Anyone listening who has a solution for using LEDs for indoor plant growth (see www.atlanticlivingwalls.ca). I am looking for recommendations on what type and brand of LED's I can use to provide the proper light spectrum for healthy plant growth. The limitations I face is that the lights cannot be up near the plants. They must be effective from a distance of ten (10') feet or more.....
I build interior living walls (vertical gardens) with living plants (mostly house plants that require medium to low light levels). We would like to use LED's. However, the led's I have seen so far need to be within a few inches of the plants. Is there a high lumen, full spectrum led flood light that you can recommend for healthy indoor plant growth?
Thank you Alex and Carol. This was a very informative and interactive show. The Databeans 2011 LED Market Research Report will be available next week, anyone interested feel free to email me any questions about the market. Thanks! brice@databeans.net
Carol, thanks so much for your participation. Listeners who want to hear our chat again can access an archive of the audio stream. The instant chat answers will also remain posted up.
Carol, when discussing CRI, and 'dimmer', with wide-spectrum lighting, you've touched on an interesting point of photometric 'brightness', compared to total visible light output power ...
LEDs are wide spectrum compared to fluorescents. They lack the reds compared to incandescents. Reds are also inefficient to create, since your eye is not as sensitive to it. There are special LEDs with 90+ CRI. But they are dimmer.
Some companies add in red or amber LEDs to compensate.
People are also looking into using quantum dots instead of phosphors to improve color.
Since no one else is asking more questions, Ill post some more:
Are there are tips when desgning for light guide films with top as well as side firing LEDs? How critical does alignment/solder temperature become? Also how critical is it to keep the light guide surface pristine and prevent any fingerprints/dust/etc?
About AC LEDs. The concept is great. But the two manufacturers that I know of that make them do not have the most efficacious LEDs. Dimming is probably not compatible. The light output would vary when the line voltage varies. You would also need to add protection circuit for surges.
AC LEDs are patent protected. Maybe in the future, once the other improvements are exhausted, they will become more popular.
People complain about "the color", but I like the bluish light. I think it makes things look clearer and more like sunlight than the yellowish ones. So I hope there are lamp choices, not "one fits all".
Variability of color is a limit of the particular equipment. There are spectroradiometers that measure color precisely. Just a question of if you want to pay for it.
To borrow from integrating sphere practices, you could have a few "standard" lights, of blue LED, incandescent, to do a quick calibration across the equipment. Just keep track of the usage of the "standards" so that when they start aging, you replace them and transfer the calibration to the new "standard".
Once the industry moves beyond retrofiting products with LEDs as a direct replacement for fluorescent and incandescent, what's are some of the next advancements/benefits LEDs can offer?
I see a big market for new lighting fixtures rather than replacing incandescents with their omni patterns and highly attenuating lampshades. Put the light where you want it.
Color binning can be an issue if your specs are extreme. Generally, though, binning is not as bad as it might appear from the datasheet. Each reel of LEDs tend to be closer in color than the size of the bin indicates.
How can one account for the variability in color measurements in between different measurement equipment? It is really hard to calibrate color measurements between different colorimeter manufacturers in general.
Carol's comment about using LEDs in ways that make use of the new possibilities offered by LEDs is right on the mark ... economics seem to be driving manufacturers to develop retrofit products for fluorescent and incandescent, missing out on the best that LEDs can offer
Hello, where do you see led lighting go for growing vegetation? I presume the color of the led will effect how efficient the replacement would be correct?
Driver lifetime is a big concern. It can be engineered to your specs, though. Get a good power supply designer. Then can do an analysis on the stress of each component based on current, temperatures, ratings, and come up with a life time estimate or change to more expensive components to increase lifetime.
If LEDs have a long lifetime, but drivers typically have a shorter lifetime, what kind of considerations does that have on a design in terms of matching the two to minimize down time and rework?
Databeans projects that LEDs will remain the largest and fastest growing optoelectronics product market in 2011 with $7.9 billion in global sales and a CAGR of 20 percent over the forecasted period. Meanwhile, total unit shipments will reach 95.5 billion in 2011 with a CAGR of 23 percent over the period. Its only a matter of time before they take over the market, environmental will definitely be the leader in this push.
I visited the Phillips Design Center in the Netherlands last year. They feel that LEDs will take over most lighting applications. Is this pie in the sky?
zWelcome, early birds. FYI, the streaming audio player for the live portion of the show -- my chat with Carol Lenk -- will appear on screen at 2pm eastern.
With LEDs dropping in price virtually every year, automakers have begun employing them, not only on luxury vehicles, but on entry-level models, as well.
The 3D printing revolution seems to have a knack for quickly moving technology ahead by way of collaborative effort and even a little friendly competition -- all of course in the name of scientific advancement.
Advantech has launched a new series of motion-control I/O modules to meet the increased demands that come with more distributed industrial systems that require control of a growing number of axes and devices.
Using almost 200 light-emitting diodes in the front and back of the new 2014 CTS, Cadillac designers are showing how LEDs can change the character of a vehicle.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
4 
