Comprised of one or more LED modules together with an LED driver, variations in light engine output account for most of the variations in LED color temperature, brightness and other output characteristics. This can be problematic for manufacturers as well as end-users wanting consistent brightness and color.
To alleviate this problem, many LED light engine manufacturers provide functional testing of lamps along with first article and periodic inspections of a production run. However, functional testing merely validates that the lamps will illuminate, and usually doesn’t analyze the correlated light temperature, CRI or brightness of lamps, according to LED light engine manufacturer MADE.
MADE is now moving toward 100% comprehensive testing, control and data reporting and recording. MADE is also implementing production controls via a robotically controlled test cell that will inspect and record the circuit boards for each light engine, including color temperature, power (voltage and/or current readings), brightness (luminous flux), and color rendering index.
By testing and controlling those factors, MADE and other light engine manufacturers will enable the production of LED lighting with much greater consistency in power, color and brightness attributes, saving time and binning efforts in the process.
