One of the material systems for manufacturing LEDs that produce light in the red and amber portions of the visible light spectrum.

The preferred LED (Light Emitting Diode) chip technology containing Aluminum, Indium, Gallium, and Phosphorous to produce red, orange and amber-colors.

The air temperature surrounding the device.

A non-profit organization that develops voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment systems for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States.

The unit for measuring rate of flow of electrical current: Current (Amps) = Power (Watts) / Voltage (Volts)

The system defined by the American National Standards Institute for the binning specifications for light emitting diodes.

An object that absorbs all electromagnetic radiation falling on it. Because it reflects no light, a black body appears black. As a black body is heated to incandescence, it radiates light in a sequence of colors, from red to orange to yellow to white to blue, depending on its temperature. This color sequence describes a curve within a color space, known as the black-body curve.

A curve within a color space describing the sequence of colors emitted by a black-body radiator at different temperatures.

Often used incorrectly with respect to illumination as a synonym for luminous flux, an objective measurement of the visible power of a light source. The term is correctly used when describing screen brightness in a display or television. (see Nits).

See Correlated Color Temperature.

See LED chip.

An objective specification of the quality of a color, independent of its luminance, and as determined by its or saturation and hue.

See International Commission on Illumination.

A color space created by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) in 1931 to define the entire gamut of colors visible to the average viewer.

A horseshoe shaped line connecting the chromaticities of the spectrum of colors. (See Color Definition, Chroma).

The color of uniformly illuminated objects described using three terms:

Hue: Describes the situation when the appearance of different colors is similar (e.g. matching blues and pinks).

Lightness: Describes a range of grayness between black and white.

Chroma: Describes the degree of departure from gray of the same lightness and increasing color (e.g. red, redder, pure red).

The range of colors within the CIE Chromaticity Diagram included when combining different sources.

An abstract mathematical model describing the way colors can be represented as groups of values or color components. RGB (Red-Green-Blue) is a color model with three color components, and CMYK (Cyan-Magenta-Yellow and Key (Black)) is a color model with four color components.

A general expression for the effect of a light source on the color appearance of objects.

A measure of the degree of color shift objects undergo when illuminated by the light source as compared with those same objects when illuminated by a reference source of comparable color temperature. The reference source has a CRI of 100.

Color rendering index (CRI) indicates how well a light source renders colors of people and objects, compared to a reference source. See more information in the Color Quality section.

Correlated color temperature (CCT) is the measure used to describe the relative color appearance of a white light source. CCT indicates whether a light source appears more yellow/gold/orange or more blue, in terms of the range of available shades of "white." CCT is given in kelvins (unit of absolute temperature). See more information in the Color Quality section.

The visible spectrum is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye, typically between 390nm and 750nm.

The description used to describe the effect of heating an object until it glows incandescently, the emitted radiation, and apparent color, changes proportional to the temperature; easily envisioned when considering hot metal in a forge that glows red, then orange, and then white as the temperature increases.

Phosphor application process that uniformly coats the LED chip with phosphor.

A device that controls the output of color-changing and tunable white lighting fixtures. Controllers typically have software components for configuring fixtures and designing and editing light shows, and hardware components for sending control data to fixtures.

A description of a range of correlated color temperatures.

The absolute temperature of a blackbody whose chromaticity most nearly resembles that of the light source. Usually specified in Kelvin (K). The lower the Kelvin temperature, the warmer the light feels, or appears.

See Color Rendering Index.

The amount of light a lighting fixture or lighting installation delivers to a target area or task surface, measured in footcandles (fc) or lux (lx).

Chip: light emitting semiconductor.

An object with irregularities on a surface causing scattered reflections.

A digital communications protocol for controlling and dimming lighting fixtures, originally developed in Europe.

Lighting fixtures intended for viewing, rather than for illumination. For example, arrays of direct-view fixtures or nodes are used in large-scale video displays, traffic signals, and signage applications.

A light source that emits light only in the direction it is pointed or oriented.

A digital communications protocol for controlling lighting fixtures, originally developed to control stage lighting.

Electronics used to power illumination sources.

See Luminous efficiency.

An electronic low voltage dimmer, used to dim LED lighting fixtures with electronic transformers.

Organic polymer frequently used for a dome or lens, often prone to optical decay over time, resulting in poor lumen maintenance. High quality LEDs such as LUXEON contain no epoxy in the optical system and deliver superior lumen maintenance.

 

A widely accepted printed circuit board (PCB) material which is fiberglass reinforced epoxy laminates that are flame retardant.

A widely accepted printed circuit board (PCB) material which is fiberglass reinforced epoxy laminates that are flame retardant.

Describes the case where the entire production of white LEDs can be described by a single CCT and within a declared number of MacAdam ellipses. No subdivision or color binning of the LEDs is required for use in the intended application.

A photometric device for testing the luminous intensity distribution, efficiency, and luminous flux of luminaires.

A high power LED, sometimes referred to as a power LED, is one that is driven at a current of 350 mA or higher.

High-brightness is a term that is often applied to an LED but has no measured meaning and does not indicate any level of performance.

The relative light output performance at a temperature compared to the light output at a nominal or test temperature. For LUXEON products this is the relative light output at 100C Tj compared to 25C Tj. For ?Hot Tested? products like LUXEON A it is the relative light output at 100C Tj compared to 85C Tj.

LED performance testing and specification at an elevated temperature of 85?C.

The intensity of light falling on a surface area. If the area is measured in square feet, the unit of illuminance is footcandles (fc). If measured in square meters, the unit of illuminance is lux (lx).

The recognized technical authority on illumination, communicating information on all aspects of good lighting practice to its members, to the lighting community, and to consumers through a variety of programs, publications, and services.

An approach to power management that integrates the power supply directly into a fixture?s circuitry, creating an efficient power stage that consolidates line voltage conversion and LED current regulation.

Electromagnetic radiation with wavelength range from 700 nm ? 3000 nm.

The preferred LED (Light Emitting Diode) semiconductor material system containing Indium, Gallium, and Nitrogen to produce green, blue and white-colored LED light sources.

A device used for a variety of optical, photometric, or radiometric measurements.

Term and symbol (K) used to indicate the comparative color appearance of a light source when compared to a theoretical blackbody. Yellowish incandescent lamps are 3000K. Fluorescent light sources range from 3000K to 7500K and higher.

See Light Emitting Diode.

An assembly of LED packages or dies on a printed circuit board or substrate, possibly with optical elements and additional thermal, mechanical, and electrical interfaces that are intended to connect to the load side of an LED driver.

The light producing semiconductor device that may or may not be incorporated into an LED.

An electronic circuit that converts input power into a current source ? a source in which current remains constant despite fluctuations in voltage. An LED driver protects LEDs from normal voltage fluctuations, overvoltages, and voltage spikes.

An integrated assembly comprised of LEDs or LED arrays, LED driver, and other optical, thermal, mechanical, and electrical components.

A complete lighting unit consisting of LED-based light emitting elements and a matched driver together with parts to distribut light, to position and protect the light emitting elements, and to connect the unit to a branch circuit. The LED based light emitting elements may take the form of LED packages, (components), LED arrays (modules) LED Light Engine, or LED lamps. The LED luminaire is intended to connect directly to a branch circuit.

See LED array.

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are based on inorganic (non-carbon based) materials. An LED is a semi-conducting device that produces light when an electrical current flows through it. LEDs were first developed in the 1960s but were used only in indicator applications until recently.

Luminous efficacy is the most commonly used measure of the energy efficiency of a light source. It is stated in lumens per watt (lm/W), indicating the amount of light a light source produces for each watt of electricity consumed. For white high-brightness LEDs, luminous efficacy published by LED manufacturers typically refers to the LED chip only, and doesn't include driver losses. See more information in the Energy Efficiency section.

A Light Emitting Diode (LED) is a solid-state semiconductor device that converts electrical energy directly into light. On its most basic level, the semiconductor is comprised of two regions. The p-region contains positive electrical charges while the n-region contains negative electrical charges. When voltage is applied and current begins to flow, the electrons move across the n region into the p region. The process of an electron moving through the p-n junction releases energy. The dispersion of this energy produces photons with visible wavelengths.

See luminous flux.

The international (SI) unit of luminous flux or quantity of light and equals the amount of light that is spread over a square foot of surface by one candle power when all parts of the surface are exactly one foot from the light source. For example, a dinner candle provides about 12 lumens

Describes the percentage of light lost relative to the initial lumen output. See lumen maintenance for more information.

The luminous flux at a give time in the life of the LED. This is expressed as a percentage of the intial luminous flux.

A graph illustrating the predicted average light output behavior over time of a single LED or solution.

The total lumens emitted of a light source, system, or solution.

A lighting fixture complete with installed lamps and other accessories.

The percentage of total lamp lumens that a lighting fixture, luminaire, or system emits, minus any blocked or wasted light.

See Flux.

This Philips proprietary phosphor system embeds phosphor in a ceramic platelet that can be mass manufactured with very high degrees of uniformity and consistency.

The SI (International) unit of illuminance, or luminous flux incident on a unit area, frequently defined as one lumen per square meter (lm/m2).

The material, such as aluminum indium gallium phosphide (AlInGaP) and indium gallium nitride (InGaN), used within an LED to produce light of a specific color.

A widely accepted Printed Circuit Board (PCB) material with a Metal Core (MC) for better thermal performance.

The range of colors within the CIE Chromaticity Diagram included when combining phosphor based RGB sources in CRTs such a televisions and computer monitors.

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are based on organic (carbon based) materials. In contrast to LEDs, which are small point sources, OLEDs are made in sheets which provide a diffuse area light source. OLED technology is developing rapidly and is increasingly used in display applications such as cell phones and PDA screens. However, OLEDs are still some years away from becoming a practical general illumination source. Additional advancements are needed in light output, color, efficiency, cost, and lifetime.

In a diode?s p-n semiconductor junction, p-type material is positively charged. Atoms in the p-type material have electron holes ? electrons missing from their outer rings.

PC amber is a method of making amber colored LEDs from royal blue LED chips. It requires the use of special phosphors and results in a more reliable, less temperature sensitive, and more consistent amber LED.

A coating of phosphorescent material which photons from a royal blue LED pass through causing those photons to exit with a different color property.

Phosphor conversion is a method used to generate white light with LEDs. A blue or near-ultraviolet LED is coated with a yellow or multichromatic phosphor, resulting in white light.

This is the process by which photons from an LED chip are converted to a different color. White LEDs and some colored LEDs are made using phosphor conversion.

The line on the CIE Chromaticity Diagram that describes the color temperature of an object when heated from approximately 1,000K to more than 10,000K.

The active power divided by the apparent power (i.e., product of the rms input voltage and rms input current of a driver).

In an electronic device, such as an LED lighting fixture, a system of inductors, capacitors, or voltage converters to adjust the power factor of electronic devices toward the ideal power factor of 1.0.

A method, used by LED drivers, to regulate the amount of energy to the LEDs. PWM turns LEDs on and off at high frequency, reducing total ON time to achieve a desired dimming level.

The measurement of radiant energy (including light) in terms of absolute power. Compare photometry.

A phosphor conversion technique in which photons from a royal blue LED pass through a phosphor material that is not attached to the LED chip.

RGB stands for red, green, and blue, the three primary colors of light. When the primaries are mixed, the resulting light appears white to the human eye. Mixing the light from red, green, and blue LEDs is one way to produce white light. The other approach is known as phosphor conversion [see below]. See more information in the Color Quality section.

An additive color model in which red, green, and blue light are added together in different proportions to produce a broad range of colors, including white.

A method of producing white light by combining the output from red, green, and blue LEDs.

Surface-mount LEDs.

Solder point temperature as specified by ENERGY STAR? and Philips Lumileds Application Brief 33.

Solid-state lighting (SSL) technology uses semi-conducting materials to convert electricity into light. SSL is an umbrella term encompassing both light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs).

A description of the devices that do not contain moving parts or parts that can break, rupture, shatter, leak or contaminate the environment.

A bell-shaped curve describing the sensitivity of a human eye with normal vision to the spectrum of visible light. Also known as the eye-sensitivity curve.

A Standard Default Color Space for the Internet created by Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft to support a standard color space within the Microsoft operating systems, HP products, and others.

Describes the difference between two colors. A difference of one to three SDCM ?steps? is virtually imperceptible, a difference of four SDCM steps is just noticeable, and a difference of more than four SDCM steps is readily visible.

The standard unit of solid angle. Describes two-dimensional angular spans in three-dimensional space.

A color model that applies to reflective surfaces such as paints, dyes, and inks. Combining red, green, and blue in equal amounts produces black.

See Case Temperature

Controlling the operating temperature of the product through design, examples includes heat sinks and improved airflow.

The measured temperature of the thermal pad during tesing. The thermal pad aides in the conduction of heat away from the component being cooled and into the heatsink. For more information refer to LUXEON? Rebel and LUXEON? Rebel ES Assemby and Handling Guide application brief 32.

The property of a material's ability to conduct heat.

See Junction Temperature

See Thermal Pad Temperature

A type of dimmer that regulates power to lamps by delaying the end of each half-cycle of AC power. Compatible with many LED fixtures.

See Solder Point Temperature.

White-light LED fixtures that combine channels of warm white and cool white LEDs to produce a range of color temperatures.

The amount of light a lighting fixture delivers in an application, minus any wasted light.

A description of light with a correlated color temperature between 3000K and 3500K, usually perceived a slightly yellow.

The unit of electrical power as used by an electrical device during its operation. Many lamps come with rating in watts to indicate their power consumption.

Water Tolerance (Wet Ratings)
IP Rating: The resistance offered by the fixture to the penetration of solids and liquids is
indicated by the prefix “IP” (Ingress Protection) followed by two numbers. The first number
identifies the degree of protection against solids; the second number signifies the degree of
protection against liquids.

Ingress Protection / IP Rating:

IP 20 Protected against solids larger than 12 mm; not protected against liquids.

IP 40 Protected against solids larger than 1 mm; not protected against liquids.

IP 55 Protected against dust and protected against jets of water from all directions.

IP 65 Completely protected against dust and protected against jets of water from all directions,
i.e. waterproof.

The Coordinated Color Temperature (CCT) defined by a line perpendicular to the Planckian Black Body Curve and intersecting the measured chromaticity.