The future of lighting is not the compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) but Solid-State Lighting (SSL). Although CFLs are touted by many to be having a great future but they are not as promising as the SSL as they are massive, feature mercury, and are a makeshift in applications that ask for incessant lighting to trim down energy demands. SSl light sources have an edge over the CFLs as they are sturdy and tout a longer runtime.
What is Solid state lighting?
Solid state lighting (SSL) point to a kind of light source that make use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), or polymer light-emitting diodes (PLED) as sources of illumination instead of the electrical filaments or gas, which are used by incandescent, fluorescent, noble gas, or chemical lamp. SSL outshines traditional lighting system as it generates visible light with abridged heat generation. Moreover, the solid-state nature of such light sources make them highly resistant to wear and tear.
Technology behind SSL:
Primarily, the light source in SSL is a light emitting diode (LED). A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits incoherent narrow-spectrum light. Basically, it’s a diode that can rectify AC current but accurate geometrical shape and the applied voltage can make the diode to generate light too. Conventional LEDs are made from a variety of inorganic semiconductor materials and produce different types of colors. LED effect is a form of electroluminescence (EL), which is an optical and electrical phenomenon where a material emanates light when an electric current is passed through it.
Well, the Electroluminescent (EL) and Light-Emitting Diode (LED) technology is now almost a decade old but some new innovations and progressions in the field has paved the way for a new lighting industry. You can find a plenty of LED devices on the shelves such as bars, bulbs, and see-through surfaces that emit light on command. For example, Ceelite’s Light Emitting Capacitor (LEC) electroluminescent technology is currently being employed in applications from illumination to signage.
Let’s see how LED scores over incandescent bulbs and fluorescent lamps. Incandescent bulbs are poor as they turn out less than 5% of the consumed electricity into light while the fluorescent lamps take the percentage to 25. But, solid state lighting devices make use of 50% of the energy they received and moreover, they are able to offer thespian increase in life time (e.g. a multiple of 10,000 hours versus 1000 hours for an incandescent bulb)..
Current Advancements:
Recently, researchers at Arizona State University (ASU) claimed to have developed organic lighting devices which are 100% efficient. The researchers hope that it will be possible to fabricate these solid-state lighting devices based on OLED technology at low cost. Moreover, such lighting devices should be good for the environment. Well, the LEDs are nowadays being widely used in diverse fields. SSL is now being recognized by many governments as the future of lighting industry. Lately, The US Department of Energy (DoE) selected eight solid-state lighting (SSL) research and product development projects for total funding of $13.3 million. And yes, an association of Filtronic, Forge Europa, QinetiQ, Thomas Swan and Cambridge University, has won a three year contract (nearly £3 million) to develop techniques to low cost LEDs for solid state lighting. The Solid State Lighting souk is moving at a pace towards innovative, bigger and ever brighter components. So, the future is bright and promising for SSL technology.
Need of the hour:
Our infrastructure has become so rigid that we are not ready to accept any sort of change. But, we can’t stick to the older technologies when we have new better things available at hand. We do need some set of standards to aid the growth of solid-state lighting industry. Lack of standards has always proved to be a reason for slow growth of any sector. One of the major problems faced by the customers is the confusion elated to the specifications of LEDs, LED sub-assemblies and LED lighting systems. So, we need some ’standards’ in the swiftly growing LED illumination industry to fend off the hype and negative reactions.
Via: Dvorak
