LED bulbs are considered a new generation of lighting technology. Compared to CFLs and filament bulbs, LEDs are 4 times and 15 times more efficient, respectively. Compared to fluorescent bulbs, it consumes less energy and contains no harmful mercury. Why? Let’s also TLC Lighting learn about led lighting technology!
In ancient times, people had to use fire to create a light source. From the 19th century, the method of using gas lamps became popular and then the incandescent light bulb of Thomas Edison. Today, we have fluorescent and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). These technologies give more people access to light, while being able to save more energy than in the past.
What is LED bulb?
LED (short for Light Emitting Diode, meaning light emitting diode), is a diode capable of emitting light.
The LED chip is made up of a p-type semiconductor block coupled with an n-type semiconductor block. Of the two semiconductor blocks, one contains negatively charged electrons (N) and the other contains positively charged holes (P). When they meet, the negative and positive charges combine, creating electrons that release energy in the form of light quanta.
Known since the early years of the 20th century, LED lighting technology developed strongly.
Gradually replacing traditional lamps, such as fluorescent tubes, incandescent lamps, compact lamps. the introduction of led technology is considered a breakthrough in scientific research and life applications. Starting from the earliest low light and monochromatic light emitting diodes to multi-color light sources. Large volumes always give high lighting efficiency, but super energy efficient.
Structure of LEDs
The light-emitting element of an LED
The essence of LED is a diode, which contains a semiconductor chip mixed with impurities to create a P-N junction, P channel contains holes, N channel contains electrons, current flows from the anode (channel). p) to K-good (N channel), when the electrons fill the empty space, it produces light radiation, the wavelength of emission has different colors depending on the impurities in the semiconductor chip. LED by power range are divided into three main categories: small, medium and large.
The printed circuit of the led bulb
The quality of the printed circuit, the quality of the solder joints between the LED and the printed circuit greatly affects the durability of the bulb, in a tropical climate like Vietnam, if the printed circuit and the quality of the solder joints is not good, it is easy to cause oxygen-printed circuit breakage, no contact makes the bulb can not be lit after a period of use. In practice, one can use ordinary, or aluminum, ceramic printed circuit, so that the medium and high power LED’s fast heat dissipation.
The power supply for ultra-bright LED bulbs must ensure that it provides a stable current and voltage suitable for the type of LED used, and the components used to make the power supply must have a life expectancy comparable to that of the LED.
Heat Sinks
LED heat sinks are designed to bring the light emitting crystal to a low temperature as quickly as possible, which is especially important when designing high power LEDs if the heat sink is poorly constructed. In this case, the LED components will deteriorate rapidly and the luminous efficiency will drop significantly.
Housing or reflector
In order to ensure stable and long-lasting operation of the lamp, the lamp housing should be highly waterproof, while ensuring rapid heat dissipation.
Advantages of LED bulbs
High efficiency. LEDs have a higher luminous efficiency than incandescent bulbs.
Color: LEDs can emit the desired color without the need for traditional color filters.
Size. The size of a super bright LED is very small (possibly less than 2 square millimeters), so it can be easily arranged on a printed circuit.
Fast on/off times. LEDs have very fast on and off times (microseconds) from the moment they are affected. This is very important in communication, where requests have fast response times.
Brightness and dimness. LEDs can be easily controlled by pulse width modulation or by increasing or decreasing the inrush current.
Long lamp life. This is the biggest advantage of LED lights. LEDs have a lifetime of about 35,000 to 50,000 hours, which is many times longer than fluorescent and incandescent lamps.
High durability. LED is made of semiconductor materials, so it is difficult to be damaged by shocks.
High safety. LED is non-toxic, does not emit harmful rays, and is friendly to the environment.
Disadvantages of LED bulbs
No one can deny the outstanding advantages of LED bulbs. Nothing is perfect, in addition to the advantages, LED black light bulbs also have some minor disadvantages, as follows.
On an upfront cost basis, LED bulbs are currently more expensive than traditional lighting technologies, measured in terms of cost per lumen. The additional cost stems in part from the relatively low lumen output, plus the cost of the required driver circuitry and power supply.
Many people believe that the downside of LED lights is simply their higher cost compared to traditional lights. But the truth is that LED lights are expensive to purchase, but when you consider the long-term benefits, the benefits that come from saving electricity, and the benefits that come from not having to replace bulbs as often, LED lighting is even cheaper.
The downside of LED lights is that there is too much disparity in the quality of LED lights on the market. It is this disadvantage that confuses many people who use LED lighting bulbs about the quality of LED bulbs. Buying lamps with poor quality LED chips causes the brightness of the LED bulbs to drop rapidly and turn to another light color after a short period of use (only about 2 months). Users who know, change to a better type of LED, if not, they will not use LED lights again, but will go back to using traditional lights.
