Archive for the ‘DOE’ Tag
DOE Publishes Recommendations for Testing and Reporting LED Luminaire Lifetime
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has published a new guide, LED Luminaire Lifetime: Recommendations for Testing and Reporting. Developed by a working group created by DOE and the Next Generation Lighting Industry Alliance, the publication is available in PDF format on the DOE website at http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/led_luminaire-lifetime-guide.pdf.
The working group is under the guidance of the DOE SSL Quality Advocates program and is composed of a diverse group of experts in reliability, lighting, and LED technology. Their recommendations are a follow-up to an earlier publication, Reporting LED Luminaire Product Performance, which focuses on initial performance criteria and product consistency, and laid the groundwork for the Lighting FactsCM label.
Many thanks to this group for their hard work on an extremely complex topic. Their recommendations are an important first step toward consistent, industry-wide understanding of LED luminaire lifetime, and will assist standards organizations in their work.
To view the guidelines, or to learn more about the DOE SSL Quality Advocates program, visit www.ssl.energy.gov/advocates.html.
Next Generation Luminaires 2009
NGL has released the 2009 listing of commercial LED products you should know about. To learn more about the program visit www.ngldc.org.
Download you copy of the catalog here http://avmister.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/ngl09_catalog_final_web.pdf.
Jim Brodrick – SSL Standards Update
Filed under: LEDs, Standards | Tags: DOE, energy, Energy Codes, LEDs, Lightswitch
Leave a Comment From the desk of Jim Brodrick:
No developing technology can achieve its potential without standards and test methods to characterize product performance and safety, and solid-state lighting (SSL) is no exception. That’s why DOE has been working since 2006 to accelerate the development and implementation of SSL standards in a number of ways – hosting workshops that convene key standards organizations, working closely with these organizations, and providing them with technical support.
There’s been a lot of progress on the standards front since I last wrote about the topic, so I thought I’d give you an update on where things currently stand. The most recent development was the publishing last week of a white paper on dimming by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA). The paper, LSD 49-2010, describes current LED product dimming issues and offers best-practice guidance on application. It serves as the precursor to a NEMA standard that, when completed, will provide appropriate metrics for evaluating LED dimming performance and capability. A final step in the process will include applying American National Standards Institute (ANSI) status to the new standard. LSD 49-2010 is available from the NEMA website.
Another recently published NEMA white paper, LSD 45-2010, discusses interconnect issues for LED products and their integration into luminaires. The interconnection of LED sub-assemblies (modules and arrays) with luminaire housings and structures is critical to the success of LED products. Universal thermal and electrical connection formats will enable more effective and user-friendly luminaire development. LSD 45-2010 serves as documentation of the relevant issues, while offering recommended standardization protocols that may soon be used to develop a standard for the industry. It is available from the NEMA website as well.
On the safety front, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) has recently published a safety standard for LED products, UL 8750 “Safety Standard for Light Emitting Diode (LED) Equipment for Use in Lighting Products,” which replaces the placeholder UL 8750 “Outline of Investigation for LED Light Sources.” The new standard specifies the minimum safety requirements for SSL components, including LEDs and LED arrays, power supplies, and control circuitry, and is available from the UL website.
A number of other SSL standards are in various stages of preparation. NEMA SSL-1, “Electric Drivers for LED Devices, Arrays, or Systems,” is in final draft stages and is expected to be published this summer. IES methods for measurement of high-power LEDs and IES light engine measurements are in draft development. And additional LED definitions are currently in the approval stages to supplement the existing IES RP-16 Nomenclature and Definitions.
One of the hot topics at the recent DOE SSL R&D Workshop in Raleigh was lifetime. The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) is currently working on a method of extrapolating the lifetime of LED luminaires, IES TM-21, which is intended for use with IES LM-80. Work on this method continues, with exploration of multiple models and examination of practical applications to effectively estimate lumen depreciation beyond collected data. This important extrapolation method is a difficult nut to crack, and the limited data required by LM-80 (6000 hours) is not sufficient to easily estimate lumen depreciation over the course of the expected long lifetimes of LEDs. With technical support from DOE, the TM-21 working group is completing extensive modeling analysis to identify a reasonable method of estimating lumen depreciation as a metric of LED expected usefulness over time. Initial conclusions are expected soon.
Another topic of interest in Raleigh was the Color Quality Scale (CQS) being developed by the CIE TC1-69 committee of the International Commission on Illumination (CIE), with support from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). CQS is intended to replace or supplement the current Color Rendering Index (CRI) metric, which is not accurate for some light source types, including LEDs. The narrow-band emissions from LEDs can result in good CRI scores even when saturated colors render poorly. NIST is currently conducting critical human response studies to help develop an effective color metric that will be useful for all lighting sources, including LEDs. Indications are that NIST will have recommendations for the committee in the next few months, and a complete, usable CQS will follow after committee review and approvals.
A NEMA standard for LED binning, NEMA SSL-3, is in the approval process and is expected to be published by mid-2010. It provides a method for binning high-power white LED packages used in general white-light applications, specifying sorting, grouping, labeling for luminous flux, forward voltage, and chromaticity. This binning characterization is important to luminaire integrators to ensure that the appropriate LED packages are applied for the desired luminaire characteristics.
All of these standards, and others yet to come, will play a huge role in facilitating the development and adoption of solid-state lighting. Standards work is painstaking, unglamorous, and often thankless, but it’s an essential part of advancing any new technology. Hats off to all the unsung heroes out there in the standards trenches – your efforts benefit us all and are much appreciated.
Human Health: Light at Night
The DOE has release the following document that you should know about!
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/light_at_night.pdf
First L Prize Entry Undergoes Lab Testing
In September, DOE received the first entry in the L Prize competition, an LED replacement for the 60-watt incandescent bulb from Philips Electronics. Philips’ entry is now undergoing photometric testing at independent laboratories. This performance testing will verify that the product submitted meets the L Prize specifications for the 60-watt replacement, including:
• Efficacy of more than 90 lumens per watt, exceeding the efficiency of all incandescent and compact fluorescent sources today, which range from 10 to 60 lumens per watt.
• Energy consumption of less than 10 watts, as compared to a 60-watt incandescent.
• Output of more than 900 lumens, equivalent to a 60-watt incandescent light bulb.
• Color Rendering Index (CRI) greater than 90, which is a high measure of lighting quality.
• Color temperature between 2700-3000 Kelvin, which is “warm” white light comparable to that of incandescent sources.
The photometric testing should be completed by January 2010. Once the entry passes this gate, it will move on to long-term lumen maintenance testing and field assessments.
More L Prize Entrants Expected Soon
Although Philips has an advantage as the first to submit an L Prize entry, the contest is far from over. L Prize candidate products will undergo extensive long-term testing to verify their performance, so the soonest we’ll have an official winner in the 60-watt replacement category is October/November 2010. Meanwhile, based on continuing inquiries from manufacturers large and small, we expect to receive more entries soon. The competition will award up to three (3) winners in the 60-watt category. The first to meet all competition requirements will receive the cash prize; all three winners will be eligible for federal purchasing opportunities and promotions and incentives offered by the L Prize partners.
L Prize Partners Ramp Up for Field Assessment
The L Prize partners are busy gearing up to conduct field assessments of the first entry, which will begin in the next few months. These installations will take place at locations all across the country, and will involve a wide range of facilities, fixture types, and tasks and areas to be illuminated. Settings may include hotels, retail stores, student housing, office spaces, homes, and apartment buildings. The field assessments will evaluate the energy use, performance, and reliability of the installed products compared with the existing products, and will identify any operational or performance problems not revealed in laboratory testing. Customer acceptance of the products will also be assessed.
*Article courtesy US Department of Energy
More information on Compact Fluorescents
Got unanswered questions about CFL’s? Check out this US Department of Energy fact sheet.
Provided by Energy Star and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Check Out the New Lighting Facts Label
When going to the grocery store, many people check out the nutrition facts label on the side of the box to make sure that the food they purchase meets their needs. This label has become easy to recognize and read and we know exactly where to look for fat, calories, sugar, etc. It makes sense that we would use this labeling technique for lighting. The US Department of Energy (US DOE) recently released their final lighting facts label for use with LED products. This label includes information that a lighting specifier needs to select the appropriate lamp for a project; broken down in 5 categories: lumens, efficacy, watts, correlated color temperature and color rendering index. This is measured by the IES LM-79, which is the industry standard for testing photometric performance.
One manufacturer released their LED lights with a lighting facts label that closely resembled a nutrition facts label, even using the same font on the header! This label was not approved through the US DOE. A company spokesperson stated that they were trying to be helpful in providing this information to consumers and said they were actually very pleased that they were reprimanded by the DOE as it meant that the program works and the regulations are being enforced. While the company’s label did look very similar to the DOE label and had all the same information, it was missing two key components. In the top right corner of the new label is the brand name and in the lower left corner is the registration number of the product. This shows that this product has been properly tested and registered in order to prove that the facts they are presenting have been verified for accuracy.
Click on the images below to enlarge.
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- The Actual US DOE Label
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- The “imposter” label
Check out the new lighting facts label at http://www.lightingfacts.com/default.aspx?cp=label.
DOE Caliper Testing Round 9
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has completed Round 9 of product testing through the DOE Solid-State Lighting (SSL) CALiPER program. A Summary Report containing the results from Round 9 testing is now available for download on the DOE SSL website at www.ssl.energy.gov/reports.html.
Round 9 of product testing focused primarily on recessed downlights; 2′x2′ troffers and flat panel luminaires; 4′ linear replacement lamps; and small replacement lamps including MR16, PAR, and R lamps, A-lamps, and candelabras. An SSL desk lamp was also tested.
The Department allows detailed test results from CALiPER testing to be distributed in the public interest for noncommercial, educational purposes only. Detailed test reports for Round 9 will be available soon through the searchable online CALiPER system: www.ssl.energy.gov/search.html.
