Use Our Top Tips to Achieve Uniform LED Lighting
What are the secrets to create a uniform LCD backlight? It’s all up to the capabilities, technology and expertise of the manufacturer. Before you get started on any uniform LED lighting project, light guide design or custom LED overlay, you should familiarize yourself with some key information.
Read on to learn about the five rules to achieve more uniform results in you light guide design.
Good Mechanical Design
The physical design of the light guide system itself needs to be appropriate. The starting place should be good mechanical design, which means that there needs to be enough room for the light guide.
Further, the area beyond the viewing area itself needs enough room for LED placement. The more room, the more light that can be spread, and the less chance of bright/dim areas in front of the LEDs. With more room, it is also possible to reduce the number of LEDs required for even illumination.
What Not to Do for Uniform LED Lighting
To achieve the right design, there are common traps or mistakes to avoid. That means non-optical components need to be kept outside of the area directly under the LCD viewing surface, so they do not interfere with it. For instance, no adhesives, holes, recesses, or mechanical posts should be in the viewing area.
Light Extraction Technology
Light extraction technology varies greatly in terms of quality and results, and this is a key determining factor in overall light guide system quality as well as uniformity. The best systems will offer precise control for many variables, including size, shape, population, randomization and orientation.
The LEDs
The type of LEDs used in the uniform LED lighting system also makes a huge difference. The LEDs themselves must offer distribution profiles that work well with light guides. Specifically, a wide emission angle to spread across the light guide, with a narrow distribution angle to work within the thin light guide material. Pair the LED with a reflector cup for even more increased efficiency.
Optical Components
Well-designed and -engineered optical components will increase LCD light uniformity. This includes optical grade diffuser films, as well as reflector films. In fact, there are micro-optical elements that can and should be molded directly to the light guide which will increase the overall efficiency of the system, while also increasing brightness and enhancing uniformity.
Global Lighting Technologies is a proven leader in developing the highest quality custom LED overlays, uniform LED lighting, LCD backlighting and more.
Connect with one of our illumination experts to learn more about how we can help with a custom lighting solution.