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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Color Maintenance of LEDs in Laboratory and Field Applications

To date, consideration for parametric failure of LED products has largely been focused on lumen maintenance. However, color shift is a cause of early failure for some products, and is especially important to consider in certain applications, such as museum lighting, where visual appearance is critical. Field data collected by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) GATEWAY program for LED lamps installed in museums shows that many have changed color beyond a reasonable tolerance well before their rated lifetimes have been reached. Laboratory data collected by DOE's CALiPER program between 2008 and 2010 reveals that many early LED products shifted beyond acceptable tolerances in as little as a few thousand hours. In contrast, data from the L Prize® program illustrates that commercially available LED products can have exemplary color stability that is unmatched by traditional light sources. In addition to presenting data from the aforementioned DOE programs, this report discusses the metrics used for communicating color shift, and provides guidance for end users on how to monitor chromaticity and what to look for in manufacturer warranties. Also covered are the physical changes that have been shown to lead to color shift in some types of LED packages. As with lamps and luminaires, the data presented for LED packages shows that a wide variety of products are available; in order for specifiers and consumers to make educated choices, more detailed and standardized information is necessary.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2014

CALiPER Report 21.3: Cost Effectiveness of Linear (T8) LED Lamps

Meeting performance expectations is important for driving adoption of linear LED lamps, but cost-effectiveness may be an overriding factor in many cases. Linear LED lamps cost more initially than fluorescent lamps, but energy and maintenance savings may mean that the life-cycle cost is lower. This report details a series of life-cycle cost simulations that compared a two-lamp troffer using LED lamps (38 W total power draw) or fluorescent lamps (51 W total power draw) over a 10-year study period. Variables included LED system cost ($\$$40, $\$$80, or $\$$120), annual operating hours (2,000 hours or 4,000 hours), LED installation time (15 minutes or 30 minutes), and melded electricity rate ($\$$0.06/kWh, $\$$0.12/kWh, $\$$0.18/kWh, or $\$$0.24/kWh). A full factorial of simulations allows users to interpolate between these values to aid in making rough estimates of economic feasibility for their own projects. In general, while their initial cost premium remains high, linear LED lamps are more likely to be cost-effective when electric utility rates are higher than average and hours of operation are long, and if their installation time is shorter.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2018

Highly Enhanced Luminescence Performance of LEDs via Controllable Layer‐Structured 3D Photonic Crystals and Photonic Crystal Beads

Abstract Controllable layer‐structured 3D photonic crystals (PCs) are prepared using the combination of the Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) technique and layer‐by‐layer stacking method. They are used for research into the influence of the number of the layers on the enhancement of the efficiency of light emission from light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) and quantum dots (QDs). The luminescence properties of blue, green, and white LEDs are improved dramatically while applying such controllable layer‐structured 3D PCs as reflectors and the enhancement efficiencies are shown to increase with PC thickness. In addition, the fluorescence intensity increases 7.8‐fold and 5.4‐fold for red and green QDs, respectively, and the fluorescence intensity can be accurately controlled by using PCs with different layers. In addition, PC beads with yellow and red photonic bandgaps are used to improve the luminescence of a white LED with angle‐independent enhancement. These beads are simply doped into the phosphor without any other treatment. Interestingly, the light intensity of the PC bead based LED is remarkably enhanced. These quantized enhanced effect of light intensity on the thickness of PC layers, along with new generation of PC bead based LED, might offer a strategy for designing high brightness LEDs with energy‐saving performance.

Tian, Yu↗
DOE OSTI2018

Cr3+ doped ZnGa2O4 far-red emission phosphor-in-glass: Toward high-power and color-stable plant growth LEDs with responds to all of phytochrome

Highlights: • A high-power and color-stable far-red emission phosphor-convertor LEDs is proposed. • The Cr{sup 3+} ion as the center of luminescence not only increase choice in plant lighting but also provides far-red light. • The ZGO:Cr{sup 3+}-PiG shows a quantum efficiency of ∼52.8%. • The high-power plant growth LEDs was fabricated, triggering providing broad spectral range for plant growth LEDs. - Abstract: In present work, a series of luminescent glass ceramic plates were prepared via phosphor-in-glass (PiG) technology, in which included the phosphor of ZnGa{sub 2}O{sub 4}:Cr{sup 3+} (ZGO:Cr{sup 3+}) and glass host with composition of 30SiO{sub 2}-30ZnO-22B{sub 2}O{sub 3}-12BaO-6Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} as matrix. The structure of ZnGa{sub 2}O{sub 4}:Cr{sup 3+}-based PiG (ZGO:Cr{sup 3+}-PiG) samples are characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and energy dispersive spectrometer mapping. These phosphors are found to be embedded in glass matrix without interfacial reaction. In addition, the ZGO:Cr{sup 3+}-PiG sample shows a quantum efficiency of ∼52.8% and its fluorescence intensity maintains 68.2% when temperature reaching 150 °C. Finally, high-power and color-stable far-red emission plant growth LEDs was fabricated by ZGO:Cr{sup 3+}-PiG and 400 nm near-UV LED chip, which spectra matches well the absorption of plant's photosynthetic pigments. More importantly, it responds to all of phytochrome, triggering providing broad spectral range for plant growth LEDs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

High Temperature and Power Dependent Photoluminescence Analysis on Commercial Lighting and Display LED Materials for Future Power Electronic Modules

Commercial light emitting diode (LED) materials - blue (i.e., InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) for display and lighting), green (i.e., InGaN/GaN MQWs for display), and red (i.e., Al 0.05 Ga 0.45 In 0.5 P/Al 0.4 Ga 0.1 In 0.5 P for display) are evaluated in range of temperature (77–800) K for future applications in high density power electronic modules. The spontaneous emission quantum efficiency (QE) of blue, green, and red LED materials with different wavelengths was calculated using photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The spontaneous emission QE was obtained based on a known model so-called the ABC model. This model has been recently used extensively to calculate the internal quantum efficiency and its droop in the III-nitride LED. At 800 K, the spontaneous emission quantum efficiencies are around 40% for blue for lighting and blue for display LED materials, and it is about 44.5% for green for display LED materials. The spontaneous emission QE is approximately 30% for red for display LED material at 800 K. The advance reported in this paper evidences the possibility of improving high temperature optocouplers with an operating temperature of 500 K and above.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Research on optimization of cooling structure of LED element (The 2nd report)

This report shows a design guideline on the parts dimension of LED light bulb for heat transfer. LED light bulb is popular owing to the high efficiency and long life. However, LED element is a point heat source. Therefore, LED light bulb has some problems about heat transfer when it is used for lighting. It sometimes causes deterioration by the raise of local temperature, resulting in lowering of efficiency and shorter life. Thus the thermal analysis focused on the number of element, all parts thickness, length, and radiant heat was studied, as systematic report on the points has not been found. In this report, heat radiation was taken into account in the thermal analysis in addition to natural heat convection. Furthermore the temperature of a heat sink model for LED light bulb was measured with thermocouples and thermo-viewer to verify the calculation. The emissivity of aluminum used for the calculation was 0.4. As the result of analysis, it was found that the maximum temperature was mainly influenced by ring length, ring diameter and disk thickness as a design guideline. Concretely, longer length, larger diameter and thicker disk gave lower temperature of LED element. The temperatures of the best and worst model were around 70 °C and 120 °C respectively in the above condition. The temperatures calculated were consistent with those in experiment.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Multiple-carrier-lifetime model for carrier dynamics in InGaN/GaN LEDs with a non-uniform carrier distribution

Here we introduce a multiple-carrier-lifetime model (MCLM) for light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with non-uniform carrier distribution, such as in multiple-quantum-well (MQW) structures. By employing the MCLM, we successfully explain the modulation response of V-pit engineered MQW LEDs, which exhibit an S 21 roll-off slower than –20 dB/decade. Using the proposed model and employing a gradient descent method, we extract effective recombination and escape lifetimes by averaging the carrier behavior across the quantum wells. Our results reveal slower effective carrier recombination and escape in MQW LEDs compared with LEDs emitting from a single QW, indicating the advantages of lower carrier density achieved through V-pit engineering. Notably, the effective carrier recombination time is more than one order of magnitude lower than the effective escape lifetime, suggesting that most carriers in the quantum wells recombine, while the escape process remains weak. To ensure the reliability and robustness of the MCLM, we subject it to a comprehensive threefold validation process. This work confirms the positive impact of spreading carriers into several quantum wells through V-pit engineering. In addition, the MCLM is applicable to other LEDs with a non-uniform carrier distribution, such as micro-LEDs with significant surface recombination and non-uniform lateral carrier profiles.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

High external quantum efficiency (6.5%) InGaN V-defect LEDs at 600 nm on patterned sapphire substrates

Highly efficient long-wavelength InGaN LEDs have been a research focus in nitride LEDs for their potential applications in displays and solid-state lighting. A key breakthrough has been the use of laterally injected quantum wells via naturally occurring V-defects which promote hole injection through semipolar sidewalls and help to overcome the barriers to carrier injection that plague long wavelength nitride LEDs. In this article, we study V-defect engineered LEDs on (0001) patterned sapphire substrates (PSS) and GaN on (111) Si. V-defects were formed using a 40-period InGaN/GaN superlattice and we report a packaged external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 6.5% for standard 0.1 mm 2 . LEDs on PSS at 600 nm. We attribute the high EQE in these LEDs to lateral injection via V-defects.

Ewing, Jacob J.↗
DOE OSTI2013

High-Power Warm-White Hybrid LED Package for Illumination

In this project, an integrated warm-white hybrid light engine was developed. The hybrid approach involves combining phosphor-converted off-white InGaN LEDs and direct-emitting red AlInGaP LEDs in a single light engine to achieve high efficacy together with high color rendering index. We developed and integrated technology improvements in InGaN and AlInGaP die technology, phosphor technology, package architecture and encapsulation, to realize a hybrid warm-white LED package with an efficacy of 140 lm/W at a correlated color temperature of 3000K and a color rendering index of 90, measured under representative operating conditions. This efficacy is 26% higher than the best warm-white LEDs of similar specification that are commercially available at the end of the project. Since the InGaN- and AlInGaP-based LEDs used in the hybrid engine show different behavior as a function of current and temperature, a control system needs to be in place to ensure a stable color point over all operating conditions. In this project, we developed an electronic control circuit that is fully integrated into the light engine in such a way that the module can simply be driven by a conventional single-channel driver. The integrated control circuit uses a switch-mode boost converter topology to control the LED drive currents based on the temperature and the input current of the light engine. A color control performance of 5 SDCM was demonstrated, and improvement to 3 SDCM is considered well within reach. The combination of high efficacy and ease of integration with existing single-channel drivers is expected to facilitate the adoption of the hybrid technology and accelerate the energy savings associated with solid-state lighting. In the product commercialization plan, downlights and indirect-lit troffers have been selected as the first target applications for this product concept. Fully functional integrated prototypes have been developed for both applications, and the business case evaluation is ongoing as of the end of the project.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2013

Low-Cost Illumination-Grade LEDs

Solid State Lighting is a cost-effective, energy-conserving technology serving a rapidly expand- ing multi-billion dollar market. This program was designed to accelerate this lighting revolution by reducing the manufacturing cost of Illumination-Grade LEDs. The technical strategy was to investigate growth substrate alternatives to standard planar sapphire, select the most effective and compatible option, and demonstrate a significant increase in Lumen/$ with a marketable LED. The most obvious alternate substrate, silicon, was extensively studied in the first two years of the program. The superior thermal and mechanical properties of Si were expected to improve wavelength uniformity and hence color yield in the manufacture of high-power illumination- grade LEDs. However, improvements in efficiency and epitaxy uniformity on standard c-plane sapphire diminished the advantages of switching to Si. Furthermore, the cost of sapphire decreased significantly and the cost of processing Si devices using our thin film process was higher than expected. We concluded that GaN on Si was a viable technology but not a practical option for Philips Lumileds. Therefore in 2012 and 2013, we sought and received amendments which broadened the scope to include other substrates and extended the time of execution. Proprietary engineered substrates, off-axis (non-c-plane) sapphire, and c-plane patterned sapphire substrates (PSS) were all investigated in the final 18 months of this program. Excellent epitaxy quality was achieved on all three candidates; however we eliminated engineered substrates and non-c-plane sapphire because of their higher combined cost of substrate, device fabrication and packaging. Ultimately, by fabricating a flip-chip (FC) LED based upon c-plane PSS we attained a 42% reduction in LED manufacturing cost relative to our LUXEON Rebel product (Q1-2012). Combined with a flux gain from 85 to 102 Lm, the LUXEON Q delivered a 210% increase in Lm/$ over this time period. The technology was commercialized in our LUXEON Q product in Sept., 2013. Also, the retention of the sapphire increased the robustness of the device, enabling sales of low-cost submount-free chips to lighting manufacturers. Thus, blue LED die sales were initiated in the form of a PSS-FC in February, 2013.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2015

Evaluation of an LED Retrofit Project at Princeton University’s Carl Icahn Laboratory

The LED lighting retrofit at the Carl Icahn Laboratory of the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics was the first building-wide interior LED project at Princeton University, following the University’s experiences from several years of exterior and small-scale interior LED implementation projects. The project addressed three luminaire types – recessed 2x2 troffers, cove and other luminaires using linear T8 fluorescent lamps, and CFL downlights - which combined accounted for over 564,000 kWh of annual energy, over 90% of the lighting energy used in the facility. The Princeton Facilities Engineering staff used a thorough process of evaluating product alternatives before selecting an acceptable LED retrofit solution for each luminaire type. Overall, 815 2x2 luminaires, 550 linear fluorescent luminaires, and 240 downlights were converted to LED as part of this project. Based solely on the reductions in wattage in converting from the incumbent fluorescent lamps to LED retrofit kits, the annual energy savings from the project was over 190,000 kWh, a savings of 37%. An additional 125,000 kWh of energy savings is expected from the implementation of occupancy and task-tuning control solutions, which will bring the total savings for the project to 62%.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

WTK-LED: The WIND Toolkit Long-Term Ensemble Dataset

To satisfy a wide group of stakeholders across various wind energy disciplines, including but not limited to stakeholders in the distributed and utility scale wind industry, the new emerging airborne wind energy field, grid integration, power systems modeling, environmental modeling, and researchers in academia, and to close some of the gaps that current public datasets have, we aimed at developing an updated version of the meteorological WIND Toolkit, named WIND Toolkit Long-term Ensemble Dataset (WTK-LED), which is a meteorological dataset providing time series every 5 min and 2 km, including model uncertainty of wind speed at every modeling grid point so that users are provided with a range of possible wind speeds every 2 km. The data were produced using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF). The vertical grid used in WTK-LED includes many vertical layers in the atmospheric boundary layer to provide information of atmospheric quantities across the rotor layer of utility scale and distributed wind turbines. The WTK-LED includes: 1) Numerical simulations covering the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii, with high-resolution data being available for 3 years (2018-2020). 2) Climate simulations from Argonne National Laboratories covering the North American continent, including Alaska, Canada, and most of Mexico and the Caribbean Islands. These simulations complement the new WTK-LED to offer a 4-km dataset covering 20 years, from 2001-2020. 3) Specific long-term,high-resolution offshore simulations have been conducted separately for the US coasts, Hawaii, and the Great Lakes, leading to the 2023 National Offshore Wind data set. This report focuses on a description of the land-based WTK-LED for CONUS, Hawaii, and Alaska, for the 3-year 2-km/5-min dataset and the 20-year 4-km/hourly dataset, as well as the uncertainty quantification method. We also provide limited validation results. Based on our results to date, we suggest use cases and applications for each dataset of the WTK-LED.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS2000

Circadian Behavioral Study: LED vs Cool White Fluorescent - 0.1, 1, 10, 40, 80 lux

Currently, the light source most commonly used in animal habitat lighting is cool white fluorescent (CWF) light. It was the objective of this study to evaluate a novel LED light source for use in animal habitat lighting by comparing its effectiveness to CWF light in producing and maintaining a normal circadian entrainment. The LED and CWF lights had similar spectral power distributions. Sprague-Dawley rats (175-350 g) were kept individually in metabolic cages, under a strict lighting control: 4 days of acclimation at 12:12 LD, 14 days of 12:12 LD, 14 days of 24:0 LD (free-run), and finally 12:12 LD. Food and water were provided ad libitum. Three behavioral parameters were monitored continuously: gross locomotor activity, drinking, and feeding. Combined mean free run periods (tau) were (mean +/- SEM): 24.6 +/- 0.1 and 24.7 +/- 0.2 at 0.1 lux, 25.5 +/- 0.1 and 25.7 +/- 0.1 at 1.0 lux, 25.3 +/- 0.2 and 25.4 +/- 0.2 at 10 lux, 25.8 +/- 0.1 and 25.9 +/- 0.1 at 40 lux, and 25.9 +/- 0.1 and 25.9 +/- 0.1 at 80 lux, CWF and LED respectively. ANOVA found a significant effect (p < 0.05) due to light level, but no difference in tau between rats exposed to constant CWF light and rats exposed to constant LED light. This study has shown that LED light can produce the same entrainment pattern as a conventional CWT light at similar intensities (0.1, 1, 10, 40, and 80 lux). LED light sources may be a suitable replacement for conventional light sources used in animal habitat lighting while providing many mechanical and economical advantages.

Holley, Daniel C.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Comparison of Light Emitting Diodes (LED) and Fluorescent Light on Suppression of Pineal Melatonin in the Rat

To validate a novel LED array for use in animal habitat lighting by comparing its effectiveness to cool-white fluorescent (CWF) lighting in suppressing pineal gland melatonin. Male Sprague-Dawley rats, 175-200 g, were maintained under control conditions for 2 weeks (food and water ad lib, 12L: 12D CWF, 18 uW/square cm). Dark adapted animals (animals before lights on) were exposed to 5 min of LED or CWF light of similar spectral power distribution. Two groups of rats (LED vs. CWF) were compared at 5 light intensities (100, 40, 1, 1.0, and 0. 1 lux). A control group was placed into the exposure apparatus but not exposed to light. After exposure, pineal glands were rapidly removed and assayed for melatonin by RIA. Results. The dark-exposed control groups matched with the 5 intensity groups (100, 40, 10, 1.0, and 0.1 lux) showed mean + SEM pineal melatonin values of 1167 +/- 136, 1569 +/- 126, 353 +/- 34, 650 +/- 124, and 464 +/- 85, pg/ml respectively. The corresponding CWF exposure data were 393 1 41, 365 +34, 257 +/- 13, 218 +/- 42, and 239 +/- 71 pg/ml, respectively. Corresponding LED exposure data were 439 +/- 25, 462 +/- 50, 231 +/- 6, 164 +/- 12, and 158 +/- 12 pg/ml, respectively. Rats exposed to both experimental light conditions at all illuminances studied showed significant melatonin suppression (p less than 0.01, ANOVA). In no case was the melatonin suppression induced by LED illuminance significantly different from the melatonin suppression elicited by the same intensity of CWF light. The results show that a novel LED light source can suppress pineal melatonin equal to that of a conventional CWF light source.

Winget, Charles M.↗
NASA NTRS2008

LED Device Illuminates New Path to Healing

Among NASA s research goals is increased understanding of factors affecting plant growth, including the effects of microgravity. Impeding such studies, traditional light sources used to grow plants on Earth are difficult to adapt to space flight, as they require considerable amounts of power and produce relatively large amounts of heat. As such, an optimized experimental system requires much less energy and reduces temperature variance without negatively affecting plant growth results. Ronald W. Ignatius, founder and chairman of the board at Quantum Devices Inc. (QDI), of Barneveld, Wisconsin, proposed using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as the photon source for plant growth experiments in space. This proposition was made at a meeting held by the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics, a NASA-sponsored research center that facilitates the commercialization of robotics, automation, and other advanced technologies. The Wisconsin group teamed with QDI to determine whether an LED system could provide the necessary wavelengths and intensities for photosynthesis, and the resultant system proved successful. The center then produced the Astroculture3, a plant growth chamber that successfully incorporated this LED light source, which has now flown on several space shuttle missions. NASA subsequently identified another need that could be addressed with the use of LEDs: astronaut health. A central concern in astronaut health is maintaining healthy growth of cells, including preventing bone and muscle loss and boosting the body s ability to heal wounds all adversely affected by prolonged weightlessness. Thus, having determined that LEDs can be used to grow plants in space, NASA decided to investigate whether LEDs might be used for photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT).

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2024

LED Intensity Decay Particle Tracking Velocimetry

A particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) system is demonstrated that eliminates the need for expensive lasers and cameras, and encodes the particle tracks with a known intensity variation which allows for high-resolution particle velocity and directionality determination. Using a light-emitting diode (LED) as the light source significantly reduces cost and allows for eye-safe operation, in comparison to traditional laser systems. The intensity variation control is passive, being dictated by the capacitance discharge rate in the LED pulsing circuit. The decay rate can be adjusted with the LED circuit capacitors/resistors, while the duration of the decay can be adjusted with the LED trigger pulse width. Because the intensity decay illumination is controlled by the LED, a single long exposure camera image is used to acquire images of the particle streaks, and there is no need for a more complicated and costly double-pulsing camera. With the intensity coding of the light, a single-camera/ single-LED system can identify particles entering of leaving the illumination plane, but cannot discern the direction toward or away from the camera. By using a two-color system, three-dimensionality of the particle tracks can be determined.

Joshua M Weisberger↗
DOE OSTI2016

A light-emitting diode- (LED-) based absorption sensor for simultaneous detection of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide

Here, a sensor was developed for simultaneous measurements of carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) fluctuations in internal combustion engine exhaust gases. This sensor utilizes low-cost and compact light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that emit in the 3–5 µm wavelength range. An affordable, fast response sensor that can measure these gases has a broad application that can lead to more efficient, fuel-flexible engines and regulation of harmful emissions. Light emission from LEDs is spectrally broader and more spatially divergent when compared to that of lasers, which presented many design challenges. Optical design studies addressed some of the non-ideal characteristics of the LED emissions. Measurements of CO and CO 2 were conducted using their fundamental absorption bands centered at 4.7 µm and 4.3 µm, respectively, while a 3.6 µm reference LED was used to account for scattering losses (due to soot, window deposits, etc.) common to the three measurement LEDs. Instrument validation and calibration was performed using a laboratory flow cell and bottled-gas mixtures. The sensor was able to detect CO 2 and CO concentration changes as small as 30 ppm and 400 ppm, respectively. Because of the many control and monitor species with infra-red absorption features, which can be measured using the strategy described, this work demonstrates proof of concept for a wider range of fast (250 Hz) and low-cost sensors for gas measurement and process monitoring.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2013

Lumen Maintenance and Light Loss Factors: Consequences of Current Design Practices for LED's

Synopsis: Light loss factors are used to help lighting systems meet quantitative design criteria throughout the life of the installation, but they also influence energy use. As the light sources currently being specified continue to evolve, it is necessary to reevaluate the methods used in calculating light loss factors, as well as carefully consider the consequences of different product performance attributes. Because of the unique operating characteristics of LEDs and lack of a comprehensive lifetime rating—as well as the problematic relationship between lifetime and lumen maintenance—determining an appropriate lamp lumen depreciation (LLD) factor for LED products is difficult. As a result, a unique solution has been advocated: when quantity of light is an important design consideration, the IES recommends using an LLD of not greater than 0.70. This method deviates from the typical practice for conventional sources of using the ratio of mean to initial lumen output, and can misrepresent actual performance, increase energy use, and inhibit comparisons between products. This paper discusses the complications related to LLD and LEDs, compares the performance of conventional and LED products, and examines alternatives to a maximum LLD of 0.70 for LEDs.

Energy Efficiency↗