Latest trends in LED lighting

Abstract

Abstract LED is the fourth and latest generation of light sources, following the first‐generation incandescent lamps, the second‐generation fluorescent lamps, and the third‐generation HID lamps. Their excellent characteristics, such as high efficiency, long life, compactness, light weight, zero mercury content, very slight IR and UV emissions, and the like, are advantages in comparison with conventional light sources. With the progress of LED lighting technologies, their application is spreading in sign and display devices, spot lighting, base lighting, and security lighting, and new applications that cannot be realized with conventional light sources are expected. This article reports the latest trends in LED lighting. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn, 95(1): 1–7, 2012; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/ecj.10394