[Green Device] Are LED Lights Really Bug-free?

Nov 6, 2009 09:39 Satoshi Okubo, Nikkei Microdevices

Is it true that LED lamps do not attract bugs?

We often hear that it is one of the advantages of LED lamps. But doubt was cast upon the theory in the seminar on elemental technologies for LED lamps at Green Device 2009 Forum, which took place Oct 30, 2009. In the seminar, Hisashi Wakamatsu, chief researcher of Nihon Gairoto Seizou KK, delivered a lecture titled "Considering LED Lamps Using Past Examples."

He said that bugs are attracted by ultraviolet rays with a wavelength of 340 to 350nm. Though measuring instruments do not detect such rays in the emission spectrum of white LEDs used for LED street lamps, he found that more bugs are attracted to the LED lamps in proportion to color temperature and brightness of the lamps.

Therefore, unless the surroundings of light sources are tightly sealed by transparent covers, bugs cause electrical problems in light sources, he said from his experience. In a case, a trouble arose half a year after installation of LED lighting equipment.

In the lecture, Wakamatsu showed a picture of a spider web spun near an LED light source. And the company is currently conducting research on the reason why LED lamps attract bugs, he said.

Nihon Gairoto Seizou, which has dealt with LED street lamps for more than 10 years, cited this problem as one of the five problems of LED lamps. The other four problems are (1) the heavy weight of heat dissipation materials, (2) the connection method between LED light bulbs and power sources, (3) the understanding of luminance efficiency and luminous flux and (4) the unavailability of fluorescence switch due to low current.

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