LED systems lifespan analysed

A new report into the lifespan of LED systems has been published by Philips, hoping to present a thorough evaluation as to how LED displays and lighting will behave over time.

The report explains a range of methods by which LED manufacturers are able to assign guarantees to the durability of their LED systems, which is obviously significant from a business perspective.

Philips said that it has examined the performance of LED systems across a variety of disciplines, rather than restricting it to isolated LED applications, which means that a variety of usage conditions have been taken into account.

Because LED systems are made up of many different components, life span calculations must accommodate a broad range of materials, which are examined individually before being accounted for as part of the whole LED system.

The Luxeon LED reliability test has been used by Philips in creating data on the lifespan of LED systems and over 700 million run-time hours’ worth of information has gone into the new report.

Scale is an important factor in determining the minimum lifespan of an LED system, because statistical models must account for the fact that larger LED systems have more components and consequently have a higher chance of failing to reach the theoretical lifespan of a single, perfect LED.

Philips says that its report will allow manufacturers to assign far more accurate lifespan estimates to any given LED system. At present, many are unable to determine the behaviour and performance of a system as a whole and are faced with predicting and promoting guaranteed operational periods based on data gleaned from single LEDs.

The paper should assist businesses in creating warranty programs for LED systems of all types with a greater degree of confidence and accuracy. Consumers, equally, should benefit, with market confidence as a whole improving in line with greater accuracy, according to Philips’ Rudi Hechfellner.