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comment LED Lamp Sets Efficiency Record
A prototype 4.75-inch parabolic aluminized reflector (PAR-38) lamp using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) has shattered the efficacy record for reflector lamps by delivering 659 lumens using just 5.8 watts of electricity—for an efficacy of 113.6 lumens per watt. The lamp was made by LED Lighting Fixtures (LLF). The lamp’s performance, tested by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is dramatically better than that of the best reflector-style compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) on the market. The color temperature was measured at 2,760 kelvins (similar to incandescent) and the color rendering index (CRI) at 91.2—also significantly better than CFLs. (Incandescent lamps have a CRI of 100.)
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Gary Trott, LLF’s vice president for market development, is quick to admit that this product isn’t ready for commercialization. “It was really a technology demonstration to show what’s possible with our technology taken to the absolute max,” he said. The prototype lamp uses state-of-the-art LEDs from both Cree and Osram. Trott predicts that commercially available LED products from his company will achieve 80 lumens per watt by the end of 2008.
Although current LED fixtures average 30–40 lumens per watt (lpw), the Solid-State Lighting Program at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that LED fixtures are capable of achieving an efficacy of 160 lpw. By comparison, incandescent lamps typically produce 10–18 lpw and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) 35–60 lpw.
Meanwhile, LLF met its target of selling 40,000 of the LR6 downlights by the end of 2007. “It’s one thing to have great performance,” Trott said, “but really exciting to have customers buy them and love them.” The company’s smaller LR4 four-inch recessed-can fixture should be in production by the end of March 2008.
For more information:
LED Light Fixtures, Inc.
Morrisville, North Carolina
919-991-0700
www.LLFinc.com
Cree, Inc.
Durham, North Carolina
919-313-5300
www.cree.com
Osram Sylvania
Danvers, Massachusetts
978-777-1900
www.sylvania.com
This article was produced by BuildingGreen, Inc.- www.buildinggreen.com
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