A brief analysis of the differences between fiber optic lighting and LED lighting

Nowadays, under the advocacy of the concept of green lighting, various lighting technologies continue to emerge. Fiber optic lighting and LED lights , as emerging lighting technologies, have always been at the forefront of the era in the field of green lighting.

1. Fiber optic lighting Fiber optic lighting is an emerging lighting method in recent years. Due to some unique physical properties of optical fiber itself, fiber optic lighting is used in indoor decorative lighting, local effect lighting, billboard lighting, guiding lighting of outdoor public areas of buildings, indoor and outdoor underwater lighting, and building outline and facade lighting, and has achieved good lighting effects. The fiber optic lighting system is composed of a light source, a reflector, a color filter and an optical fiber. When the light source passes through the reflector, a beam of approximately parallel light is formed. Due to the effect of the color filter, the beam is turned into colored light. When the light beam enters the optical fiber, the colored light is sent to the predetermined place along the path of the optical fiber. Due to the loss of light on the way, the light source is generally very strong. The commonly used light source is about 150~250W. In addition, in order to obtain an approximately parallel light beam, the light point should be as small as possible, close to a point light source. The reflector is an important factor in whether an approximately parallel light beam can be obtained. Therefore, a non-spherical reflector is generally used . The color filter is a part that changes the color of the light beam. According to the needs, the corresponding color light source can be obtained by replacing the filters of different colors. The optical fiber is the main body of the optical fiber lighting system. The function of the optical fiber is to transmit or emit light to the predetermined place. Optical fiber is divided into end-emitting and body-emitting. The former is that after the light beam reaches the end point, it is illuminated by the taillight, while the latter is the light source itself, forming a flexible light column. For optical fiber materials, it must be within the visible light range and the loss of light energy should be minimal to ensure the lighting quality. But in fact, it is impossible to have no loss, so the optical fiber transmission distance of about 30m is the best. Characteristics of optical fiber lighting: 1. A single light source can have multiple light points with the same light-emitting characteristics. 2. The light source is easy to replace and easy to repair. 3. The light emitter can be placed in a position that is difficult for non-professionals to access, so it is anti-destructive. 4. No ultraviolet light or infrared light, which can reduce damage to certain items such as cultural relics and textiles. 5. The light point is miniaturized, light, easy to replace and install. It can be made into a very small size and placed in glassware or other small objects to emit light to form a special decorative lighting effect. 6. No electromagnetic interference, can be used in special places with electromagnetic shielding requirements such as nuclear magnetic resonance rooms and radar control rooms. 7. No electric sparks, no electric shock hazards, can be used in special places with fire, explosion hazards or humidity and water such as chemical, oil, natural gas platforms, fountain pools, swimming pools. 8. Automatically change light color. 9. Reusable, saving investment. 10. Soft and easy to break, easy to be processed into various patterns. The system heat is lower than the general lighting system, which can reduce the power consumption of the air conditioning system. 2. LED lighting LED (Light Emitting Diode) is a semiconductor that can convert electrical energy into visible light . It changes the principle of tungsten filament luminescence of incandescent lamps and three-primary color powder luminescence of energy-saving lamps, and adopts electric field luminescence. It has the following characteristics: 1. Voltage: LED uses low-voltage power supply , the supply voltage is between 6-24V, which varies according to different products, so it is a safer power supply than using high-voltage power supply. 2. Efficiency: The energy consumption is 80% less than that of incandescent lamps with the same light efficiency . 3. Applicability: Each unit LED chip is a square of 3-5mm, so it can be prepared into devices of various shapes and is suitable for changeable environments. 4. Stability: 100,000 hours, the light decay is 50% of the initial. 5. Response time: The response time of its incandescent lamp is milliseconds, and the response time of LED lamp is nanoseconds. 6. Environmental pollution: There is no harmful metal mercury. 7. Color: Changing the current can change the color. The light-emitting diode can easily adjust the band structure and band gap of the material through chemical modification methods to achieve red, yellow, green, blue and orange multi-color light emission. 8. Price: The price of LED is relatively expensive. The price of a few LEDs can be comparable to the price of an incandescent lamp, and usually each group of signal lights needs to be composed of more than 300 to 500 diodes. 3. Application of fiber optic lighting 1. Video conference desktop lighting 2. Effect lighting in places with high ceilings, difficult to maintain or unable to bear weight 3. Guidance lighting in outdoor public areas of buildings 4. Underwater lighting of outdoor fountains 5. Building outline lighting and facade lighting 6. Local lighting of buildings and cultural relics 7. Light box and billboard lighting Fiber optic light is soft and easy to break, easy to be processed into different patterns, no risk of electric shock, no high-voltage transformer, can automatically change light color, and is easy to install and can be reused. Therefore, it is often used for billboard lighting set on buildings. Compared with traditional neon lights, fiber optic lighting has obvious performance advantages. 4. Application fields of LED 1. Signal indication application. 2. Display Application: signboards, billboards, large-screen displays, etc. 3. Lighting applications: a. Portable Lamps: flashlights, headlights, miner's lights, diving lights, etc. b. Automobile lights: high-position brake lights, brake lights, turn signals, reversing lights, etc. High- power LEDs have been widely used in automobile lighting. c. Special lighting: solar garden lights ,










































Solar street lights , underwater lights, etc. Due to the small size of LED, it is easy to dynamically control brightness and color, so it is more suitable for architectural decorative lighting.
d. Backlighting: ordinary electronic equipment function display backlight, notebook computer backlight, large-size and ultra-large-size LCD display backlight, etc. LED as the backlight of mobile phone display is the most widely used field of LED.
e. Projection light source: RGB light source for projectors.
f. General lighting: various general lighting fixtures, lighting sources, etc.

Since fiber optic lighting and LED lighting are essentially different, and the performance effects are also different, they also have different emphases in the sales market. Although the market share of fiber optic lighting in the lighting industry is not too large, it is proportional to the accelerated growth. According to the characteristics of fiber optic lighting, the sales market of fiber optic lighting mainly faces decorative lighting, entertainment lighting, artistic lighting and special lighting.

As a new type of light source, LED has been developed in recent years with more and more types of LED lighting products and a growing market share, based on the current development trend and the concept of green lighting. However, since the high-power LED technology is not mature yet and the cost of white light LED cannot be effectively reduced, LED lamps cannot be effectively expanded in the lighting field.