General Electric celebrated World Lighting Appreciation Day on October 21st, marking the 131st anniversary of Thomas Alva Edison testing the first incandescent light bulb. In observance of this monumental day, GE took photos of Edison around its headquarters in Niskayuna, New York, and held a Lighting Redefined Symposium. At the symposium, GE made an announcement about a new breakthrough technology related to LED lighting.
As part of a two-year solid state lighting program with the United States Department of Energy, scientists from GE Global Research, GE Lighting, and the University of Maryland, scientists from these groups have constructed a 1,500-lumen LED bulb that uses one-third of the amount of energy, but produces the same amount of light equivalent to a 100-watt halogen PAR38 lamp.
You might be asking, “How does this work? How does a lamp that consumes so little energy give off the same amount of light?” Scientists working on this project have developed a new cooling technology fueled by tiny air jets blowing air on the LED chips in the lamp. LED chips do get warm, but not necessarily the LED lamp itself. With high speed winds coming from the jets onto the chips, the chips are able to run more efficiently. Scientists also say this will allow them to use less LED chips in the lamps, which will bring down the price of LEDs!
Mehmet Arik, the mechanical engineer at GE Global Research and principal investigator on the LED project, said the new cooling system will help increase efficiency and performance of LED lighting in the future. The technology will enable engineers and other scientists create more powerful lamps without sacrificing efficiency of the lamps or decreasing lifespan. Although these lamps won’t be on the market anytime soon, it’s crazy to think that the most energy efficient lighting available is still being modified to become even more efficient! We are eager to hear about more new developments from GE in the future.
