The First Purely White LED Produced in Korea

It is claimed from Korea Researchers that the world’s first purely white LED (light-emitting diode) has been produced in Korea.

Soo-Young Park, a professor of organic materials for photonics at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Seoul National University in Korea, led the group, which includes researchers from the University of Valencia in Spain.

LEDs are much more energy-efficient than incandescent or compact fluorescent lightng (CFL), but the quality of light they can give a room is up for debate.

Because LEDs do not naturally produce white light, getting them to look like they do adds to their production cost, making them much more expensive than your average incandescent or CFL. Many companies have been trying to come up with different LED recipes and components to produce a nice white light, while keeping the consumer cost down.

Park and his group claim to have engineered a molecule with one orange and one blue light-emitting material that produces a white light in the visible light spectrum when put together.

In other words, they say they’ve invented a white-light-emitting diode.

Repeated laboratory tests apparently showed that the new form of LED molecule is efficient, color stable, and able to be reproduced again and again, making it a legitimate candidate for use in LED lighting.

A detailed explanation of the group’s molecular work can be found in the current issue of Journal of the American Chemical Society.

According to Mr.Park and his group in their paper, an ideal material for a white-light source should be cost-effective, stable, robust, emit over the whole visible spectrum, not suffer from self-absorption, and its pure color should be easily reproducible. With this goal in mind, we have successfully synthesized and characterized, for the first time, a white-light-emitting single molecule dyad, consisting of two noninteracting chromophores showing excited-state intramolecular proton transfer.

Long-life LED Light Bulbs Released by Toshiba

It is announced from Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corp. that its long-life LED (light-emitting diode) light bulbs will hit the shelves on July 15, 2009.

A 6.9-watt and a 4.1-watt light bulb will be available for 5,460 yen and 5,250 yen, respectively. Their lighting levels will be equal to 60-watt and 40-watt regular bulbs.

The lifespan of the LED light bulbs is expected to be about 40,000 hours per unit, about 40 times longer than regular bulbs.

Although the long-life LED may seem expensive, an official from Toshiba said the LED light bulbs will greatly reduce the carbon dioxide emissions and electricity costs.

A New LED Light Bulb with 7 Shades of White

“Any color you like, as long as it’s white!” No, it’s not a bizarro version of Henry Ford, just Sharp’s new LED light bulb. Using the included remote control one can dial through 7 different shades of white light – without any white heat.

Ambiance at your fingertips has arrived, thanks to Japan’s Sharp Electronics Corporation. According to Sharp, the new DL-L60AV LED Lamp allows users to adjust the color function of the light bulb through a range of 7 different shades “ranging from a pleasing warm white to a cooler daylight white to match the weather, the season, time of day, purpose, or other preferences.” The adjustment is done via a hand-held remote control that also allows users to tune the brightness of the bulb to suit their preference. Forget Henry Ford, what would Thomas Edison think?

The thought of a single light bulb needing a remote control may seem somewhat extravagant but Sharp intends for the bulbs to act as stand-alone lamps; one per room is enough. The DL-L60AV LED Lamp is rated at 560 lumens – tops in the industry – yet cost a mere penny to run continuously for 11 hours. One especially “bright” feature of the DL-L60AV LED Lamp is its base; exactly the same as standard incandescent light bulbs so it can be used in existing lamps and light fixtures.

I’m not done yet: this bulb is cool – literally. LED’s don’t create heat like incandescent bulbs do, which means they don’t waste energy on creating such heat.

They also differ from incandescent light sources in that they emit very little light in the 350-nm waveband, the part of the light spectrum that lies in the ultraviolet range and attract insects. This makes the DL-L60AV LED Lamp ideal for outdoor use, especially near entry/exit doors.

The DL-L60AV LED Lamp is one of nine new high-efficiency, mercury-free LED light bulbs to be introduced to the Japanese home market this July 15. All have the convenient screw-type base that negates the need for expensive retrofitting. Very cool indeed!

LED – The Best Light Bulb for Your Money

Are you still using incandescent light bulbs? As we all know that home lighting accounts for about 20% of the average home’s electricity bill. So switching to compact flourescent or LED bulbs will cut down your electricity bill.

Here are the pros and cons for LED:

LEDs
LED technology allows for a large amount of light to come from a small source of energy without giving off much heat.

Costs: At up to $100 per bulb (although many cost between $20 and $30), converting an entire home to an all-LED lighting system could wind up costing thousands of dollars upfront.

But, like computers and iPhones, LED bulbs will likely get cheaper over time, likely making them a more convincing lighting option.

“The cost of bright LEDs has dropped 95% in the last 10 years and 30% in the last three,” says William Greenhoe, president of PiSAT, a company that makes solar powered LED lanterns and flashlights.

Pros: Each LED light bulb, which uses direct and powerful light emitting diode technology, can last up to 50,000 hours.  That’s five and a half hours a day every day for 25 years.

Also, LED bulbs don’t get as hot as incandescent bulbs, which could make them more safe and efficient for commercial use, especially if they’re left on 24 hours a day, seven days a week

Cons: Converting your home lighting system to all LEDs may not be a good idea if you live in a very cold climate, says Cunningham, citing reports that Canadian consumers switching to LED bulbs eventually had greater demands on their home heating systems due to low heat output from LED bulbs.

And though some companies guarantee their bulbs for life, many LED bulbs are only guaranteed for a year or a few years.

“LEDS are just coming onto the market, so there’s not a lot of regulation right now or information on whether or not they’re going to fulfill their 50,000 hour promises,” says Cunningham.