As a result of intense research and development in
the field of the high-luminance LEDs, its applications have expanded into a
variety of areas such as interior, outdoor and landscape lighting, vehicle
lights, and electronic message displays. Four East Asian countries - Korea,
China, Japan and Taiwan - hold about 70% market share in the high luminance LED
market of the world.
Imcreasing the Safety of Lighting
System
A diode is a semiconductor device that allows electric
current to flow in one direction. A light emitting diode (LED) emits a light
when an electric current flows through it in the forward direction. Thus, LED
converts electrical energy into light energy. Several semiconductors efficiently
emit light energy, while in others electrical energy is solely converted to
heat. LED lighting fixtures are generally composed of varying amounts of gallium
arsenide-phosphide or aluminum-gallium arsenide. The chemical composition of the
lighting system determines the wavelength of the emitted light. The human eye
responds to light in a wavelength range from about 400 to 700 nanometers (around
700 nanometers in red, 580 nanometers in yellow, 530 nanometers in green and 635
nanometers in orange). Blue color of LEDs, which are emitted with lower-emitted
wavelengths under 500 nanometers (higher energy light), have till now shown poor
luminance. However, a new blue LED chips have been recently developed, using
gallium nitride arsenide with a luminance that is seven times higher than the
existing blue LEDs. With LEDs, there is no fear about dazzling blinding light
and filament burnout, as is the case with electric bulbs; thus, the LEDs are
widely used in many types of display systems. With a semi-permanent lifespan of
about one million hours, LEDs can be also applied for many purposes. With low
voltage, current requirements and continuous light emission, the LEDs
efficiently use electric power and generate little heat.
Big
Market for the LEDs Industry
The worldÕs LED market can be divided
into the ordinary LED market and the high-luminance LED market. So far, the
ordinary LED market has not grown remarkably. However, the high-luminance LEDs
have been rapidly developed since 1995 and thus its application range has now
broadened. As a result of intense research and development in high-luminance
LEDs, its applications have expanded into a variety of areas such as interior,
exterior and landscape lighting, vehicle lights, and electronic message signs.
The worldÕs supply of high-luminance LEDs is accounted for by Japan (58%), three
East Asian countries (12%), and the United States and North America (15%). Four
East Asian countries - Korea, China, Japan and Taiwan - share about 70% of the
high-luminance LED market throughout the world.
Complete Lighting Solution
The LEDs, whic use
stat-of-the art semiconductor technology, have great strengths in various areas
including processing speed, electrical power consumption, and lifespan, and
therefore it is not only an environment-friendly technology but also is seen as
the lighting fixture that has led the lighting industry. One of the prominent
applications is the channel sign. It is certain that dimensional signs are more
in the spotlight and channel signs in particular are drawing a lot of attention.
However, Korean sign market is characterized by flat signs sweeping the whole
country. The LEDs will soon serve an important lighting source to change this
unique Korean sign culture. So far, neon has been used in most cases as a light
source for channel signs. However, the LEDs market is expanding rapidly as the
characteristics of the LED have become known to the sign industry. Although the
LEDs is much more expensive than the conventional lighting systems, sign
manufacturers are becoming more interested in LED light sources due to its
various advantages, including energy efficiency and installation compatibility.
High Mounting Flexibility
Although the LEDs is
emerging as a new light source for channel signs, there has been no
investigation of its specific market size. It would be very hard to ignore the
level of illumination in the Korean sign industry which actively uses a variety
of existing light sources such as fluorescent, incandescent, and neon lights.
Thus, in the active market, the suppliers of LED channel letters are making
strenuous efforts to push into the market ahead of others. Here are the reasons
the LEDs is now in the spotlight. First, unlike neon lights or the cold cathode,
the LEDs uses DC voltage and thus reduces the risk of electric shock or
accident. In addition, the LEDs generates little heat so that it will not harm
humans on contact. It is also safe in the waterproof and moisture-proof aspects.
Although the initial installation costs for LEDs are relatively high, the
maintenance costs are low. Excellent dimming or flickering effects can be
produced using a controller, thus it is possible to create various messages. The
LEDs has been increasingly used in advanced countries because they are
environment-friendly materials containing no harmful substances. Moreover, for
perimeter architectural lighting, it is possible to bend, cut and connect the
LED strips, which offer shock resistance and 100,000 hours of
use.
High Light Velocity Rate
On the other hand, in
the case of LED channel signs, a power supply is used instead of a transformer.
You must choose a power supply product suitable for your surrounding environment
because the power supply is affected by humidity and temperature, and its
specifications also depend on the indoor or outdoor environment. Because of low
luminance, the LED product was, in the past time, not widely used in the sign
industry. Outdoor advertising system should have attracted customer attention
while acting in harmony with the shop, but the previous LED product did not meet
this requirement. Channel signs were often covered with polycarbonate or
acrylic. Therefore, it was hard to effectively show their messages due to the
low-light penetration. Most of these problems have now been solved with the
emergence of high-luminance LEDs, but the big challenge in the minds of sign
manufacturers was the maintenance of light velocity. The light velocity rate
refers to how well a light source can maintain its original luminance after a
certain amount of time elapses. In this regard, the high-luminance LED is
expected to maintain about 80% of its original luminance for even five years,
which greatly reduces maintenance costs.
Bright Future for
Lighting System
In Korea, the LEDs application on channel letters is
increasing. And there has recently been the LEDs product whose modules were
organized as simply as possible. A staff of a sign manufacturing company said
Òeven if they might have to pay high initial costs we would provide shop owners
with related information about the LEDs because there are various advantages.Ó
Currently The LEDs on the market have greatly varying unit prices depending on
each device. In order for the unit prices of LEDs to decrease, the manufacturing
costs also need to decline. The LEDs industry specialists believe that there
will be no big change in the unit prices of LEDs yet because the industry is
still in the early stage of its expansion. However, they anticipate that the
unit prices of LEDs will dramatically drop in two or three years. Although in
sign industry, the LEDs application is currently limited to the area of channel
letters, LED usage is expected to increase and branch out into other areas.
There is already a move toward replacing the traditional fluorescent lamp by the
LEDs for the extruded sign. There is also a case where instead of a light bulb,
the LEDs was used for a rope light. Therefore, the range of application for the
LEDs is expected to become much broader. | |
