Summary
1. Philips Lumiled's division which designs and manufactures LED's has announced a new family of LED for outdoor lighting applications that can deliver uover 300 lumens of light output. Target markets include street lighting, road and tunnel lighting, etc.
Analysis
1. Philips Lumiled's is among the top 5 producers of high power LED's for lighting applications. Although they make excellent LED's that based upon a data book search their products are not the brightest devices available in the LED world although they are certainly sufficient in light output for many applications. Currently, it is my opinion that the brightest devices in absolute side by side data sheet comparison are available from Cree. However, this horsepower race for lumen output can change suddenly with each of the leading firms always announcing improvements.
2. It is important to note that lighting architects specify light output with a term called lumen maintenance which simply put means how much light you will have after a specified number of hours of operating life. This spec is directly related to the junction temperature of the LED. The higher the junction temperature, or drive current the less the lumen maintenance is. It is important to note that in this press release this specification is not mentioned.
3. LED fixture design is more complex than just the claimed light output of the LED's. Many LED firms, not just Philips issue statement making claims but do not fully detail what the boundary conditions of the design may be to hit the light output claims they are making.
4. It is also important to note that the color temperatures announced are in the cool white area, and are not really for most interior lighting applications.
