LightDisc is a 1530-Lumen, 90W-incandescent-equivalent light engine
“Light engine” is a term that’s gathering momentum in LED lighting, fueled in part because of Energy Star’s use of it in its draft Luminaires requirements document.
Here’s how Energy Star defines a light engine: “An integrated assembly comprised of LED packages (components) or LED arrays (modules), LED driver, and other optical, thermal, mechanical and electrical components. The device is intended to connect directly to the branch circuit through a custom connector compatible with the LED luminaire for which it was designed and does not use an ANSI standard base.”
Based on this definition it seems that Energy star doesn’t expect a light engine to evolve into a commodity-like industry standard, but instead be optimized for different applications.
OptoElectronix is a light engine manufacturer and designer in San Jose and it just introduced the ULE5000 LightDisc, a 1530-Lumen 90W-incandescent-equivalent light engine in a circular form factor that works well in ceiling fans as well as wall mounts. It accepts 120Vac, has a 8.1” diameter with integrated heat sink and is triac dimmer-compatible.
As you can see from the photo below, the light engine is mostly aluminum heat sink with the high-brightness LEDs faintly visible on the white substrate ring.
The next photo is the power and lighting control guts on the reverse side of the heat sink.
The LightDisc LED light engine comes with a five-year or 35,000-hour warranty. Pricing in quantities of 1,000 is $129.20 each.
Gurkan AKAGAC commented:
What about the wattages ? the most important thing is to decrease the power consumption regarding to classical lightings
Frank commented:
I think Kartick has hit it right on the head. If the prices aren't reduced by 2/3 to 3/4, it will be little more than a cool looking technology but won't go anywhere. I believe the reason for only a five year warranty is the electrolytic caps. They will get hot and go bad.
Andy T commented:
Yes, but fluorescents contain mercury and are usually a lot more exposed to breakage than a "bulb".
Robert Boehme commented:
If it's $130 in lots of 1000 , it's going to be really expensice in onesy twosy.. I can buy a lot of florencent bulbs for that. so far the Led lights are not that much more efficient..
AlexC commented:
$130 for a 90W light bulb. I think I can do better. The green group strikes again.
kartick commented:
The use of LED "light engines" in everyday use is dependent on reducing the cost of these units, significantly. If this cannot be accomplished, they are merely gimmicks.
Andy Grove has written a thought provoking article about US manufacturing and it is posted on the Bloomberg News website. A must read.
Don C commented:
Andy, you're right on.
We all should take a look at Andy Grove's (Intel) article in Business Week regarding how keeping product manufacturing in the U.S. supports new product innovation.
Rudeross commented:
Except for the cost and not very useful form factor, It’s a step down the road in this evolving lighting technology.
Although listing the units power consumption would be useful in determining if it justified its cost.
Andy T commented:
It's a really sad State of the Union when US government agencies are publishing specifications, like the Luminaires Requirements document, in Chinese.
The Obama adminstratation needs to demand the resignation of the people that signed off on this.
