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All Cinema Sales and Services recognizes the growing concern regarding rising energy costs and the rewards of going "Green". Therefore we would like to provide valuable information on products that can cut those costs and provide a responsible and enviromentally safe alternatives.
What are LED’s ? How do they work ?
L.E.D. stands for light-emitting diode. LED’s are small light sources that become illuminated by the movement of electrons through a semiconductor material.
Basic Parts Of L.E.D. Lighting
LED lighting starts with a tiny chip comprised of layers of semi-conducting material. LED packages may contain just one chip or multiple chips, mounted on heat-conducting material called a heat sink and usually enclosed in a lens. The resulting device, typically around 7 to 9 mm on a side, can be used separately or in arrays. LED devices are mounted on a circuit board, which can be programmed to include lighting controls such as dimming, light sensing and pre-set timing. The circuit board is mounted on another heat sink to manage the heat from all the Led’s in the array. The system is then encased in a lighting fixture, architectural structure, or even a “light bulb” package.
Low-Powered Led’s
Led’s used to draw attention to something, such as an exit sign, a power button on a computer, or a blinking light on a cell phone.
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High-Powered Led’s
LED’s used to illuminate an area. LED lighting uses multiple illuminator LED’s inside a fixture to produce white light.
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What is Solid-State Lighting ?
 Led’s are part of a family of lighting technologies called Solid-State lighting. This family also includes OLED’s (Organic Light Emitting Diodes). OLED’s (pronounced OH-led’s) consist of sheets of carbon-based compounds that glow when a current is applied through transparent electrodes. While not yet market ready, OLED’s will function like a thin film on a wall or ceiling that illuminates a room. Like Led’s, OLED technology is advancing rapidly.
Solid-State lighting (SSL), most commonly seen in the form of Light Emitting Diodes (Led’s), has the potential to revolutionize the efficiency, appearance, and quality of lighting as we know it.
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How are LED lighting products different from other lighting, like fluorescent or incandescent ?
Incandescent bulbs create light by passing electricity through a metal filament until it becomes so hot that it glows. Incandescent bulbs release 90% of their energy as heat.
In a CFL, an electric current is driven through a tube containing gases. This reaction produces ultraviolet light that gets transformed into visible light by the fluorescent coating (called phosphor) on the inside of the tube. A CFL releases about 80% of its energy as heat.
LED lighting products use light emitting diodes to produce light very efficiently. The movement of electrons through a semiconductor material illuminates the tiny light sources we call Led’s. A small amount of heat is released backwards, into a heat sink, in a well-designed product; Led’s are basically cool to the touch.
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that rapid adoption of LED lighting in the U.S. over the next 20 years can:
- Deliver savings of about $265 billion.
- Avoid 40 new power plants.
- Reduce lighting electricity demand by 33% in 2027.
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