No lightbulb’ moments

The benefits of LEP

Light Emitting Plasma (LEP) offers benefits over LED in high-mast applications, thanks to its efficiency at distributing light from a small, compact source, according John Chalmers of Bright Light Solutions. “Plasma offers 100 times the lumen density over LED and is suited for 400W to 1,000W replacements,” he says.

“One of the primary issues for LED in high-illuminance applications is packaging enough LEDs together to distribute enough height at mounting heights of 60 feet or more while also maintaining effective heat dissipation. Having so many high-brightness LEDs in close proximity to one another makes thermal management a challenge and can compromise the integrity of internal drivers and power supplies,” says Mr Chalmers.

His view is that LED, with its instant-on, directional light source advantages, is best suited for low-illuminance applications such as parking areas or at the terminal entrance for inspection of incoming trucks and containers.

“We employ both technologies in our product portfolio but we utilise LEP for high-mast applications.”

With LEP, a single source only a few millimetres in size can produce up to 45,000 lumens of bright white light, he says. “The compact nature of the light sources along with highly efficient optical design and passive thermal management meets the exacting standards of high-mast application and delivers uniform light distribution from tall mounting heights.”