Efficient lighting systems with modern LED technology

Anyone following the technical development of LEDs in the past few months will know that this is one of the most interesting components on the electronics market, with explosive development in terms of efficiency and growth.
The times when an LED was simply a replacement for an indicator light are long past.

Especially in white LEDs, every three months one of the leading manufacturers announces progress in the technology. White light from today's LEDs has attained a quality and efficiency which more than justifies their use in lighting systems.

Continual research and development of the chips, phosphor, and housing technology allow modern, innovative manufacturers to achieve efficiencies of 90 to 100 lm/W. That makes the LED far superior to incandescent or halogen lighting, making it as efficient as the latest in fluorescent tubes.

The colour rendering index (CRI) of a modern LED can be 80 to 85. Special phosphor mixtures allow values even greater than 90% to be achieved in certain applications. The LED is significantly superior to fluorescent lighting and energy saving lamps in these applications.

All well-known manufacturers specify a service life of at least 100,000 hours, many times that of any other conventional illuminant.

And after 50,000 hours, the LED is neither broken nor dead, but has rather, from a statistical point of view, only reached half of its original brightness. In many applications, it can still be used for years. Additional advantages are adaptation of the colour temperature to the surroundings (2,700 - 6,500 K), its compact design, the fact that it can be dimmed, and environmentally friendly disposal, since neither lead nor mercury is used in LEDs. Moreover, white light from an LED contains no harmful UV or infrared parts.

Anyone imagining that conventional lights can simply be replaced with LEDs will very quickly learn otherwise, for many reasons.

But if you're ready to break new ground in terms of design and appearance, you can build your future on this technology.

In any case, the use of LED technology means a readiness to innovate.

One basic problem lies in the different diffusion or spread of the light. Incandescent and halogen lights are spotlights. LEDs, on the other hand, are floodlights.

This basic difference means that a lens or reflector designed for a point light source will never provide satisfactory results when used with an LED.

The following examples show that things can be different with the right concepts.

MSC Vertriebs GmbH in Stutensee, Germany, with its manufacturer lines LEiDs (previously Alder Germany), Everlight, and Kingbright, relies on the technology of the leading manufacturers in Taiwan. Including the manufacturer Harvatek, marketed by Gleichmann Electronics, any application and need can be covered by just the right part in the optoelectronics area, at a reasonable market price.

Particularly with the newly founded German subsidiary of Alder Optomechanical Corp., LEiDs GmbH & Co KG (LEiDs stands for LED ideas), a new concept in the area of lighting technology is successfully implemented in the industrial arena. MSC handles not only the logistics and sales of products, but also lighting planning and cost-effectiveness studies for their customers.

The customer thus receives complete, comprehensive lighting design from a single source.

Alder and MSC Vertriebs GmbH have cooperated in Germany and Europe since January 1, 2006, and confirmed this cooperation with a new distribution agreement with LEiDs GmbH & Co KG in January 2009.

Complete booth at embedded world 2009 with LED solutions

The MSC booth at embedded world 2009 at the beginning of March in Nuremberg was built for the first time entirely in LED lighting systems by LEiDs.

This practical example demonstrated 100% compliance with earlier calculations for lighting planning.

This was the first and only conference booth in Nuremberg which was implemented entirely in LED technology. It used Lucid Arena area lighting, Lucid PAR 30 Spots, and the slim, single-row Lucid Profile SO light profile.

More interesting facts

Due to its consistent LED technology design, the power consumption at full illumination could be reduced from 10 kW to only 2 kW.

POLY-TECH Service GmbH in Sembach, Germany, offers an interesting solution in street lighting, with a replacement solution for pole top lights.

It replaces the lighting element and diffuser in the still widespread system of mushroom-type pole top lights. The HQL lighting element (being phased out in Germany by 2012), the ballast, and the bracket are all replaced by a modern continuous-cast heat sink with LED light arrays. Two or three of Alder's latest COB (chip-on-board) lighting arrays are used, with 10 watts of power consumption each, along with a suitable high-efficiency controller. According to Mr. Werz, head of development at POLY-TECH, the thermal management of the lighting arrays were the greatest challenge, since a maximum operating temperature of 40 °C was the goal for the lighting arrays. Replacement of lighting elements represents a much more cost-effective alternative for cities and communities than replacement of the entire lamp and pole. Development took place in close collaboration with the city of Kaiserslautern and MSC Vertriebs GmbH.

POLY-TECH says they decided to collaborate with MSC and Alder in the area of LED technology because

• LED technology is very efficient, enabling a high lighting yield
• The directionality of the light can be defined
• The long life of the lighting element means that maintenance costs are very low
• With its special phosphor technology, Alder can manufacture any colour temperature needed in practice
• MSC is working with the latest of technology with Alder's COB lighting arrays
• They have years of business relationship with MSC in the semiconductor field
• MSC provides competent and attentive advice on any question
• The entire project development for POLY-TECH was handled by only two competent contacts at MSC
• MSC Vertriebs GmbH is a German company

 Usefull Tools

When looking at energy costs and cost/benefit ratios, the ballast must always be considered. There are often hidden costs here, and most manufacturers of LED ballasts have not yet reacted to this market need with the right products. For these reasons, MSC and Alder have developed an intelligent ballast with a high degree of efficiency (> 92%) and control inputs, for example to permit automatic adjustment to ambient light levels or temperature.

In summary, it can be said that modern LED technology is the lighting element of the future. Energy saving lamps, since they contain mercury, can and must represent only an intermediate stage on the right path.

Although the costs of procurement for LED lighting are still high, in most cases the switch to LED lighting in the industrial area already pays for itself, when requirements are properly implemented and all factors are considered, such as energy costs, service life, and maintenance costs.

Amortisation time

An amortisation time of between 1 1/2 and 6 years could be achieved in projects completed to date. The cost effectiveness calculation for a mail handling and packaging centre with 1,015 fluorescent tube lights, with an average usage time of 141 hours per week, resulted in a replacement solution for the fluorescent tubes which saved 30,000 € in energy costs per month.

All manufacturers are working hard on additional optimisation of LEDs as a lighting element. The development possibilities are diverse, and the limits have not been reached by a long shot.

MSC Vertriebs GmbH and its partners already have comprehensive experience in LED lighting technology, and the expertise for this exciting future.“The development possibilities are diverse, and the limits have not been reached by a long way.” Said Frank Schimmer, Marketing Director of MSC Vertriebs GmbH.