Taming light, greening lumens
How can circuit designers ensure the safety of consumers who use non-isolated LED bulbs? Just like with other electronic devices, fuses and circuit protection components play a key role. By Usha Patel, Littelfuse A combination of legislation (such as the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 in the United States) and consumers’ desire for [...]
LED bulb cost is a factor in the adoption of LED replacement light bulbs. The entrenched technologies of incandescent and CFL bulbs have such a low initial purchase price that the first versions of LED bulbs, priced at $40 and up, were doomed to novelty status. So the constant move downward in LED bulb prices [...]
One way that an electronics company saves money in manufacturing consumer products is by using as few parts as possible, and using those parts in as many other products as possible. Cree has used this tactic to design its recently-introduced family of incandescent-replacement LED bulbs, available in two versions: 450 lumens at 6W (40W-equivalent) for [...]
[Cut to the chase: Here's the link to the Klauf Lighting project on Kickstarter.] [UPDATE: After just 5 days, the Klauf Light project has raised $21,500 of its $36,000 goal.] In a recent email conversation with Joseph Lee of Klauf Lighting, I learned about a project he’s been working on and how he’s planning on funding [...]
Much of the conversation about dimming LEDs focuses on how adaptable to old triac dimmer technology the new LED bulbs are, and how closely it approximates an incandescent bulb’s dimming. However, consumers also value consistent light temperature and quality when dimming, which can be a challenge for LED lights: LED light output can vary with [...]
Cirrus Logic has based its LED driver line on the importance of flawless, universal dimming in LED replacement bulbs. But, while dimming performance is an important spec for LED bulbs to meet, perhaps even more so is price. To meet these twin needs, the company has introduced the new CS1615/16 LED driver that combines the [...]
Because of the efficiency and ruggedness of LEDs, a popular application for them is in solar-powered lighting. Whether it be for camping, disaster preparedness, or off-grid light sources, solar power and LEDs are a natural pairing. In developing countries, where kerosene is an expensive and potentially hazardous energy source, solar-charged battery-powered LED lighting can be [...]
Philips has announced a prototype LED tube lamp that the company claims produces a record 200 lumens per Watt (lm/W), more than doubling the 100 lm/W of typical fluorescent tube lights. If this was the usual university announcement of a lab breakthrough in LED efficiency it would be pretty ho-hum, but Philips is a dominant [...]
Incandescent light bulbs produce light omni-directionally so that the light falls evenly through a spherical pattern. LED’s, however, are inherently directional: They perform like tiny spotlights. Designing an LED bulb that mimics the hemispherical light pattern of an incandescent is one of the biggest challenges for bulb designers. Here’s a simple but practical way to [...]
After looking inside the Cree 60W replacement LED bulb (here’s a link to last week’s tear down) I had several questions for Cree, so I talked with Mike Watson, Cree’s VP of corporate marketing. My most pressing questions were about the electronic circuit design – how the heck was Cree able to build an LED [...]