Everyone is interested in efficiency improvement and power savings, and the increased availability of higher-performance, lower-cost LEDs is making them a very viable choice for illuminating small and large areas.
Though LEDs are just simple diodes, using them effectively is not a trivial design undertaking. Engineers looking to use LEDs must consider multiple electrical, optical, and thermal perspectives:
- Should you use one large LED or an array of small ones for the overall illumination?
- Should these LEDs be wired in series, parallel, or some combination of the two?
- Depending on the chosen LED-array wiring topology, what sort of DC/DC driver is needed? Should you use one or multiple drivers?
- What if you need to dim the LEDs? That affects the driver you choose.
- Thermal concerns are paramount, because LEDs don't radiate their heat; they retain it in the die. How will you dissipate this heat, which can degrade performance and shorten an LED's life?
- In addition to basic electrical-to-optical efficiency, do you know what efficacy is and how it affects your LED selection? What about other optical issues, such as color (wavelength), consistency across multiple LEDs, and color shifts with temperature and aging?
Whether you are actively involved in LED lighting projects, or you just want to keep up with the technology, you can attend a convenient, live one-hour webinar Thursday, Oct. 3, at noon ET/9:00 a.m. PT, where you'll get insight into these issues. You'll hear from a panel of experts, and you'll be able to ask questions. (Even if there is no time to answer them all during the event, the panel promises to answer them afterward.)
To register for this free editorial webinar Thursday, Oct. 3, at noon ET/9:00 a.m. PT, click here.