Some quick pointers for LED designers

Evolving technology means costs and bill of materials (BOMs) can go up just as rapidly. This means a lighting designer with a project idea might find that he can achieve a lot more than what he initially had in mind, potentially saving in costs, energy and installation time if and only if he understands the full potential of the technology he is working with. 2. The LED lighting industry is dealing with the challenges of pricing, branding, the retail channel and regulations. Manufacturers are turning to chip-on-board design and quality enhancements to overcome the price challenges and demonstrate the value. 3. LED lighting is really taking off in solar and off-grid applications, where LED lighting can provide much more than halogen, or where batteries are just not practical. Furthermore, solar street lamps are an interesting application, which involves a wider range of technologies than just solidstate lighting. Some of the key design issues that must be addressed are generating the maximum power out of the solar panel, charging up the battery for energy storage and getting the most out of the LEDs in an outdoor environment. Today, the solidstate lighting market is focussed on system efficacy, which represents a more complicated challenge for electronics design engineers. Lighting electronics design engineers will need to place more emphasis on safety, power regulation, dimming control and communication protocol, sensing and wireless integration into the lighting fixtures.

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— Ravi Pagar, regional director–India and Asean, Element14