New High Performance LED Lighting Systems

It is reported that AeroLED sponsored a media lunch today at AirVenture 2009 to introduce their new line of high performance LED lighting solutions. Based on super-bright LED technology, which is fully replaceable with original lighting systems, pronounced “aerolead” the company produces retrofit and OEM lighting options.

Nate Calvin of AeroLED reported the company’s product is a direct replacement for existing incandescent, or “legacy systems” products now in the field, including a replacement for the GE 4509 landing light bulb. Components include options for replacement of navigation and strobe units as well.

Calvin said all components exceed FAR requirements for lumen output. Stating that incandescent systems operate in the 2500 Kelvin range whereas the AeroLED product operates in the 6500 Kelvin range, providing a more white colored and intense light output. The lighting is directional for the strobe application, more closely matching the diminishing requirements from horizontal to vertical plane of the FAR’s. The units are also on the order of 4 times lighter than traditional systems with significantly lower amperage draw.

Initial products were offered to the experimental and homebuilt markets to facilitate a positive cash flow and to support FAR 23 and TSO testing requirements for certified systems. An added benefit to this business approach was the opportunity to receive feedback from the initial customer base. AeroLED also allowed OEM customers to provide opinions for improvements. Calvin stated that all the feedback was considered key to current product line development, resulting in a superior product.

The Pulsar series is the first all LED nav and strobe light combination according to Calvin. The units are ruggedly constructed having gone through complete and thorough vibration and abuse testing, including installation on aircraft equipped with diesel engines that destroyed incandescent bulbs in as little as 10 hours. The units are hermetically sealed and are displayed under water to demonstrate their durability for all weather operation. Calvin quipped that the underwater display was a bit “cheesy” but proved to be an eye catcher and brought people over to investigate. Testing on the units has indicated a life expectancy of around 60,000 hours, well beyond most airframe lifetimes. While not specifically stating a price for the components, Calvin said they were comparable to costs of traditional lighting systems when replacement bulbs and power supplies over the life of the aircraft were factored in.

All AeroLED units have built in overtemp protection and offer very low RF emmisions and will not interfere with radio operations. Operating on 9-36 volts the systems do not dim, as incandescent lights do, at lower voltage levels and deliver the same lumen output regardless of input voltage.

AeroLED is committed to providing a see and avoid product. The company believes, and is receiving encouraging reports, that their system allows much greater visibility at a longer range than any other system currently available. All systems have wigwag capability allowing spotting far in advance of typical legacy systems and AeroLED systems are more visible in daytime than other systems. PMA certification is expected by year end.

Mini LED Camping Light

A camping lantern, nicessity for home use or car camping or backpacking alike, which is so small and light it fits right on your keychain via a carabiner. Weighing under an ounce and measuring one by two inches, the LED Mini is a perfect back-up light. Throw this in your pocket and forget all about it until the sun dips below the craggy peaks and darkness engulfs you. Then turn it on and light up your tent; though it’s small, it outputs 3.5 lumens and is supposedly capable of lighting up an entire tent. Luckily, since it’ll be most at home in the backcountry, it will likely just have to provide enough juice for a slimmed-down, ultralight solo or two-man.

If you find yourself in a sticky situation where mere light simply won’t bail you out, the LED Mini also includes a strobe setting for catching the attention of other campers. It can run continuously for 25 hours (or 50 on strobe) with the two included 3 volt CR2032 batteries. It may not provide a spotlight for your acoustic guitar solo, but for $6.99 it’ll certainly be a valuable addition to your gear closet.

Tiny LED Serve in Automobile

It is reported that a tiny new LED power source could serve in applications ranging from automotive interiors to architectural fixtures to television backlights.

The device, measuring a scant 3.5 x 3.5 x 1.2 mm, could carve out a special niche for itself in hybrid vehicles and electric cars, where packaging is tight and power budgets are tighter, its manufacturer says.

“Due to its small size, you can put just one or two of them in an appliance and there’s still plenty of light,” says Rodney Bailey, vice president of optoelectronic components for TT electronics OPTEK Technology, maker of the new power source. “It’s attractive for electric hybrids because those vehicles need to use the bare minimum of current.”

Known as the OVS5MxBCR4 Series LED package, the new product dissipates a half a Watt of power, but is approximately half the size of other half-Watt power sources. Moreover, its low power-draw means it needs no thermal management, Optek engineers say.

“There’s not enough power coming out of it to merit thermal management,” Bailey says.

Optek is positioning the device in a “sweet spot” between 1W packages – which draw twice as much power and need thermal management – and very small devices that don’t offer sufficient light intensity for many interior applications. The company says the device is already been designed into several forthcoming hybrid electric vehicle programs for interior lighting applications. There, the low power requirements are making it an attractive alternative to incandescent bulbs, which can draw as much as 6A. In contrast, the OVS5MxBCR4 Series LED package uses about one-tenth of that. The use of the device in such applications is consistent with a trend toward growing use of LEDs in the auto industry.

Optek says power dissipation for the device at 150 mA is 0.48W for white, warm white and blue LEDs, 0.51W for a green deice and 0.33W for red, amber and yellow packages. Luminous flux for white, warm white, blue and green LEDs is 25, 25, 6 and 25 lm, respectively.

Applications include automotive interiors and exteriors, architectural indoor and outdoor lighting, mobile appliances and display backlighting, especially in televisions.

As the time goes by, the tiny LED should be popular in applications where they need good light.

Philips Find Ways to Closes Yellow LED Gap

The yellow light-emitting diode (LED) gap always trouble Philips till now. Recently, researchers with Philips Lumileds (San Jose, CA) have developed a monochromatic nitride diode to closes the gap. The phosphor-converted (PC) amber LED demonstrated by Regina Mueller-Mach and her colleagues uses the down-conversion of blue light from an indium-gallium-nitride (InGaN) LED to longer-wavelength light by a phosphor, in a variation of a well-established process for producing cold or warm white light from blue LED light (see also “Fluorescent microspheres create white-light LEDs”).

Monochromatic light-emitting diodes cover a large part of the visible spectrum with high efficiency. For blue light, nitride diodes achieve external quantum efficiencies in excess of 65%. For red light, phosphor diodes achieve efficiencies of approximately 50%. However, so far no highly efficient monochromatic LEDs have been available for the “yellow gap” at around 560 nm.

Leveraging previous research on warm white light, the researchers succeeded in down-converting blue LED light into monochromatic amber light with a 595 nm wavelength and a color purity of 98.7%. The external quantum efficiency of the PC amber LED is at 30-40%, depending on temperature. Compared to direct amber LEDs, the new PC amber LED is two to five times as bright. It achieves a light output of 70 lumens at a 350 mA current.

There are numerous applications for the LUXEON Rebel PC Amber LED. It can be used in yellow traffic lights or signals as well as in cars’ turn signals or warning lights for construction sites. They could also be used in consumer electronics and their high efficiency makes them inexpensive.

LED Street Lights Testing in California

The LED Street Lights Testing was hold in California. As we all know that high-efficiency white LED street lights will cut energy use by 30 percent to 60 percent every year.

Garden Grove is testing four 250-watt LED street lights on Civic Center Drive at Acacia Parkway, said Senior Analyst Chau Vu. Whether the city will switch over to LED will depend on how this testing goes, she said.

“In the next six months to one year, we’ll look at how much wattage these lights use up,” she said. “If it does what they say it can do, then it’s definitely worth it for the city. These lights can save a lot in terms of energy and money.”

LED lights are also easy to maintain because they last longer, Vu said. The downside is that they cost significantly more. While a regular street light costs $300 a fixture, LED lights cost about $2,000 a fixture.

LED lights are constructed with 100 percent recycled aluminum, contain no mercury or lead and do not require hazardous waste disposal handling. The city of Los Angeles is testing 100-watt LED lights.

Garden Grove was one of the first cities in the state to install LED lights on traffic signals. These test lights are manufactured by a company called Leotek and were donated to the city by South Coast Lighting.

So, if the tests prove successful, the city should do their best to change all street lights to LED.