Warm white downlight breaks efficiency mark
Solid-state lighting developer LED Lighting Fixtures (LLF) has demonstrated a warm-white lamp with an efficacy rated at a record 80 lumens per Watt.
The Research Triangle Park, NC, company, which is managed by a number of ex-Cree employees and executives, and uses Cree die in its lamps, is planning to launch the fixtures commercially by the end of the year.
It says that they will be both "substantially cheaper" and much brighter than any LED-based products currently on the market.
Independently tested by CSA International's Atlanta Lighting Laboratory, the recessed downlight was measured to deliver 600 lumens from a residential AC-voltage power source operating at 7.5 W. Crucially, the color temperature of the emitted light was 3100 K, known as "warm white".This is the most conventional hue of white light used in residential applications, and so achieving high efficacies at this color temperature is important if solid-state sources are to penetrate the residential market.
LEDs have been beginning to take their first steps in the residential lighting market recently (see related stories), althought it is widely accepted that the technology will need to be made much cheaper before it becomes popular with homeowners.
Revealing its latest progress at the Lightfair International Conference in Las Vegas, LLF will be hoping to raise its profile among its target customers as the event.
"LLF is the first company to demonstrate a viable LED-based downlight product that will appeal to high-volume markets based on price and quality," remarked Neal Hunter, LLF s CEO.