Application Note AN36 – Optical Considerations for Bridgelux Vero LED

The Bridgelux family of Vero Array products delivers high performance, compact, and cost-effective solidstate lighting solutions to serve the general lighting market. These products combine the higher efficiency, lifetime, and reliability benefits of LEDs with the light output levels of many conventional lighting sources.

Optimizing performance and reliability of a lighting system using Bridgelux Vero Series LED Arrays requires careful consideration of thermal management solutions, handling and assembly, selection of electronic drivers and selection of secondary optics. Application Notes AN30, AN31, AN32 and AN36 respectively deal with each of these topics in depth. To achieve optimal performance of the LED Arrays, proper thermal management must be selected or designed.

Bridgelux Vero Arrays have been uniquely designed to produce a wide and smooth Lambertian light emission pattern suitable for a wide variety of lighting applications. Some applications, however, may require a different distribution of light. Secondary optics components such as lenses, reflectors or collimators can be used to create a wide variety of optical effects in order to meet specific lamp and luminaire design requirements.

The purpose of this application note is to provide a general understanding of basic optical concepts that can be used to modify the spatial light distribution produced by Bridgelux Vero Arrays and guidance as to how to change the light distribution to meet application driven requirements. Included in this note is an overview of geometric optics, a description of Bridgelux Vero Array optical performance, guidelines for specifying optical performance requirements, and information regarding commercially available secondary optics for use with Bridgelux Vero Arrays. A list of companies specializing in the development and manufacturing of custom optics is also included to assist customers with needs for unique optical solutions.