is more efficient and can also lower the initial costs.                                             
• The solid case that surrounds the LED can be designed to focus the light. Incandescent and fluorescent light sources often need an external reflector to collect light and diffuse it in a usable way.                                                                        
• When the LEDs are used with a dimmer, their color does not change as the current drops, unlike incandescent lamps that turn yellow.                                           
• LEDs are ideal for applications where lamps need to be turned off and on, unlike fluorescent lamps that wear out faster when they are frequently turned on and off, or HID lamps that require a longer period of time to reignite.                                       
• LEDs, which are semiconductor components, do not damage easily under the influence of external shocks. Fluorescent or incandescent lamps break more easily if they fall to the ground.                                                                                  
• LEDs have a relatively long useful life. One report estimates the useful life of an LED from 35,000 to 50,000 hours, although the time to complete shutdown may be longer. Fluorescent tubes last on average 12,000 to 15,000 hours (although the market is currently invaded by low-cost mediocre whose lifetimes are much more uncertain), and incandescent bulbs between 1,000 and 2,000 hours.                          
• LEDs generally stop working by decreasing power rather than stopping lighting like incandescent bulbs.                                                                                              
• The LEDs turn on very quickly and have an excellent response speed. A typical red LED indicator reaches its maximum brightness power in microseconds (an interesting factor for vehicle stop lamps, LEDs allow visual time savings and a fraction of a second can be decisive in order to avoid a collision!)

• LEDs used in communication devices may have even faster response times.                   
• LEDs can be very small and are easy to install on printed circuit boards.                 
• LEDs do not contain mercury while compact fluorescent lamps contain LED-type lamps help to preserve the environment.                                                                    
• The power consumption of LED lamps is lower and their service life is longer (their durability is 10 times longer compared to normal light bulbs)

Basic knowledge about LEDs

How does LED work?

This passage is a very simple explanation of the design and operation of LED lamps. The positive current is applied to one side of the semiconductor LED via a conductive wire (anode) and a connection wire (red). The other side of the semiconductor is attached to the top of the LED chip which is the negative current (cathode) conductor. The color of the light produced by the LED is determined by the chemical composition of the semiconductor of the LED which determines it. The epoxy resin coating (synthetic lens) has three different functions: it allows most of the light to leave the semiconductor, it concentrates the light (viewing angle) and protects the semiconductor LED from the external elements.

As you can see, the whole unit is completely integrated in the epoxy. This makes the LED a virtually indestructible object. There are no loose or moving parts within the solid epoxy enclosure.

As a result, a light-emitting diode (LED) is primarily a semiconductor PN junction that emits light when the current is applied, a semi-component that controls the current without the filaments being heated, making it a very strong element. reliable.