2D LED Emergency Light

The 2D LED in more detail

The 2D CFL lamp has widespread use across a range of application primarily in commercial buildings. It is most generally used for functional lighting purposes where the decorative side is of little concern but good visibility and reliability is of paramount importance. One example is car park lighting where 247 illumination is important and also a high level of reliability. In this case the 2D LED  outperforms its predecessor the 2D CFL due to its very long life, typically over 30000 hours,  and also its high efficiency, using around half the energy of the CFL lamp.

The case then becomes stronger when considering applications like corridor lighting in residential homes where illumination is key but to save energy  the majority of the lights are switched on movement of heat activated sensors to light up on demand. This is an excellent way  to use 2D energy saving light bulbs but one problem with the CFL is it does not react well with repeated switching which will invariably lead to premature lamp failure. For this reason the 2D LED is often selected which is far more tolerant to repeated switching and this does not effect the expected life span.

The 2D Emergency Lamp

The other key factor about a high number of applications for 2D lamps is that it is critical that there is level of illumination in the area for safety reasons in all situations. This means that it is critical to have an adequate level of light emitted in the eventuality of a power cut. It is no good if you are trying to negotiate a corridor in the middle of the night in pitch darkness! For this reasons the regulations for commercial buildings often stipulate that an emergency back up light is needed which will operate for a period of 4 hours. In order to satisfy this criteria the lamp must detect the loss of power and then switch over automatically to the emergency back up.

This is another area where the 2D LED Emergency Lamp scores very high as it only consumes around half the power of the CFL lamp and accordingly only needs half the ampere hour rating for the battery back up system. The way this 2D LED emergency light works is to have a set of 6 dedicated LED’s in the centre of the lamp which are lit under battery power in the event of a power failure. The lamp has a small external driver system and a separate battery unit which is supplied with the system which can both be fitted into a normal 2D lamp fitting. This way somewhat unreliable 2D CFL lamp can be revitalised to perform as a highly efficient, 2D LED Emergency Light with an exceedingly long life. Even with continuous operation the expected life is 3-4 years!

It has been possible previously to utilise an emergency backup LED driver to drive a conventional 2D LED in emergency situations.  However, this can be a very expensive solution so the emergence of this fully integrated system is a real plus from a total cost of ownership perspective.