Philips Lumileds first to publish Lumen maintenance -- LM-80 — test report online

SAN JOSE, USA: Philips Lumileds announced that it is the first power LED manufacturer to publicly publish LM-80 test report data for use by luminaire manufacturers evaluating the merits of using different LEDs in their solid-state lighting solutions.

The data clearly demonstrates that lumen maintenance performance exceeds ENERGY STAR requirements by a wide margin as well as documenting lumen maintenance performance under various conditions. The test report is posted on the company’'s web site.

Philips Lumileds LM-80 test reports adhere to and are published in accordance with the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) LM-80-08 standard.

“LUXEON Rebel's lumen maintenance clearly leads the industry. Using our LM-80 reports helps system designers meet ENERGY STAR® eligibility criteria and optimize solutions for a desired lumen maintenance level,” said Steve Barlow, Executive VP of Sales and Marketing for Philips Lumileds.

“These reports are just one of the many tools we make available in order to simplify the development and production of LED luminaires and we encourage other manufacturers to follow our lead to help simplify and accelerate solid-state lighting market development.”

Lumen maintenance performance of LEDs varies significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer due to differences in materials and manufacturing processes. Philips Lumileds has been studying the factors that affect power LED lumen maintenance longer than any other manufacturer in an ongoing effort to improve performance and more accurately describe lumen maintenance behavior for the lighting community.

“Reliance on generic LED lumen maintenance statements that are adopted by luminaire manufacturers is destined to lead to disappointment with LED solutions,” said Rudi Hechfellner, Director of Applications at Philips Lumileds. In order to appropriately design for optimum lumen maintenance, Philips Lumileds recommends that luminaire manufacturers and the lighting industry do the following:

1. Understand the specific lumen maintenance behavior of the LEDs they have selected.
2. Disregard generic statements about LED lumen maintenance performance and ask for information that’s appropriate for the anticipated current and temperature conditions.

The IES LM-80-08 standard describes the testing methodology and the test report format that LED manufacturers must follow. The IES standard does not make any assessment of the data or statements of appropriateness for any particular application.

Other industry programs, such as ENERGY STAR, establish performance criteria that can be determined from published LM-80 test reports. Data for the white LUXEON Rebel power LEDs clearly demonstrates that lumen maintenance performance exceeds the ENERGY STAR requirements by a wide margin.