The Race To The Bottom: LED Bulbs And DFM
The dropping value of LED bulbs is accelerating. We evaluate a couple of manufacturers to see how they are approaching design and decrease cost manufacturing. You've got in all probability observed LED bulbs situated next to the incandescent and compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs at your local hardware store. I spend way an excessive amount of time in these aisles. That is capitalism at its most interesting! I discover the battle of new tech, good manufacturing, and massive demand intriguing. I've switched virtually all the lights in our home over to LED partially because of the (small) vitality savings, but mostly as a result of I'm lazy: A 22-12 months lifetime means I don't should climb a ladder for some time. After i purchased my LED bulbs a couple of years in the past they were round $15 a pop. As with most all tech, I've watch the worth drop over time. On this case, LED bulbs in my local Residence Depot (Philips 60W) are hovering round $10.
On a recent go to to the lighting aisle I was taken off guard when a pack of two 60W bulbs by Philips had been promoting for $5 ($2.50 every!). This is not only a drop in worth, that is an all out worth struggle between some heavy hitters. Confusing me was the fact that right subsequent to these 60W bulbs for $2.50 had been 60W bulbs for $10 from the same manufacturer. Upon closer inspection I noticed something odd. These decrease value LEDs had a display life of 10 years versus 22. Ok, so they shaved some cost by shortening the life span of the bulb. Neat advertising and marketing trick however the engineer in me wanted to know the way. Nothing too loopy. Every bulb claimed to be 800 lumen at numerous power consumption ranges (8.5W to 9.5W). And that i solely seen this now however a budget bulbs are non-dimmable. Exhausting to see in the above image however the bulb in the center (low-cost Philips) is barely shorter than the costlier Philips bulb.
The TCP is a couple of centimeter taller. This has little effect on lighting but millimeters of materials will begin to matter. I did a fast initial check to see how the EcoLight solar bulbs carried out. 13.2W). Perhaps the actual LEDs consume 9.5W and the ballast (the factor converting AC to DC) consumes the remaining. This can be an excellent-sneaky advertising and EcoLight marketing ploy, as I assumed the ranking on the outside of the packaging was the overall energy consumption of the bulb. All three bulbs had opaque plastic upper our bodies. The costly Philips bulb got here apart with some sturdy twisting. Underneath was a neat plastic diffuser. Below the diffuser was a mixture of small and enormous LEDs. Not what I would have anticipated - 14 massive LEDs, 6 small. A, as effectively as the date code: 2014-10-14, a delta of 7 months from after i purchased the bulb. The date is probably in relation to design model and never manufacture date.
With quite a little bit of prying drive, the metallic LED PCB comes off the metallic base heatsink. This was to be anticipated; there was good thermal grease sandwiched between the PCB and the heatsink. Some further prying and we will see the ballast beneath. I obtained a bit forceful with a hacksaw so ignore the hack marks for the moment. The metallic base is threaded onto the plastic base and then spot crimped to the plastic (you can see the multiple dots or dimples across the metallic base). That is the primary clue that Philips is working on simplifying the manufacturing course of. Furthermore, the 2 exposed wires in the picture usually are not soldered to the base, they're compressed to it, additionally simplifying the assembly process. The ballast! Plenty of caps, an inline fuse, transformer, inductor, and a few transistors. C1, C2 and EcoLight solar bulbs C3 are metalized polyester movie capacitors. Right here is the rear facet of the ballast.