Introduction to LED (Light Emitting Diode)
Hi Friends! Hope you are doing well. I always feel pleasure to keep you updated with information related to engineering and technology. Today, I'll unlock the detailed Introduction to LED. The LED stands for Light-emitting diode. LED is a PN-junction diode mainly used as the source of light.
The LED has a leg over common orthodox incandescent light in terms of efficiency, low consumption power, compact size, longer range and an ability to retain the quality for a longer period of time. It comes with a wide variety of applications ranging from automotive headlamps, camera flashes, aviation lighting, traffic signal, and medical devices.
In this post, I'll try to cover each and everything related to LED, so you don't need to wrestle your mind browsing the whole internet and find all the information in one place. Let's dive in and get down to the detail of this little semiconductor component.
Introduction to LED (Light Emitting Diode)
LED is a PN-junction diode that is mainly used as a replacement for incandescent lights. It is based on the electroluminescence effect - A process where a diode converts electric current to light when electrons change their state inside the LED semiconductors.
The PN-junction is nothing but a combination of both N-type and P-type semiconductor materials. The material forming the junction diode is not identical to other mainstream didoes, as it comes with a transparent package, allowing the infrared and visible light to pass through the junction.
- The LED contains two terminals known as anode and cathode. The former contains a positive charge on it and comes with the longer lead as compared to others, and later contains a negative charge on it.
LED will be working under one condition: the anode terminal should be put at a higher potential than the cathode terminal as current flows from anode to cathode (positive to negative). LED won't conduct if the respective terminals are connected in reverse order.
- LEDs, also known as infrared-emitting diodes, are very helpful in a wide range of applications. The experts were always in a need of creating an alternative to regular bulbs that turned out to be expensive and less efficient. The first experiment on electroluminescence was conducted in 1907, followed by a number of experiments later on that resulted in the development of visible light.
The brightness of every LED depends on the current drawn by it - the most the current drawn the more brightness will be.
There is a threshold set for the current every LED can withstand, increasing it from the rated value will burn the LED.
In the start, LEDs came with Infrared low-intensity light that grooved their way in the remote control applications, mainly targeting consumer electronics. In that time, the Red light was mainly used in the LED, however, in 2002 the experts succeeded in adding the White light to the LED semiconductor.
- The LED underwent through a number of tests and experiments and evolved over the years, however, recent LEDs come with different wavelengths ranging from ultraviolet, visible, to infrared wavelengths, producing light with high brightness.
The efficiency by which the LED converts electricity into the light is remarkable which makes it an ideal choice in the computer chip technology, adding an extra layer of both efficiency and robustness.
Note: The LED is not symmetrical in nature, allowing current to flow in one direction only.
LED Working Principle
LED is mainly comprised of four parts known as die, substrate, phosphor, and lens. The die is a semiconductor material containing gallium nitride (GaN) that emits blue light when the electric current passes through it. In order to provide easy integration of LED, one or two dies are used in combination with the substrate, generating enough power to light up the LED.
- White light is mainly preferred over blue one in general lighting applications where the desired color is produced using phosphor.
The blue light, emitting from the die, will generate white light once it hits phosphor particles.
- It is important to note that the phosphor can be applied to die material both ways: directly or layered with the lens material that either extracts or directs the light and mainly comes with silicon or glass.
The LED, more often than not, generates monochromatic light ranging from red to blue and violet.
- Traditional LEDs are formed using inorganic semiconductor materials including aluminum, gallium, silicon, indium, and zinc that produce a different color based on the type of material used: aluminum gallium phosphide produces green color, while aluminum gallium nitride and aluminum gallium arsenide produce ultraviolet and red light respectively.
The LEDs are also rated with respect to the voltage required to turn them on where red LEDs come with a maximum voltage rating of around 2.2V, while blue LEDs and white LEDs come with a voltage rating of 3.4V and 3.6V respectively.
Temperature Limitations
The LED never fails to satisfy the power consumption needs of a regular user, however, the use of this tiny component in a high temperature and pressure environment can make it highly vulnerable. Taking this point into consideration, some LEDs incorporate a heat sink on their interface, which prevents them from overheating and makes them an appropriate pick in conditions where high temperature is a major concern.
- A very high temperature can make the heat sink stopped working and put your LED in a total stall. Before you aim to use LED for your relevant project, make sure the temperature ratings match and resonate with the LED you are using.
Types of LEDs
LEDs are available in a variety of types. Some are preferred over others based on the nature of their applications. Following are some main types of LEDs.
High Power LEDs
LEDs are known as High Power LEDs if their power rating is greater than or equal to 1 Watt. They are mainly used for generating the maximum brightness. The input power required for these LEDs is very high, making them prone to heat dissipation.
Heat sinks are required to keep these LEDs cool and impede them from burning. Flashlights, spotlights, and automobile headlamps are some major applications of High Power LEDs.
RGB LEDs
It is widely used in many computer applications and comes with the ability to generate three lights, as the name suggests, red, blue and green. The color of these lights is controlled by using PWM (pulse width modulation). Both the duty cycle of PWM and the frequency used for generating the signal per second, prove to be handy for controlling all three colors.
SMD LED
SMD LED stands for Surface Mount Device LED. It comes in a special package with the ability to be mounted on the PCB surface. It can be easily categorized based on the physical dimensions. It works both ways: separately or in combination with a compatible device.
Thru-Hole LED
Thru-hole LED comes with two terminals leads that are embedded into the holes of the printed circuit board. They are available in a variety of different packages and shapes. Most common colors they come with are white, red, blue and green.
Why LED?
It is arguably correct, LED consumes 75% less power than normal incandescent without failing to produce the brightness with equal intensity.
Yes, buying it may make your budget bleed in the start as it features more costly as compared to regular halogen light, but it proves to be economical in the long run due to its high quality, longer life span and less power consumption.
LED Applications
The compact size of the LED makes it stand to fit in hard-to-reach places including ceiling lighting, cove lighting, tray, and cabinet lighting.
- Thanks to the robust nature of LEDs - without them, Landscape lighting would never be so easy and created flawlessly as it has been right now. The LEDs play a vital role in generating and optimizing the light beam angle at the desired distance and their ability to disguise any shape as per the nature of the environment they are incorporating in, helps them serve a real purpose, adding curated light layered with beauty using a single source.
Some of the digital clocks are developed using the LED interface. And the 7-segment LED display is a widely used student project that incorporates the array of LEDs in an organized manner.
- They are profoundly used in automotive industries, LCD panels, fiber optics data transmission, and remote control devices. While pointing out the sheer advantages of LEDs, we can't write off their value in advertising. They are mainly used to captivate the visitors - when placed in the advertising banner and tree decorated with a number of infrared lights will help in getting the instant attention of the customers.
That’s all for today. I have given you everything you needed to know about LED. If you are unsure or have any questions, you can ask me in the comment section below. I’d love to help you the best way I can. You are most welcome to share your valuable feedback and suggestion, they help us provide you with quality work as per your needs and requirements so you keep coming back for what we have to offer. Thanks for reading the article.
Role of Technology in Business Development
Hey Fellas! Hope you are getting along with life pretty well. Today, I'll highlight the
Role of Technology in Business Development.
The latest
technology is an increasing inevitability in business nowadays. As the time goes by, more and more businesses are leaning toward technology and there is nothing wrong to say that business and technology are two things impossible to separate from each other. It is also said by experts that business needs technology to be sustained in this fast-changing digital market.
Role of Technology in Business Development
Technology streamlines the way we execute business operations and both big and small businesses are now using the modern technology to complete a range of specific tasks and jobs.
Every business is using technology in its own way to fulfill their specific needs and requirements. They use it to improve on efficiency, to increase overall production as well as to cut the business overheads down.
Undoubtedly, integration of technology in a business can be expensive but it can benefit your business specifically. Here is how.
Link to the Global Village
Transportation, effective communication and many other things are involved with a business to make it a complex set of processes. Thankfully, technology has pushed businesses towards a new age of development. Now a business can easily access the global market to get more clients and customers for offered products and services.
Now, anyone can do business anywhere even without leaving the bedroom just because of the technology. With help of high-speed internet and latest tech inventions, a business can market its products globally to enhance its customer base.
Employee Monitoring and Asset Tracking
Technology has made it easier for companies and business organizations to better manage and monitor their employees and track assets efficiently. Managers can keep an eye on employees by using CCTV camera in the workplace.
On another hand,
mobile cmms software enables a business to keep track of assets more effectively to streamline the business processes and operations effectually. There are numberless applications available that can track customer calls to help managers understand lag times for better team coaching to improve customer services.
Customer relationship management software can also be used to keep track of sales and customer details in order to make communication better than before.
Enhanced Business Security
Data security is one of the major concerns when it comes to keeping your business away from data and privacy breach. As almost all businesses and companies are using computers and cloud storage to store business details and information, hackers can easily steal customer details and confidential business information by using a variety of different tricks.
By using powerful firewalls and malware blockers, a business can prevent data and privacy breach to keep business data in safe hands. Strong CCTV cameras offer a powerful security layer to improve the overall business security.
Faultless Business Reports and Documents
There is no more need to calculate business figures or create documents manually because of the availability of accounting software and applications.
Business financial reports are generated automatically on computers even on mobile devices to keep the business operations and functions running smoothly without facing the barriers of location and time.
Most of the software and applications automatically generate and send the reports to authorities.
Increased Productivity
Heavy-duty computers, business software solutions, and mobile technology have amazingly increased overall employees' performance by allowing them to accomplish assigned business tasks in less time and spending fewer energy & efforts.
A maintenance management business can enhance its productivity by letting the maintenance staff know what is reactive and proactive maintenance and how it can reduce downtime and asset failures. Business process automation is one of the great benefits of technology in business that allows a business to produce more in less time by spending fewer overheads.
Marketing
Production of high quality and best performing products is not enough for business success but you will need to market them as well in order to let customers know that what you are providing.
In this era of latest technology and internet, it is very easy for businesses to promote their products and services globally using business websites and different social media platforms.
Digital marketing is affordable these days even one can do it easily by having basic
SEO and social media marketing skills. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are widely used by businesses and companies not only to market their products but to stay in touch with customers 24/7.
That's all for today. I hope you have found this article useful as per your needs and requirements. If you are unsure or have any question, you can approach me in the comment section below. I'd love to help you the best way I can. Thanks for reading the article.