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LED Technology

LEDs have been around since the 1960’s mainly in a form of showing time in an alarm clock, calculators, displays or display panels in electronic equipment. Since then LEDs have evolved and have been adapted for many uses including Traffic lights, brake lights, reading lights, garden lights and swimming pool illumination.

For a long time LEDs were not used as sources of illumination because they could not produce white light, only Red, Green and Yellow. In 1993 a Japanese company changed all that. It started producing blue LEDs, which combined with Red and Green produces White light, opening up a whole new field for the technology.

LEDs are based on semi-conductor technology just as computers processors are, and therefore are constantly increasing in brightness, energy efficiency and longevity so that the LED capability is evolving at an incredibly fast pace. The previous generation LEDs had been used for ‘ambient lighting,’ to create moods and enhance areas with different colours, but not for their light output, until now.

Our LEDs have been developed specifically to replace energy-hungry lights with a like-for-like brightness. More widespread use will lead to massive energy savings and a major revolution in the way we think about lighting.
The effectiveness of an LED light is dependant on its components, i.e. the brightness of the light it emits, its ability to dissipate the heat (its heat sink) and the quality of its chip and driver, which ultimately allows its to be consistent in output and last for so long.

Therefore there are several types of LED lights available. Most widely available are Dot Cluster LEDs. These Dot Cluster lights are made up using many tiny LEDs in clusters; however each individual LED is dim. A cluster can emit enough light to provide ambient lighting in your garden, or to create a mood. You may also be familiar with this type of mini-LED used in Christmas or fairy lights. The Dot Clusters are there to provide coloured, atmospheric light, rather than functional lighting. There is a massive lack of brightness as well as lifetime with Dot Clusters, and they are priced accordingly.

Our LED products are 2nd Generation LEDs and beyond. They house single “super” chips (high power premium LEDs) to deliver powerful light output. A single LED Smart 21 watt LED light tube can replace a 40 watt fluorescent light with the same light intensity brightness or better. Our LED products will last up to 50,000 hours (almost 6 years), about 50 times longer than a 60 watt incandescent bulb or 5 times longer than a 40 watt fluorescent tube.
It is widely agreed that LED lighting is the way forward. They are the ultimate energy efficient lighting choice. LEDs are the cleanest and greenest light source you will find.

What is a LED?

LEDs (light emitting diodes) are solid-state lighting devices that produce light when a forward voltage is applied. An LED consists of a semiconductor diode packaged in a clear epoxy or silicon gel. The diode contains two slightly different materials: a P-type semiconductor and an N-type semiconductor. The P-type semiconductor has “holes” created by a lack of electrons, producing a positive charge. Conversely, the N-type material has an excess of electrons, resulting in a negative charge. The P- and N-type semiconductors are placed in direct contact in the diode and the region where they meet is referred to as the PN junction. When an electric current passes through the device, electrons flow toward the P region and holes flow toward the N region. Near the PN junction, electrons and holes combine and the electrons shed the extra energy they acquired from the electric current. This energy is released in the form of a photon, the basic unit of light. In this way, an LED emits visible light.

The energy of the photons corresponds to the color of the light emitted. In the visible light spectrum, blue and purple light results from the greatest energy emission whereas yellow and red light is a result of the lowest energy emission. By utilizing materials with different band gaps, engineers can alter energy emission and thus the color of light produced by an LED.