Philips has cut the amount of power of its overhead LED tube light in half, a sign of continuing improvements in LED lighting geared at displacing incumbent technologies.
The company says it has built a prototype of a tubular overhead LED light that produces 200 lumens of light with a watt of power. Its current products produce light at 100 lumens per watt, about the same as florescent tube lights. Even though the price of LEDs will be higher, Philips thinks that they can start to displace more of the florescent tube lights that are everywhere from office buildings to parking garages based on energy savings.
The company plans to commercialize the technology in 2015 and transfer it to other products, including consumer light bulbs. In a consumer LED light bulb, that would mean that a 60-watt replacement would consume about 5 watts. “You could easily see how it will work through the entire retrofit line,” says Coen Liedenbaum, the innovation area manager in lighting at Philips Lighting. (See, How to Choose an LED Light Bulb.)
Engineers were able to get the jump in efficiency by tuning the light the lamp gives off. The LED semiconductor and the phosphor – the coating material that converts blue LED light to white light – have been optimized for how people perceive brightness. “We are trying to exactly match the eye sensitivity of people, therefore needing less energy to perceive the same level of brightness,” Liedenbaum says. The optics and other components were also improved for efficiency.
A partnership between Youngman and TCP has produced the Ecolite-H2, which it claims is the world’s first LED hydrogen fuel cell lighting tower.
Central to the operation is the Hymera fuel cell, which is manufactured by BOC and generates energy by combining bottled hydrogen with oxygen from the atmosphere to produce water and electricity.
The process is virtually silent and there are no particulate or smoke emissions as the only ‘exhaust’ is water, making the unit particularly well suited to working in environmentally sensitive or built-up areas.
The Ecolite-H2 is fitted with four high-intensity light emitting diode lights powered by the fuel cell. An ambient light detector automatically switches the lights off at dawn to conserve the bottled hydrogen; it switches them on again at dusk.
Through the optimisation of their colour temperature and the use of prismatic lenses, the four 31 W LEDs are said to produce illumination roughly equivalent to two traditional 1,000 W halogen bulbs.
Beery1 wrote:I'll believe it when I see it. I've used LED lights - they are crap.
OZ_DOC wrote:I've swapped out my halogen downlights for these http://www.enviroshop.com.au/shop/Brigh ... t-LED.html
I find them slightly brighter and as nice or better in terms of light warmth as the Halogens they replaced, the Halogens used 50w each, these use 10w. 80% reduction in power usage for lighting and avoiding a room full of little radiant heaters in summer? yes please. I think it is early days for LEDs but I have no doubt they are going to become the predominant player in lighting for the foreseeable future.
Complaints come on many fronts: The lighting is too bright; it has a harsh, cold, white hue (described by some as what you’d expect in prison); and it overpowers curtains and drapes, forcing its way, unwanted, into bedrooms and other interior rooms.
Beery1 wrote:
I'll believe it when I see it. I've used LED lights - they are crap.
You've used the wrong ones then. I've used some of those too, but I have used others that are fantastic.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
When many people look at LEDs they look at price and its incandescent equivalent. This is not a good way to go about selecting a LED bulb. There are not set rules for the incandescent equivalent. I tried a number of LED bulbs but frequently find the bulbs are dimmer than the incandescents they are claimed to replace, especially the cheep ones.
kuidaskassikaeb wrote:When many people look at LEDs they look at price and its incandescent equivalent. This is not a good way to go about selecting a LED bulb. There are not set rules for the incandescent equivalent. I tried a number of LED bulbs but frequently find the bulbs are dimmer than the incandescents they are claimed to replace, especially the cheep ones.
I bought some and thought they were actually brighter, but much more directional, which I find very disconcerting. The harshness of the shadows makes some things look dimmer, and is uncomfortable. Still it's kind of cool to buy lights that will outlive me.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
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