Just when lighting enthusiasts were in a severely dark place, LED came to their rescue. For the past 10 years, LED technologies have innovated the lighting industry by providing excellent features such as durability, long life, and efficiency.
Despite the monumental growth, engineering researchers and experts have illuminated another path for LED technologies by improving the production of light sources made with crystalline substances.
Light-emitting diode (LED) technology shows a major technological advancement in the world of public outdoor lighting. It offers numerous advantages and new prospects to society at large. The energy savings are significant because of LED’s high energy efficiency.
The implementation of LED lighting can save a huge amount of energy used for lighting and other energy costs thereby reducing maintenance costs. Knowing full well that almost half of the energy consumed in the cities is channeled to public lighting, it is evident that LED light assembling will help to achieve national and local environmental goals.
LED Light Outlook
The growth rate of the technologies associated with LED assembly has been on a continuous rise among manufacturers, end-users, and developers. This rise in popularity is a result of low energy consumption, high efficiency, and versatile designs. Many manufacturers employ solid-state lighting technology in designing, assembling, and producing light-emitting diode systems.
LED light provides high lumen strength by offering excellent service life, consuming less power, and eliminating the possibility of flickering in electronic devices. No wonder the world LED lighting market size is expected to reach 59.8 billion United States Dollars at the end of 2022 from 55.5 billion Dollars in 2021.
Consequently, LED is expected to replace the conventional Compact Florescent Lamp due to its advanced and innovative features. Besides, the manufacture of LED-based products entails employing different kinds of technologies. Components and chips are the primary materials needed to fabricate and assemble LED light products.
Some industries produce LED tools, components, and tools while others take up the role of manufacturing lamps and fixtures. The LED value chain does not stop here as some other light assembly companies take the final products to the consumers.
Many factors drive the growth of the LED lighting market including lower energy requirements which boost financial savings, being environmentally friendly because of lower mercury use leading to a healthy environment as well as low production cost which makes the LED market more lucrative.
What is LED Light Assembly?
LED is the acronym for Light Emitting Diode. It is a semiconductor that gives or displays light when electric current flows through it. LED has become so famous and widely used because it gives light to your home, workshop, street, and everywhere it is installed.
Little wonder that light-emitting diodes have replaced the age-long traditional lighting systems that are very costly and consume much energy. LED has proven to be long-lasting, durable, reliable, and efficient. However, a combination of more LEDs is needed to illuminate a particular area especially when more lighting is needed.
Simply put, a single light-emitting diode cannot illuminate to a large extent. There’s a need for multiple LEDs based on the requirements for usage. In this regard, SMD LEDs (surface-mounted devices) can be used owing to their ability to work in a small space and provide wonderful brightness or lumens.
This arrangement can come in either manual (hand) or automated fashion.
In the manual method, a well-trained technician uses a precision tool and other specialized tools to strategically place LED components individually onto circuit boards. On the other hand, the automated fashion uses a surface mount technology (SMT) tool to accurately and efficiently place numerous light-emitting diodes onto printed circuit boards.
There is a unique kind of SMD LED PCB board that is placed on a printed circuit board, it is called LED PCB and has gained wide acceptance and usage. An SMD LED has a long shelf-life and can last for about 100,000 hours or more.
Having said that, the LED assembly is the process of selecting, placing, and soldering light-emitting diodes on a board to produce a working electronic device. In other words, it is the production of solid-state lighting products by applying the light-emitting diode technology in combination with the printed circuit boards and other electronic components.
Uses and Applications of LED Light Assembly and LED PCB
There are many advantages of LED light assembly technology for both home and industrial use. Solid-state lighting is more efficient than conventional lighting technology. Incandescent and fluorescent lights have a shorter service life and consume more power than LED lights.
Several applications that use LED light assembly technology are numerous and more are coming up. It is plausible that LED light will dominate the industry by replacing all other forms of light currently in use. LED light assembly can be applied in solid-state technology applications like signage, backlighting, bandoliers, LED modules, and many more.
In the same vein, LED PCB is used in virtually every industry in human existence. They are applied in the following areas such as automobiles, streetlights, traffic lights, airport runway lights, and other areas. These LED PCBs are excellent in saving energy (energy efficiency) thereby lowering the cost of operation.
Manufacturers can design a LED PCB board based on requirements. They can achieve any design that can match different lighting devices depending on the needs of luminous flux in the place under consideration.
PCB Board for LED
Metal-core PCBs are expensive but still the most preferable light-emitting diode in the market. The reason is not far-fetched. LED discharges too much heat energy and as such requires a good heat discharging strength.
Aluminum can discharge heat efficiently as its base material is more than enough to do the job. The process is quite simple, the dielectric layer of the LED sends the heat energy to the aluminum layer, and the circuit board can effectively discharge the heat effortlessly.
An LED PCB is strong and lasts long. Moreover, the aluminum content makes it capable of withstanding high temperatures without bending or getting damaged easily. This is the reason, it can serve you for an extended time.
LED PCB is the Heart of LED Lighting
The key feature of LED printed circuit board is that light-emitting diodes produce light without generating heat. This unique feature is a great advantage because it leads to low energy loss. Since LED contains a diode, it means it’s a semiconductor device. That’s the reason why LEDs are soldered onto printed circuit boards.
LED circuit boards are applicable in virtually every technological sector of human existence. The products you use in your daily life such as computers, cars, medical equipment, etc, all come with PCBs. However, not all LED PCBs are the same. Many of them use different materials of production for attractive purposes.
The major function of the LED printed circuit board is to monitor effectively how heat is transferred. Light-emitting diodes work well with them due to the attractive qualities of aluminum.
LED light circuit board differs from other boards in the following ways:
It consists of three different layers. The first layer is the circuit layer positioned at the top, the second layer is the dielectric layer, and the thermal conduction layer is the last. The key difference is that LED light circuit board finds application in the lighting industry, while the dielectric layer is applicable in all electronic industries.
LED PCB boards are always an outline or description for the production of a definite product. They come in 3.5 SDCM color quality/stability. There are many of them the industry can work with.
In a nutshell, LED bulbs are preferable to traditional incandescent light bulbs as they produce light for more time and at a cheaper rate. Therefore, using an LED bulb is a cool and great investment. Many industries treasure the use of LED bulbs because they are made of top-quality materials.
LED printed circuit boards are important for the modernization and manufacture of lighting products. Several light assembly companies produce PCBs for the self-assembly of LEDs and also the board with already installed light-emitting diodes and connectors. There’s a high demand for printed circuit boards with LEDs because they offer the best price on the market for LED lighting.
Still, there is a wide range of LED light bulbs and LED displays in the market which are products of ready-made LED strips and modules. Therefore, using LED circuit boards manufactured by any reputable circuit board manufacturer can produce excellent and affordable LED products such as:
- Emergency lighting
- Street lamps
- Automotive lighting
- LED lamps
- LED panels
- Industrial LED lighting and more
LED PCB Assembly
LED is the first choice when it comes to lighting technology. Based on this, the demand for LED PCB assembly and LED light assembly have increased tremendously over the years, with the assembly technology changing with time.
The base surface material for LED PCB is always aluminum because aluminum can efficiently discharge heat energy and lower the temperature of the printed circuit board. But aluminum causes poor soldering during the LED assembly process owing to its high thermal conductivity. However, there are many reliable and professional PCB manufacturing companies that deliver custom services based on request.
They can offer various LED PCB manufacturing and assembly services such as metal-core PCB assembly, LED PCB prototype production, etc.
Benefits of Using LED Aluminum PCB
Aluminum offers several benefits that’s why it is commonly used in the manufacture of LED circuit boards. Some of these advantages include:
- It occupies less space
Due to the compact nature of aluminum LED PCBs, they can be used in applications of different sizes. This means that LED PCB manufacturers can easily connect LEDs to any device ranging from computers, and cars, to traffic lights, and many more.
- It can last long without getting damaged
The reason why metal-core PCBs are used in streetlights, automobiles, and other outdoor jobs is that they are strong and can withstand any form of wear and tear. Besides, the shelf or service life of LED bulbs can be over three years of steady use. Thus, you can save time, money, and even strength of purchasing and installing a new bulb when the need arises.
- It is less expensive
The aluminum LED PCB is a cost-effective solution for high-volume heat discharge. The cost is lower when compared to other metal-core PCBs in the market. Furthermore, it doesn’t use heat sinks making it cheaper to use.
- It is stable and light in weight
One of the great features of aluminum is the incredible dimension stability it has. The effect of high temperature does not cause LED PCB to bend or increase in size, but instead, the components on the board remain untouched. Still, aluminum is a lightweight metal and its overall weight impacts little on the final product.
- It is environmentally-friendly
Conventional bulbs contain mercury that is harmful to the environment and even require difficult procedures to dispose of. LED bulbs do not contain any mercury, they have less impact on the environment, and are easier to handle.
SMD LED PCB Board: What is it?
A surface-mounted device is a small component that can be soldered directly unto the printed circuit board. It doesn’t require a hole as the components do not possess any lead or might have little leads. But it has small contacts at the ends of the device to make connections.
Surface-mounted devices are connected to the circuit board by way of reflow soldering. You first apply the solder paste on the bare board, then pick the components and place them where they ought to be. Finally, pass the board through the reflow oven and the components are soldered or mounted with ease.
The emergence of surface mount technology (SMT) has made the through-hole technology obsolete. As a result, surface mount LED PCB has become very famous. But, through-hole technology is still utilized for electronic components that cannot be mounted on the surface.
SMD LEDs have gained wider acceptability in recent times. They offer higher brightness which helps to boost the level of illumination anywhere they are used. This is the major reason why SMD LED PCBs are popular and highly preferred. An SMD LED PCB board contains SMD light-emitting diodes that are smaller than the through-hole counterpart.
The Role of PCB in LED Lighting
When you solder the light-emitting diode to the printed circuit board, the PCB will connect, illuminate, and give out light thereby forming the LED PCB. It has a ceramic pedestal which ensures the board is firmly fixed and helps the PCB’s channel operate very smoothly. Since LEDs generate a lot of heat which might harm the board, a heat sink is needed to conduct the heat away.
LED PCB uses metal surfaces as its production material owing to the excess heat generated by the LED. Those metallic substances that can discharge heat faster are the best choice. Therefore, an aluminum PCB is the best choice whenever an LED PCB is designed. The reason is aluminum PCB has a thin layer of dielectric that can discharge heat quickly.
More so, LED PCB performs other roles in addition to providing general lighting. It can provide ultraviolet and infrared light and a higher amount of energy.
Transformation of Circuit Technology
Circuit technology has passed through various levels of technological advancements and PCB is one of the innovations or outcomes of this change. The printed circuit board is unique in the sense that it takes up less space and materials for both small and large-scale productions.
PCB is such a wonderful ingenious invention as it makes electrical components more accurate, compact, flexible, and tolerant to heat and temperature changes. These excellent features can be seen in devices like Flexible PCB, Multilayer PCB, and many more.
Though LED begins with devices that display low-intensity light, the technology has been around for several years. Modern LED provides high-intensity bright light that can be used even in hospital operating rooms.
LED is the Future of Light
LED lights have come to stay, they are not going anywhere. Their versatility and efficiency will continue to increase as more designers, engineers, and manufacturers turn into this efficient, energy-saving, and cost-effective light output. With the ingenuity applied in the production process and better ways of using LED in both domestic and industrial areas. It is time to fully adopt the LED light assembly technology.
You can become part of this lumen future revolution by learning how it can transform your home or business. It is not too late to join the vanguard.
