Ally Winning, European Editor, PSD
Welcome to the September edition of Power Systems Design Europe. The main focus of this month’s edition is lighting. It seems strange to be talking about lighting when I write this, as I’m based in Scotland, where the summer days are long and lighting is hardly ever required. But it is a still a very relevant subject for power engineers at any time. In the fight to cut greenhouse gas emissions from our power generation, there are two sides to the problem – the first is generating enough clean energy to meet our demands, and the second is cutting that demand for electricity by reducing consumption. LEDs have been a tremendous help in achieving the latter. They use up to 90% less energy than their incandescent counterparts for the same lighting output, and that figure adds up, as the IEA has estimated that lighting consumes between 15% and 10% of the energy that is generated globally. However, LEDs are not driven directly from the mains as incandescent lighting usually is. That means powering them is much more complex, especially when there are multiple LEDs in an installation as happens in many applications.
In this month’s Special Report on LEDs and Lighting, we have three articles, with the first two focussing mainly on automotive lighting. As we start to rely more on battery power for our vehicles, our main priority is how far those batteries will take us before needing recharged. Lighting, both internal and external, consumes power that could be used to drive the vehicle, so naturally, automotive designers have turned to LEDs to try cut that consumption. The same process also goes for the large screens that are now being installed in vehicles.
The first article in this month’s Special Report was contributed by Rutronik, and it looks at how the company’s new Adapter Board RAB5 can help engineers design OSIRE LEDs into both automotive and industrial applications. To make things even easier, the new board is compatible with Arduino connectors to provide a modular solution that can be expanded using many existing boards. The second article comes from Analog Devices, and it gives an overview of the types of large displays used in automotive applications and details how each is powered.
As well as providing light itself, LEDs can be very flexible as the light can be manipulated to provide other advantages. The third and final article in the Special Report looks at how agriculture can benefit from LEDs, including how light can enhance crops and even maximize the milk yield from dairy cattle. Written by Recom, it is a fascinating subject, both on how the wavelength of light can affect nature, and also how that can be achieved by manipulating the power delivered to the LED.
As well as the themed articles in the Special Report, this month’s magazine will also include general articles of interest to power designers, and the latest news and views from the industry.
Enjoy the September issue!
Best Regards,
Ally Winning
European Editor, PSD
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