LED and optics

Nowadays we constantly hear that LED is the main light source used in the sector, indeed you can read in many articles on line about what a great option it is but be aware that not “all that glitters is gold”. It is a source easily manageable but this lead to an increase in the number of companies that use LED in their lighting fixtures.

 

Far from writing scientific essays on its technical characteristics, we would like to talk about LED as light source. To use LED you have to be very careful to choose and select the right one according to the lighting fixture you are creating: type, efficacy, flux, color temperature and color rendering are fundamental parameters to take into consideration. The optical system needs also a great focus because LED emit light in the Lambertian way, which is hardly ever used as it is. Basically there are 2 types of optics: TIR lens (Total Internal Reflection) and reflector. Even in this case, according to dimensions and type of source, it is necessary to choose the correct optics or, in some exceptional cases, to create it ad hoc (i.e. lighting fixtures to project images).

 

LED have represented a revolution in the lighting sector for a some years because, thanks to the high efficacy, can substitute traditional lighting fixtures (halogen lamps, fluorescent lamps, etc.), changing completely lighting fixtures’ engineering. LED are highly versatile (little emitting surface and extraordinary management of the emitting angle) and allow to create and produce lighting fixture more and more minimal, letting light be protagonist in a discrete way.