DOE Releases CALiPER Application Summary Report 15

Craig DiLouie July 18, 2012

The U.S. Department of Energy has completed Series 15 of testing through the DOE Solid-State Lighting CALiPER program.

A summary of the results is now available for download on the DOE SSL website here.

Report 15 of testing analyzes the performance of a group of 10 LED floodlights that mirrors the broad range of conventional luminaires designated as floodlights. The results highlight several key areas in which LED products can improve in order to be more competitive with conventional floodlights—or already offer an advantage.

CALiPER found that efficacy was the same or better than typical metal halide and compact fluorescent floodlights. Although life was not measured, life ratings for the LED floodlights was typically as long as or longer than the conventional product ratings. Power factor was significantly better than conventional floodlights.

DOE also reported:

* The tested LED products fell short in terms of light output compared to the best-performing conventional floodlights, available with light output ratings of 20,000+ lumens. The highest light output measured in the test group was about 8,000 lumens.

* Due to the LED floodlights requiring an array of LEDs, most had wide, symmetric distributions, limiting the market for LED products in applications requiring narrow spot distributions.

* The LED products did not match the modification capabilities of the conventional floodlights, which offer a range of lamping, reflector, accessory and other options in the same housing.

* Finally, while color rendering is not critical in many floodlighting applications, along with dimming it is a potential point of differentiation with conventional floodlights that could be emphasized as a path to broader adoption.

Looking at the entire round, DOE noted: “The range of lumen output and available luminous intensity distributions must expand to cover the full range of conventional products … Despite current limitations, LED floodlights have advantages, such as color quality and dimmability, which provide a potential avenue for widespread future adoption.”