LED
L.E.D. (Light Emitting Diode)
While fluorescent lighting is the near future for lighting, Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting systems have been widely recognized as the long view for lighting. As a leader in lighting innovation, PureSpectrum recognizes the need to adapt its groundbreaking ballast circuitry for LED technology.
Until recently, LEDs were too expensive to use for most lighting applications because they’re built around advanced semiconductor material, but as the the price of semiconductor devices has plummeted over the past decade LEDs have become a more realistic lighting option for a wide range of situations. While they may still be more expensive than incandescent lights and fluorescent lights, they dramatically lower energy usage and cost can make them a better buy. In anticipation of the increased popularity of LED lighting, PureSpecrrum has begun applying its unique market driven development approach to creating circuitry that would successfully interface with LED lighting applications.
As an ultra-efficient lighting alternative, LED products have garnered heavy attention and some market traction within the lighting industry during the past two years, especially within the commercial lighting market. Many industry analysts believe LED lighting is the future of residential lighting as well. While there are several practical reasons that LED light sources have not yet transitioned into the mainstream consumer market, cost is one of the most prohibitive factors for LED products. PureSpectrum’s cost effective ballast topology may provide a path to lower costs without sacrificing performance.
How LEDs Work
Light emitting diodes perform dozens of different jobs and are found in a multitude of electronic devices. Among other things they have been used for in the past, they form the numbers on digital clocks, transmit information from remote controls, illuminate watches and signal that appliances are turned on. When placed together in clusters, LEDs can form images on a big-screen television or be bright enough to light traffic lights.
LEDs are tiny light bulbs that fit easily into an electrical circuit, but unlike an incandescent bulb they don’t have a filament that will burn out and they don’t get hot during operation. They are lit solely by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material and they last just as long as a standard transistor.
LEDs are specially constructed to release a large number of photons outward, and they are housed in a plastic bulb that concentrates the light in a particular direction. Most of the light from the diode bounces off the sides of the bulb, traveling on through the rounded end.
The main advantage for LEDs is energy efficiency, making them the darlings of the national media and the energy conservation movement. In a conventional incandescent bulb, the production of light generates a substantial amount of unproductive heat as the filament is warmed. This wasted energy isn’t being used to produce visible light. LEDs generate very little heat and use a much higher percentage of the electrical power provided to generate light. The result is a considerable reduction in the amount of energy used to produce light.