Everything you need to know about the future of lighting
Efficiency is the biggest challenge in LED technology for professional manufacturers. But do the figures declared by manufacturers truly reflect the performance you’ll get? The truth is, many factors often omitted from specifications can influence the actual performance of the system.
Moreover, it is crucial to differentiate between LED chip manufacturers and product or lighting system manufacturers, as they play very distinct roles in the value chain. The former develops the light-emitting diodes, while the latter integrates these chips into complete systems for specific applications.
In this article, we break down these factors and explore how Actilum uses advanced technology to deliver real, reliable results tailored to the specific needs of each client.
Key Factors in LED Efficiency
LED chip manufacturers vs. lighting system manufacturers
To understand the efficiency of an LED system, it is essential to separate two levels of manufacturing:
LED chip manufacturers:
These are responsible for creating the light-emitting diodes that serve as the technological foundation. Among the leaders in this category are:
- NICHIA (Japan): Recognized as the number one in energy efficiency and innovation.
- Seoul Semiconductor (Korea): Renowned for its durability and performance.
- Osram (Germany): Known for its quality and reliability in industrial applications.
Lighting product or system manufacturers:
This group integrates LED chips into luminaires, smart systems, and specific applications. These manufacturers face additional challenges such as thermal design, high-quality LED drivers, and the selection of materials for circuits. Actilum belongs to this second group, developing advanced solutions that optimize the use of LED chips and maximize their performance.
How does Actilum position itself?
Actilum combines expertise in lighting systems with components from the best LED chip manufacturers on the market, ensuring its products meet the highest standards of efficiency, uniformity, and durability.
Color Rendering Index (CRI)
CRI measures how accurately colors are reproduced under a light source. A high CRI improves visual perception and is critical in applications like storefronts, fashion, architecture, and aesthetics. However, this parameter alone does not guarantee proper lighting.
If the balance among the 15 colors of the scale used to measure CRI is incorrect, the illuminated products or elements may display unwanted tones such as bluish, orange, yellowish, or greenish hues, distorting the natural perception of the product’s colors. This imbalance is particularly problematic in sectors where color fidelity is essential, such as storefronts, fitting rooms, fashion stores, or beauty salons.
How does Actilum address this challenge?
Actilum not only optimizes CRI but also ensures precise color balance across the entire spectrum, using pure white light regardless of its color temperature. This approach guarantees that materials appear exactly as they are, without artificial tints altering their appearance, offering a faithful and high-quality visual experience.
Operating Temperature and LED Performance
LEDs perform differently at varying temperatures. Operating them at 25°C ensures better energy efficiency compared to 50°C, as higher temperatures reduce performance and shorten lifespan due to the degradation of phosphor and other materials.
How does Actilum optimize performance?
Actilum employs advanced heat dissipation systems, combining eco-sustainable thermal design with efficient thermal management in LED systems. In continuous-use architectural applications, these systems keep temperatures below 30°C, ensuring LED efficiency and durability. Laboratory tests validate performance under different conditions, delivering sustainable and high-performance solutions.
Practical Examples for Specific Sectors
LED applications in fashion: In fashion storefronts, Actilum uses high-quality LEDs and circuits with advanced heat dissipation to ensure precise colors, showcasing every garment in its true tone.
LED applications in aesthetics: Actilum provides precise lighting for skin tones and hair colors using high-efficiency LEDs, elevated CRI, and aluminum circuits for greater thermal stability and warmth.
LED applications in architecture: Actilum uses LEDs with BIN specifications to ensure chromatic uniformity and homogeneous environments, designing efficient and durable systems that operate at low temperatures.
Luminosity and chromatic uniformity are essential to achieving a balance that respects the true tones of illuminated objects. Chromatic fidelity ensures accurate and consistent colors, delivering ideal results in applications where visual quality is a priority, such as fashion, architecture, and aesthetics.
In Summary
Choosing LED lighting is not just about numbers. Factors such as temperature, materials, CRI, color balance, and the proper integration of LED chips into complete systems are crucial to achieving an efficient and durable solution.
Actilum combines transparency, innovation, and advanced technology to provide solutions that deliver on their promises.
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