High efficiency flat light source could be the end for the light bulb

Gizmag ^ | 4/19/2006 | Staff

[Squawk 8888]

There's other, IMO more significant advantages over fluorescent lighting- LEDs are far more durable and they do not contain mercury.

[Gingersnap]

Yes, but will they make my glass Craftsman style lamps look good? That's my main question.

[Squawk 8888]

You can get similar products at computer stores- they plug into the computer's power supply.

[July 4th]

Oooo, all the way up to match fluorescent.

Sure, in commercial applications there's not really an improvement over fluorescent. But I don't use fluorscents in my home because the light quality sucks. If OLEDs provide incandescent quality or better and provide energy savings, then I'll finally switch.

[MinstrelBoy]

An incandescent light bulb is more efficient as a heater than a lighter.

[N3WBI3]

[JeffersonRepublic.com]

> 100 percent efficiency

I'm sure they meant to say 110 percent efficiency. :)

[Vaduz]

Your right if it were not for ben franklin we would still be watching tv by candle light.

[untrained skeptic]

Yea, nothing better to destroy your credibility with anyone that with much of a scientific background than to claim something is 100% efficient.

These OLEDs are extremely efficient and it's possible that they are closer to 100% efficient than they are to 99% at converting electricity into the visible spectrum. However, it you want to be credible you need to specify the efficiency with enough decimal places to the point where we can see how much less it is than 100%.

It's possible that there's more loss in efficiency in the wiring that is going to the lamp than in the conversion to visible light, but I still want to see the numbers.

[knew it all the time]

The real story here is a transformer that takes 5 volts DIRECT CURRENT to thousands of volts. Heretofore transformers have been Alternating Current only devices.

[Paleo Conservative]

There's other, IMO more significant advantages over fluorescent lighting- LEDs are far more durable and they do not contain mercury.

In traffic signals they also offer redundancy. If one LED in a signal array fails, the rest of them could still be working. With tradtional incandescent bulbs, if the bulb goes out the whole signal is out. A failure to show a red light, can be catastrophic for drivers through an intersection.

[Dead Corpse]

Wall sized UHDV screen... Oh my... Yummy.

[P-40]

An incandescent light bulb is more efficient as a heater than a lighter.

This is why we are looking into the LEDs. We want good light, just not all the heat. We have enough of that in Texas.

[untrained skeptic]

The heat that fluorescent and especially incandescent lighting produces also damages fixtures over time and places a lot of limitations on how and where lighting can be placed.

It also makes a building's air conditioning system work harder to offset the heat produced by the lighting when cooling is needed.

This has a considerable potential to reduce the cost of installation, maintenance, and use. At the same time it adds a lot of options for making aesthetic improvements as well.

[steve86]

So how will we know if the light is on or off? Will we have to keep a supply of cats around to tell?

As long as you don't let the cat out of the box there is no inconsistency.

[Psalm_2]

this is all very fascinating..... i converted to CFL's about a year ago & haven't had to change a bulb yet.

i'm imaginatively hopeful that eventually something similar to this product will cover all interior dwelling wall surfaces in replacement of paint. think of combining futuristic roll up plastic display screens for hdtv with the display changeability of a pc desktop. pc game 3d rendering
engines in conjunction with pc desktop customizability could produce the ultimate interior home decor device.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Efficiency? We have LED lanterns that will run continuously on four D cell batteries for 17 days on 15 LED mode or 8 days at 30 LED mode. These lanterns are super bright.

[50sDad]

The real story here is a transformer that takes 5 volts DIRECT CURRENT to thousands of volts. Heretofore transformers have been Alternating Current only devices.

Two words: Nikoli Tesla.

[P-40]

It also makes a building's air conditioning system work harder to offset the heat produced by the lighting

Especially if you use halogens! Ouch!

[2111USMC]

"I don't use fluorscents in my home because the light quality sucks."

You probably have that opinion because the good fluorescent lamps aren't usually available at your local hardware store.

Two thing to look for: Look for a lamp that scores at least 80% on the color rendering index. Also look for a lamp that is rated at least 5000 degree Kelvin on the color temperature index.

These minimal specs will give you a high quality color-corrected light. (If color rendering is important for your application, look for true "full spectrum" lamps: 91% CRI and 5900 degree Kelvin.)