Tubular LED or LED fluorescent ?
Can we call it a "LED FLUORESCENT TUBE" ?
Fluorescence
is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or
other electromagnetic radiation of a different wavelength.
Fluorescent
means giving off visible (or invisible) radiation as a result of
absorbing shorter wavelength radiation. It is inappropriate to name it
as LED fluorescent tube.
Operating life of Fluorescent tube lights
The life of the fluorescent tube
depends on the quality of the starter and the ballast. The life span of
fluorescent tubes varies between 8,000- 20,000 hours. However there are a
few things that you must know.
A fluorescent tube is exposed to a
lot of wear and tear when it is switched on. Estimates suggest that
switching on a fluorescent tube once can reduce its life by as much as
20 minutes.
A faulty starter is a fluorescent
tube light’s death knell and must be replaced immediately. It will try
to switch on the tube light several times in a minute, drastically
reducing its life.
During the first five minutes of
operation a 36 watt fluorescent tube uses close to 50 watts of power. It
is often cheaper to let the fluorescent tube burn instead of switching
it on and off.
If you have motion sensors to
optimize power usage, it is better to adjust them to switch off
fluorescent tube lights only after an area has been unoccupied for 20
minute
Operating life of Fluorescent tube lights
At much lower or higher temperatures
efficiency decreases and at low temperatures (below freezing) standard
lamps may not start. Lower light output at temperature below 25 degC,
with a fall of 30% around 0 degC.
In-house product development competency
Tubular LED lighting system design technology – In-house intellectual property with 3 patents granted.
Applications know-how.
LEDs and other electronic components
> Heat management
> Constant current & PWM driver techniques
> Build-in quality and workmanship from design stage
Product focus ( a few core products )
Reliability and safety conscious Proactive and responsiveness
Receptive to business partner´s requirements .
Product Positioning
Though a significant amount of
inferior quality low end leaded LED tubes has by far dominated a major
market shares as a result of relatively cheaper cost of ownership, but
their bottom line in meeting the level of lumen or brightness
maintenance, lifespan, and energy savings has never been met, because
most of them lack the basic LED application know-how.
On the other hand, the more
professionally designed and reliable LED tubes with built-in quality to
meet the above basic parameters has failed to gain market acceptance due
to higher price and the difference in ROI perceptions of the
individual.
LED current on lifespan
Since LEDs are current driven, study
shows that for each degree of the ambient temperature rise, it affects
the LED´s (including its driver) operating temperature. In order to
maintain the projected longevity ( 50 ~ 100 thousand hours) of the LED,
the LED and its driver should be designed to operate within the nominal
desired operating temperature range of 35°C ~ 45°C, for normal LEDs.
Nowadays, the junction temperature of LED wafer has also reached a new
height of 120~150ºC, therefore for this type of LED a working
temperature of 60~70ºC is no longer a concern.
Meanwhile research shows that for
each degree rise in ambient temperature above nominal ( 25ºC ), there is
an increase in the LED’s operating current of 0.3 mA.
Effects of ambient environment and LED current on lifespan
If the typical forward current is
specified at an ambient test temperature of around 25ºC, once its
ambient rises to 55ºC, the LED experiences an increase of 30ºC in its
operating temperature. As a result the LED´s operating current must be
suppressed by 9 mA ( 30 x 0.3 ).
Therefore the operating current of
the LED lamp must be kept constant despite the rise in ambient
temperature, so as to maintain the expected longevity of the LED, else
the LED’s operating temperature may reach 70ºC at an ambient temperature
of 55ºC.
When using a non-regulated driver,
the operating current could well be 9 mA higher than it was designed to
operate. With DEL’s constant current cum PWM driver this will not
happen.
The operating temperature rise of
the tube depends on its ambient condition. An average temperature rise
is expected to be about 20°C.
The best application environment is
in the air-conditioned room or a fridge / chiller. Lifespan will be
affected, to a certain extent, when the ambient is consistently at 40°C
or above, provided other measures of thermal management is in place.
Warranty term can also be different under this circumstance.
Tubes with leaded LEDs
Per our understanding, leaded LED
tube appears to give a misleading impression that it is much brighter
compared to the SMD counterpart. Since the viewing angle of the leaded
LED can be as narrow as 60 degrees which is half of that for the SMD
LED, its light output intensity i.e. lumens per square meter, has to be
higher.
However, since the viewing angle is
small, the light beam can only shine on a smaller surface area. When we
measure its lumens in an integrated sphere the reading is not relatively
higher.
Hondtech-Wins Tubular LED
Effective heat management through the use of Aluminum alloy tubing as heatsink.
Our Aluminum tubing also receive surface treatment to improve its cosmetics and environmental protection.
The tubular design is structurally reinforced to withstand normal mechanical stress but not excessive.
Heatsink material is not the thicker the merrier.
Our evaluation shows thinner heatsink makes heat dissipation to the air much faster.
Its weigh is also lighter.
The diffuser or cover is made of acrylic material which is next to glass.
The stripes on the diffuser help to reduce glare.
Direct drop-in fluorescent T8 tube replacement, if the fixture is fitted with magnetic ballast / starter.
Not possible to work with electronics ballast.
Hondtech-Wins Tubular LED Resulting Benefits
Lower operating temperature, longer LED life span.
Acrylic diffuser is not as susceptible to color change and micro-cracks as the PC material.
High brightness with better efficacy. More reliable than leaded Ø3 and Ø5 package type.
Back to back Zener ESD protection and as a LED backup.
This means that in case one LED
fails to work, the zener takes over seamlessly, so that all the other
LEDs can still light up. In other words, each individual LED failure is
self-contained, not as a cluster.
Faults are repairable.
Not necessary to engage any
Electrician to modify the internal fixture wiring. Due to low drive
current, ballast can be left intact if there is no negative impact to
power factor.
As starter becomes redundant it is
not necessary to remove it. However, our LED tube does not need the
ballast or starter to operate.
Only need to bypass it when using our HB LED tube,as PF value will drop.
The Ballast in traditional lights
All gas discharge lamps, including fluorescent lamps, require a ballast to operate.
The ballast provides a high initial
voltage to initiate the discharge, then rapidly limits the lamp current
to safely sustain the discharge.
Normally used for fluorescent lamps.
Traditional magnetic ballast & electronic ballast.
The Magnetic Ballast
Wire wound on ferrite core to stabilize supply voltage so does the brightness.
Structurally simple inductive load with rather low power factor.
Poor start up if supply voltage is low.
Major weakness being high energy consumption and flickering.
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The Electronic Ballast
Comes with various design due to availability of driver ICs from many vendors.
Gradually replacing the magnetic ballast.
No humming.
With incorporation of PFC, power factor is better.
Due to its high voltage especially during the start up it is not suitable for LED tube operation and must be removed.
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Fluorescent fixture Internal Wiring
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