This document discusses innovations in lighting technology, including LEDs, organic LEDs, lighting controls, and LiFi. It provides details on the benefits of LEDs like energy efficiency, lifespan, and form factor flexibility, as well as some negatives like higher initial costs and consistency issues. It also discusses factors to consider when purchasing LEDs like quality components, color consistency, and warranties. Controls standards like DALI and potential future technologies like LiFi are briefly outlined. Contact information is provided at the end for more details.

1. Innovations in Light
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2. No.1 LEDs
Transforming the world of lighting in every sector – Why?
 Energy efficiency up to twice that of fluorescent technologies
 No lamps and 50,000 life leads to major maintenance savings.
 Small size allows for slimmer, narrow & thinner luminaires.
 They are free of the restrictive form factors of lamp technologies.
 They work well in emergency mode, because they suit DC current.
 Dimming LEDs should extend life and is generally better than with T5.
 They have lower toxic content.
Those are all the good things, but what are the negatives?
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3. No.1 LEDs
The negatives
 A lot of LED products do not match the claims being made for them *
 The initial cost is substantially higher than for a conventional product.
 There is a problem of consistency of supply of components
 There are often problems of colour performance and stability
 The design process is more complex because of rapid evolution
 There will be issues of future proofing and product continuity
 Most of the life claims for these products are unproven
Overall the positives far outweigh the negatives, and even if it is considered that
they don’t , the tide has already turned towards LED ?
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4. What type of LED to buy?
1. Quality controlled chip with a small flux & colour tolerance (bin).
2. Mounted on a well designed and constructed circuit board.
3. High consistency of colour (>3.5 SDCM)
4. High uniformity of appearance and performance.
5. Future colour stability in mind.
6. High quality/efficient surge protected driver
7. A DALI dimming option
8. Emergency lighting function with DALI central test capability
9. Independently tested photometric files for lighting software
10. Warranty offered is intelligible and credible
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5. Who to buy an LED from?
The same supplier that you would buy any other lighting from. The
question of trust is always important and even more so with LEDs.
You need a supplier that can fulfil that trust in:
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Design
Product
Service
After sales
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6. Example project comparison – new project T5 or LED?
Kallista 4 x 14w Vs. Kallista LED on 2500 hours p.a. @ 10p/kWh
Fitting
Watts
Lumens
Initial
Cost
4 x 14w
44 LED
Est.
5y Cost
62
3700
134
£232
36
3500
203
£248
The 5 year total cost on a per fitting basis are similar, so
other factors are driving the growth of LEDs
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7. Example project comparison
Kallista 4 x 14w Vs Kallista LED on 5000 hours p.a. @ 15p/kWh
Fitting
Watts
Lumens
Initial
Cost
4 x 14w
44 LED
Est.
5y Cost
62
3700
134
£407
36
3500
203
£338
The commercial analysis of LEDs depends on project
circumstance and a view of the future.
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8. Example project comparison – point for point replacement
Existing switch start 4x18w Cat2 Vs Zen LED 0n 2500h . @ 10p/kWh
Fitting
Watts
Lumens
Initial
Cost
Est.
5y Cost
4x 18w
112#
2900
£18*
£176
Zen LED
35
2876
£120
£164
Payback is under 5 years on standard time
* Relamp/clean
# CELMA Class C – 71% of ballasts installed in 2000 were at or above this consumption
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9. Example project comparison – point for point replacement
Existing switch start 4x18w Cat2 Vs. Zen LED 0n 5000h . @ 15p/kWh
Fitting
Watts
Lumens
Initial
Cost
Est.
2y Cost
4x 18w
112#
2900
£18*
£186
Zen LED
35
2876
£120
£173
Payback is under 2 years on high use / higher cost application
* Relamp/clean
# CELMA Class C – 71% of ballasts installed in 2000 were at or above this consumption
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10. The Technology of LEDs is complex
1. Q/C chips from major brands including known
information on:
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Flux bins
Colour bins
Drive current
Thermal characterisation
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11. You must start with good quality LED boards
2. Quality modules with life data tested to LM-80
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•
•
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Minimum 6000 h test data for lumen depreciation
Interpolation of data to L70/B50
50,000 of operating life
Thermal information on (Tc) points
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12. Ensure you have colour consistency
3. Colour consistency
•
•
•
•
ANSI bins are not acceptable for consistency
Fine binning (3 step MacAdam Ellipse) is necessary
Bin should be close to Black Body Locus (BBL)
A.K.A. Standard Deviation Colour Matching (SDCM)
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13. Understand the issues of colour stability
4. Colour stability
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•
•
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LED colour does shift with time/temperature
US study shows substantial shift on some LEDs
LM-80 6kh shift should be 0.007 uv or less
Temperature should be within operating window
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14. Apply a good optical design
5. Optical characteristics
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Uniformity across luminous surface
Colour integrity in all directions
Light distribution / glare level
Surface appearance / texture
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15. Use a good quality driver
6. Driver quality
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Drivers are most common point of failure
Compatibility with board is important
Case temperature (Tc) data needs to be known
Interconnection quality is also important
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16. Have a DALI option available
7. DALI control for dimming
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Interoperability
Soft wiring
Future compatibility
Addressability
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17. A DALI emergency central test option
8. DALI control for emergency lighting
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•
•
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Interoperability
Central automatic test
Monitoring self diagnostic facility
Addressability
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18. Verified photometrics
9. Independently tested photometrics
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Validated technical information
Dialux photometric engineering
LM-80 life data on key components
Confirmed efficiency of luminaire
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19. A warranty worth the name
10. The product comes with an intelligible warranty
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Clear duration / usage
Clarity of terms and conditions
Not too much small print
From a credible supplier
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20. No.2 Organic (OLED) or Polymer LEDs (POLED)
What are they?
 Usually small glass elements emitting diffuse light
Where are they?
 Being used in decorative & low intensity (exit signs) applications
Why not ambient lighting?
 Too expensive, not efficient or bright enough and shorter life than LEDs.
What is their future?
Depends on who you talk to. The manufacturing is still difficult and it seems that
they are a couple of years away from producing a competitive polymer product.
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21. No. 3 - DALI controls
Why DALI?
 The widest range of drivers is available in DALI, many LED products cannot do
DSI and 1-10v is now mainly found on strip/tape products.
What else is driving DALI?
 Emergency self – test is now a common requirement and DALI is that standard
open protocol. Diagnostics, soft wiring and maintained illuminance are all
more popular.
Why not Wireless?
 Actuators are expensive and so are most of the peripherals. Effective in small
spaces with difficult wiring, but not usually cost effective in large projects.
However Harvard have a new system (EyeNut) they claim will change all that.
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22. No. 4 - LiFi
What is it?
 A method of data transfer using LED light fittings pulsing at high frequency.
What are the advantages over WiFi?
 Security, speed and segregation of information are three potential
advantages, but it is too early to say for sure.
Is it available?
 Only in experimental form, but development has been swift over the past 2
years. We may see a number of early adopters start using it in 2014.
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23. More information – Please Contact

Clearvision Lighting Ltd.
2, Elliott Park
Eastern Road,
Aldershot,
Hampshire
GU12 4TF
Tel. +44 (0)1252 344011
Fax.+44 (0)1252 344066
www.clearvisionlighting.com
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