Current Issue

May 2012

  Page 1 of 5   >>

enlarge

Altman Lighting’s Spectra Cyc, a 48 or 96W cyclorama/wall wash luminaire utilizing red, green, blue, and amber LEDs. The Spectra Cyc blends colors via a patent-pending LED lens which reduces pixellization from direct view. The on board power supply allows for direct power and data input which can be daisy chained thru 12 units. The Spectra Cyc comes complete with a library of pre-programmed single colors to various color mixes.  

enlarge

The Impression from Elation Lighting. It is a moving head fixture with 90 K2 Luxeon LEDs for its source. It comes available as an RGB version with 30 LEDs per color and also comes in a white LED version featuring white and amber LEDs allowing color temperature control from daylight to tungsten. The movement range is 660 degrees of pan and 300 degrees of tilt.  

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). You hear a lot about them. While LEDs are definitely here to stay, there are still many myths about what they can do. In addition, there needs to be some education about when and how to incorporate LEDs into your lighting systems. With the costs of energy rising daily and the need to reduce our impact on the environment, LEDs certainly will play a much larger role in the lighting systems of houses of worship, both in theatrical and architectural applications.

As for architectural applications, I recently attended the Lightfair International (LFI) 2008 tradeshow in Las Vegas, Nevada, one of the largest architectural lighting shows in the world. With almost every lamp, luminaire, and control manufacturer represented, I lost count at 160 companies that had something to do with LEDs. It is becoming apparent that LEDs are the light source of choice and even fluorescent technology is starting to wane, mostly due to its environmental impact issues. While a number of states have mandated that no more incandescents will be available and that you must use only compact fluorescents, many people are pointing out the mercury in fluorescents as doing more harm than good.

I have found a number of examples of LED technology that are being incorporated into luminaire design for everyday task lighting and general illumination duties. White LEDs are coming into their own and becoming the source of choice for many lighting fixture designers. I have long maintained that the company that produced a usable white LED for general commercial and residential application would become the Edison A-lamp of this century. The potential of this technology is virtually limitless.

In this article, I will give you some of the core concepts of LED technology so that you have a basic understanding of the technology. I want to point out some of the myths of LEDs and some of the new products that are pushing the application of LEDs forward. As always, I hope that this article makes you think and helps to start some good conversations—and gives you a background on the information so you can make the best choices for your applications.

Lighting Technology Made Simple
LEDs have several advantages over incandescent lamps. They don’t have a filament that will burn out since they produce light by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material. LEDs last a lot longer by not having this delicate filament that can break. In addition, the plastic covering of the LEDs makes them more rugged than a glass bulb. The biggest advantage of LEDs, though, is that the way they produce light is a lot more efficient. In an incandescent lamp, the filament is heated up to produce light, which generates a lot of heat. A large percentage of electricity goes to heating the filament, which is wasted, because it’s not producing usable light. LEDs directly use a higher percentage of power to generate actual light and produce much less heat.

  Page 1 of 5   next page >>

Michael S. Eddy writes about design and technology. He can be reached at mseddy2900@hotmail.com.   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Post a Comment

ADD NEW COMMENT

Comment limit: about 400 words.
Inappropriate or offensive comments will be promptly removed.

Your Name/Handle: