How Do LED Lights Work – Working Principle, Advantage & Disadvantage

It is quite fascinating to answer one of the frequently asked questions in this article – How do LED lights work? LED lights have been used for a long period of time in the United States and is one of the most economical and energy-efficient lighting system compared to other technologies.

Incandescent lights produce a lot of heat – that is why for a certain illumination, power requirements of an incandescent bulb is quite high. This power-hungry nature and heat-producing makes it a less viable option.

That is why CFL bulbs had come along to replace the incandescent lamps. But CFL bulbs have some inherent problems and that led to the LED lights becoming the de-facto option in the household. LED lights have been used for decades for various applications such as traffic signals, digital clocks, mobile phones as well as for cars. In this article, we will learn about the underlying technology of the LED bulbs and its incredible features and applications.

The basics and working principle of LED lights

LED lights are awesome products. The LED stands for Light-emitting diode. A diode is a common and basic item in semiconductor technology. This semiconductor technology often referred to as Solid-State technology. In this technology, certain materials have optical features. These optoelectronic devices convert electrical energy to light energy.

In LED there are a lot of materials can be used. The semiconductor is mostly deployed in the development of LED technology. The semiconductor contains positive holes and negative electrons. When electricity is applied within the semiconductor, the negative charges move to positive holes.

That is why the energy conversion from electricity to light conversion takes place. As semiconductors are efficient materials that is why less heat is produced during the conversion. But even for the low conversion of heat is handled with a heat sink.

The heat sink reduces heat to a certain extent and is very common with LED lights. The lifetime of the LED bulb depends on heat reduction. That is why it is recommended not to use LED light in enclosed conditions. For enclosed conditions, the heat gets trapped which significantly reduce the lifetime of a LED light.

Different semiconductors and color

• Aluminium Gallium Arsenide ( ALGa As) – red and infrared
• Aluminum Gallium Phosphide ( ALGa P) – green
• Silicon carbide – Blue
• Sapphire as substrate – blue
• Zinc selenide- blue
• Indium Gallium Nitride- (InGaN)- blue
• Galium Arsenide phosphide- red and orange
• Galium Nitride- green
• Diamond -ultraviolet
• Gallium phosphide-red, yellow and green

Advantages of LED

• LED lights produce more light per watt compared to any other lights. That is why a low power LED light will produce higher illumination than the high powered incandescent or CFL lights.
• The LED light can produce different colors without using any filter. The quality of the filters often degrades the performance of the light illumination. This is quite extraordinary for LED lights. Different kind of material selection has improved the color requirement with ease.
• The solid package of LED does not require any reflector to produce sharp lumination whereas different incandescent lights will require reflector to a great extent.
• The LED is suitable for dimming operation. The color performance of the light does not change with the lower energy requirement. But for lower power rating incandescent lights emit yellow color.
• The LEDs are quite extraordinary to produce larger on-off cycles. The frequent on-off cycle does not hamper the performance of the LED lights. Whereas in the case of CFL lights the performance is seriously reduced. For frequent switching to complicated electricity may hamper the quality of the light to a great extent.
• LED lights do not hamper in different shocking conditions. The light does not have any issues with physical shock. But CFL or the incandescent bulb does not provide this feature. These light are very vulnerable with the subject to shock. The LED has better performance than any kinds of light to a great extent in different conditions
• LEDs have a long life cycle. A typical LED light has a lifecycle for more than 50000 hours which is very higher compared to CFL which is 30000 hours. The lifecycle is an important parameter which is closely related to cost. The lifecycle cost should be considered rather than the installation cost. The LED has a large advantage in terms of cost. This lifecycle quality has been a tremendous success for LED lights.
• The response time for LED lights are higher compared to other lights such as CFL and incandescent.
• The LED are very small and compact. Less space is required to install for the same output.

Disadvantages

• The LED lights are very costly. The installation cost is quite high. But if you consider the light to lifecycle than the LED lights have more advantages compared to other lights.
• The performance of the LED lights depends on the ambient temperature. This temperature dependency is a critical problem. Overdriving LED always require different protection. Moreover, the quality of the product can seriously hamper due to ambient conditions. Sometimes street lights are kept open without any protection. This reduces the lifetime of the LED to a certain extent.
• LED lights are very omnidirectional. Different optical measures can increase performance. The low diversity range is a critical issue for the lights. Most specifically the lighting arrangement will increase the performance to a great extent. But halogen lights have a wide spectrum that is why it is often preferred for headlight operation in many conditions
• LED lights have wide intensity. Sometimes it is harmful to eye conditions. The white LEDs are very problematic. Different optical measures are taken for solving the problems.
• The LED must be supplied with the proper power supply.

LED lights are quite phenomenal in the lighting industry. Different renowned manufacturers are working hard to reduce the LED disadvantages so it can be a mostly positive technology.