LED – ADVANTAGES AND

DISADVANTAGES

Considerations for use

Power sources

The current/voltage characteristic of an LED is similar to other diodes, in that the

current is dependent exponentially on the voltage. This means that a small change

in voltage can lead to a large change in current. If the maximum voltage rating is

exceeded by a small amount the current rating may be exceeded by a large amount,

potentially damaging or destroying the LED. The typical solution is therefore to

use constant current power supplies, or driving the LED at a voltage much below

the maximum rating. Since most household power sources (batteries, mains) are

not constant current sources, most LED fixtures must include a power converter.

However, the I/V curve of nitride-based LEDs is quite steep above the knee and

gives an If of a few milliamperes at a Vf of 3 V, making it possible to power a

nitride-based LED from a 3 V battery such as a coin cell without the need for a

current limiting resistor.

Electrical polarity

As with all diodes, current flows easily from p-type to n-type material. However,

no current flows and no light is produced if a small voltage is applied in the reverse

direction. If the reverse voltage becomes large enough to exceed the breakdown

voltage, a large current flows and the LED may be damaged. If the reverse current

is sufficiently limited to avoid damage, the reverse-conducting LED is a useful

noise diode.

Safety

The vast majority of devices containing LEDs are "safe under all conditions of

normal use", and so are classified as "Class 1 LED product"/"LED Klasse 1". At

present, only a few LEDs -- extremely bright LEDs that also have a tightly focused

viewing angle of 8° or less -- could, in theory, cause temporary blindness, and so

are classified as "Class 2". In general, laser safety regulations -- and the "Class 1",

"Class 2", etc. system -- also apply to LEDs.

Advantages

 Efficiency: LEDs produce more light per watt than incandescent bulbs.

 Color: LEDs can emit light of an intended color without the use of color

filters that traditional lighting methods require. This is more efficient and

can lower initial costs.

 Size: LEDs can be very small (smaller than 2 mm2) and are easily populated

onto printed circuit boards.

 On/Off time: LEDs light up very quickly. A typical red indicator LED will

achieve full brightness in microseconds. LEDs used in communications

devices can have even faster response times.

 Cycling: LEDs are ideal for use in applications that are subject to frequent

on-off cycling, unlike fluorescent lamps that burn out more quickly when

cycled frequently, or HID lamps that require a long time before restarting.

 Dimming: LEDs can very easily be dimmed either by pulse-width

modulation or lowering the forward current.

 Cool light: In contrast to most light sources, LEDs radiate very little heat in

the form of IR that can cause damage to sensitive objects or fabrics. Wasted

energy is dispersed as heat through the base of the LED.

 Slow failure: LEDs mostly fail by dimming over time, rather than the abrupt

burn-out of incandescent bulbs.

 Lifetime: LEDs can have a relatively long useful life. One report estimates

35,000 to 50,000 hours of useful life, though time to complete failure may

be longer. Fluorescent tubes typically are rated at about 10,000 to 15,000

hours, depending partly on the conditions of use, and incandescent light

bulbs at 1,000–2,000 hours.

 Shock resistance: LEDs, being solid state components, are difficult to

damage with external shock, unlike fluorescent and incandescent bulbs

which are fragile.

 Focus: The solid package of the LED can be designed to focus its light.

Incandescent and fluorescent sources often require an external reflector to

collect light and direct it in a usable manner.

 Toxicity: LEDs do not contain mercury, unlike fluorescent lamps.

Disadvantages

 High initial price: LEDs are currently more expensive, price per lumen, on

an initial capital cost basis, than most conventional lighting technologies.

The additional expense partially stems from the relatively low lumen output

and the drive circuitry and power supplies needed.

 Temperature dependence: LED performance largely depends on the

ambient temperature of the operating environment. Over-driving the LED in

high ambient temperatures may result in overheating of the LED package,

eventually leading to device failure. Adequate heat-sinking is required to

maintain long life. This is especially important when considering

automotive, medical, and military applications where the device must

operate over a large range of temperatures, and is required to have a low

failure rate.

 Voltage sensitivity: LEDs must be supplied with the voltage above the

threshold and a current below the rating. This can involve series resistors or

current-regulated power supplies.

 Light quality: Most cool- white LEDs have spectra that differ significantly

from a black body radiator like the sun or an incandescent light. The spike at

460 nm and dip at 500 nm can cause the color of objects to be perceived

differently under cool-white LED illumination than sunlight or incandescent

sources, due to metamerism, red surfaces being rendered particularly badly

by typical phosphor based cool-white LEDs. However, the color rendering

properties of common fluorescent lamps are often inferior to what is now

available in state-of-art white LEDs.

 Area light source: LEDs do not approximate a “point source” of light, but

rather a lambertian distribution. So LEDs are difficult to use in applications

requiring a spherical light field. LEDs are not capable of providing

divergence below a few degrees. This is contrasted with lasers, which can

produce beams with divergences of 0.2 degrees or less.

 Blue hazard: There is a concern that blue LEDs and cool-White LEDs are

now capable of exceeding safe limits of the so-called blue-light hazard as

defined in eye safety specifications such as ANSI/IESNA RP-27.1-05:

Recommended Practice for Photobiological Safety for Lamp and Lamp

Systems.
  Blue pollution: Because cool-white LEDs (i.e., LEDs with high color

temperature) emit proportionally more blue light than conventional outdoor

light sources such as high-pressure sodium lamps, the strong wavelength

dependence of Rayleigh scattering means that cool-white LEDs can cause

more light pollution than other light sources. The International Dark-Sky

Association discourages the use of white light sources with correlated color

temperature above 3,000 K.

Source: http://www.juliantrubin.com/encyclopedia/electronics/led.html