The definition of light in a dictionary is given as something that makes things visible or affords illumination. Encyclopedia states that light is a visible electromagnetic radiation. It is that part of an electromagnetic spectrum that human eye is sensitive to. Light has a multiple definitions and i would like to define it as a medium that helps me realise and enjoy the beauty of nature. A medium between human beings and nature that without which life would be unimaginable. Like air, water and food, light play an essential role in human exsistence.
Sun the star of the solar system is the main and natural source of light. But man being a genious has come up with so many different forms of light sources and lighting solutions. Although none of them can be compared with sun the brilliance of human intellect can be surely appreciated and wowed.
Starting with the invention of a light bulb by Edison, light sources have now evolved to a point were apart from merely giving light output it has got a million different features right from saving enivronment and human health to making life interesting, luxurious and comfortable.
While working at an international light manufacturing company i noticed that my collegues always talked about light sources and fixtures and power and so on and soforth. It was as if they always talked about work. But after working for 3 years i realised that i became a part of the discussions and all of a sudden it never felt as if we were talking about work. It was all about passion for the work that we did. I really started enjoying the conversations. I was a design engineer for LED drivers. Most of us might not know what LED drivers are, so to give a brief idea.
If you take a light source such as fluroscent light bulb the complete package includes, fluroscent tube or bulb, fixture, power chord, ballast (it is called driver for LED light). The input to the lamp is AC alternating current. If AC current is directly allowed to the lamp we will notice flickering of the lamp and during power surges or voltage fluctuation conditions the filaments of the lamp might loose their life. Inorder to provide direct current to the lamp and avoid surges and protect the lamp a circuit is designed such that it converts AC supply to DC and protect from surges. This circuit is called a ballast or a driver. Additionally the driver can be incoorporated with additional features such has having a proper feedback system to maintain stability in the light output as well as dim the light output or max it out.
When it comes to LED light sources. The driver plays a cruicial role as even minor instablity can cause lot of flicker in the light output. Also LED lighting being highly energy efficient the design of the driver should be equally efficient to provide better results.
Coming to my interests it was not just limited to designing LED drivers but it outgrew to various other concepts and what always cuaght my attention was the latest lighting sources and lighting solutions, their applications.
I started this blog to put up information on what are the latest light forms avaiable in market and i would request everyone to freely comment or post to the site information they come across about any new lighting sources or solutions be it from the latest to traditional forms of fixtures, bulbs, drivers or designs.
No comments:
Post a Comment