The Netherlands - Lumileds Lighting is now shipping a warm white version of its high-brightness Luxeon LEDs, becoming the first manufacturer to deliver a warm white emitter in production quantities, it claims. The new product opens the door for significantly greater use of solid-state illumination in interior and task lighting applications by overcoming the resistance of lighting designers and consumers to the cooler blue tones of conventional white LEDs.

Luxeon warm white provides a colour rendering index (CRI) of 90, a correlated colour temperature (CCT) of 3200°K, and an average light output of 20 lumens - up to 10 times brighter than standard LEDs. It is also the first solid-state light source to closely match the black body illuminant spectrum across the visible coloured range. These characteristics, based on advanced phosphor material technology developed by Lumileds engineers, make it possible for the first time to create LED-powered luminaires that achieve lighting effects comparable to those produced with incandescent and halogen bulbs.

The new warm white emitter also offers the same industry-leading lumen maintenance as other Luxeon LEDs, with an expected retention of 70% of its initial light output through 50,000 hours of operation under typical conditions.

Potential applications range from hospitality lighting, including retail stores, restaurants and hotels, to luminaires and fixtures for display cases and cabinets, task and accent lighting, and cove and architectural lighting. "We are already using warm white Luxeon LEDs for two lighting manufacturers - one that is producing a bedside table lamp powered by the new emitters, and another that is fabricating over 600 Luxeon-based fixtures for a major new public building in Barcelona," said Dave Simpson, International Manager of Semai Lighting, a provider of custom lighting design services based in Spain. "Previously many of the designers we talked to balked at the coldness of solid-state illumination, but Luxeon warm white has overcome any objections they had."

(Lee Baldock)


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