Shining the Spotlight: In-depth LED Product Reviews and Tests

Casambi, a pioneer in Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) wireless lighting control, has teamed up with LED technology specialist Seoul Semiconductor to offer lighting designers precise control of LED strips, modules and luminaires that use the new SunLike technology that matches the spectrum of sunlight. For the first time, this development puts true human-centered lighting in the hands of designers.

Users can use Casambi's Bluetooth-based wireless control system and app with products that include SunLike series LEDs to precisely adjust the light level, knowing that the spectrum reflects real sunlight, a key ingredient for Human-centric lighting

Human-centric lighting describes lighting designed to work with the natural rhythms of the human body. It is based on the well-known fact that the human eye recognizes the presence of a certain wavelength of blue light in the spectrum of sunlight and derives the time of day from this. In this way, light helps to regulate our sleep-wake cycles and other physical rhythms and has a significant impact on our mood and well-being.

Human-centered lighting takes advantage of this effect by adjusting its brightness and color temperature during the day to mimic natural light.

Casambi allows control of the lights through a timer or a variety of presence/movement sensors and daylight sensors. It can control lights that change colour temperature over a very wide range, and designers have the freedom to configure dimming and create scenes or animations for the application.

The new Color Tunable Series from Nichia are game-changing single surface, tunable white LEDs that allow the user to smoothly transition color temperature from warm white to cold white.

The series are ideal for many applications, such as commercial, retail spot lights and residential downlights. Retail stores can change the light color based on their display or objects in it. Families will be able to change the color temperature of their home to best suit their natural biological rhythms.

Nichia’s color tunable LEDs are available in the standard 757 package and chip-on-board (COB).

Nichia 2-1 Tunable White 757 LED 2700-6500K

The game changing NF2W757G-MT in the standard 757 package use a new patented technology to allow smoothly transition from warm white 2700K to cold white 6500K. The significant innovation is its ability to accomplish color tuning under a small, single light emitting surface (LES), thus achieving superb color uniformity with high color quality, up to 90 CRI. The 2-in-1 tunable white 757 enables thinner, sleeker optical designs, eliminating the need for bulky mixing chambers.

Nichia 2-1 Tunable White COB LEDs 2700-5000K

The Nichia COB 2-1 Tunable White Series are available in two sizes, 24x19mm (NVCWJ024Z-V1MT) and 19x16mm (NJCWL024Z-V1MT), and make posible to build lighting fixtures with adjustable color temperature from warm white 2700K to pure white 5000K.,Nichia's color tunable COB provides a smaller light emitting surface and better color mixing than other options on the market. 

The NCSU434C is a high-performance UV-C SMD LED with a typical radiant power of 110mW and 280nm wavelength. Its small size, 3.5mm x 3.5mm, and high radiant flux make it an excellent choice for smaller and more dense designs, and its 120-degree viewing angle and dimensions make it ideal for disinfection and sterilization applications.

One of the significant advantages of Nichia's UV-C LED technology is its germicidal efficacy, capable of deactivating a wide range of pathogens in the UV-C band (100–280 nm), including the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This makes it an ideal choice for use in water, near-surface, and air disinfection systems. Nichia also prioritizes both radiant flux and lifetime in the development of its LEDs, ensuring effective germicidal dosage over time. The company guarantees a minimum 10,000-hour reliability at L70 and realistic high temperatures for its UV-C LEDs, ensuring long-lasting and dependable performance.

In addition to its exceptional performance levels, the NCSU434C is also an environmentally friendly option. Its innovative design, coupled with Nichia's commitment to sustainability, makes it an ideal choice for customers seeking to replace traditional mercury lamps with energy-efficient LED systems. Nichia promises to continue to develop not only deep-ultraviolet LEDs but also higher-power ultraviolet LEDs with improved performance to help solve various social issues and assist in achieving a mercury-free and carbon-free society through energy conservation.

Nichia, a pioneer in the world of phosphors and LEDs, has commercialized the H6 Series by combining its expertise in these fields with more than 50 years of experience in "LIGHT" and a focus on the "quality of light". By utilizing a unique red narrow band phosphor technology and optimizing the light spectrum, Nichia has achieved a breakthrough in LED technology, surpassing the trade-off between efficacy and Color Rendering Index (CRI). This innovation marks the beginning of a new era of LED adoption, with an emphasis on the quality of light. The Nichia H6 Series portfolio spans from Mid Power to COB and can be employed in diverse applications such as shops, offices, homes, and healthcare facilities.

Over the last decade, there has been a significant shift from fluorescent to LED light sources; however, striking the right balance between color quality and luminous efficacy has remained an ongoing challenge. The accelerated adoption of LED lighting in Japan was propelled by the power shortage that followed the Great East Japan earthquake in 2011. The focus then turned to energy efficiency and luminous efficacy to overcome the power crisis. At the time, the technology could not deliver the high levels of luminous efficacy and color rendering found in tricolor fluorescent lamps. 

NICHIA, the world’s largest LED manufacturer and inventor of the high-brightness blue and white LED, has launched a high density UV-C LED that can help target the inactivation and sterilization of various bacteria and viruses. The new NCSU434B UV-C LED is only 3.5×3.5-mm and offers a high radiant flux of 62 mW operating from 350 mA. Nichia has also documented the germicidal efficacy.

The ultraviolet (UV) performance in the germicidal UV-C band (100–280 nm) has been documented to deactivate including SARs-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. The LED is suitable for usage in water, near-surface, and air disinfection systems, and is commercially available immediately.

Nichia UV LED product line update

Nichia is the world's largest LED manufacturer, leading the supply of innovative LEDs to all markets, including UV and UVC LEDs. Durability, brightness and homogeneity are among the major strengths of the Nichia brand. Furthermore, the fine selection allows greater added value for professional processing.

The UV portfolio of Nichia has new additions:

• New UVC LED: NCSU434A at 280nm and 17.5mW for 0.5W power
• Update of UVC LED: NCSU334B, radiant power increased from 55mW to 70mW at 280nm for 1.8W power
• New UVA LED: NWSU333B, with an amazing radiant power of 4900mW at 365nm for 12.25W power

The new Vitasolis™ technology from Nichia are LED light sources with spectrum meant to stimulate activity. 

 This development in based on recent research that has revealed in detail the relationship between light and human behavior. Humans can recognize the brightness and color of light while human circadian rhythms can be affected by different wavelengths, especially the blue-green area. For example, lighting has an effect on the level of activity throughout the day, including wake up in the morning, daytime activities, and nighttime sleep aids.

Vitasolis has a very natural white light and its spectrum contains more energy in the blue-green region, which helps control the human circadian rhythm. The spectral distribution of Vitasolis clearly illuminates the object while maintaining high light efficiency.

With our range of tunable white LED modules and strips you can easily and accurately reproduce the color shade of natural sunlight.

Tunable white light is the key ingredient of Human Centric Lighting (HCL). This type of lighting aims at harmonizing lighting with our specific needs and positively influence fundamental psychological processes such as concentration, productivity, mood, sleep-wake cycles and more

Scientifically, this shade is called color temperature and is measured degrees Kelvin (K). Thus, at sunrise and sunset on a clear day the color temperature of natural light is 2000-3500K, what we call warm white. In the morning sunlight is of pure white, color temperature of 3500-4500K, and at noon cold white 5500-6500K.

CSP, or Chip Scale Package, is defined as an LED package with a size equal to or less than 20% of an standard LED chip. The CSP product has integrated component features that do not require soldered wire connections, reducing thermal resistance, reducing heat transfer path, and reducing potential sources of error.

Lets compare the CSP LEDs from leading LED manufactures Nichia, Samsung, Philips Lumileds and Seoul Semiconductor.