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LED Light Engine |
What is a LED Light Engine??
The "LED Light Engine" refers mostly to high power LEDs designed specifically to output usable light as opposed to just being an indicator. Originally LEDs were designed to be a low power, low heat indicator lamp to replace conventional incandescent indicator lamps. As you can imagine a whole console full of tiny incandescent lamps would generate a lot of heat. Plus, if a lamp burnt out how would you know whether the lamp was off or burnt out? LEDs solved these problems quite nicely, though only if you needed red indicators.
As the technology progressed, other colors were developed as people were able to create light emitting diode junctions with different metals. Interestingly enough the color advancement sequence with LEDs roughly follows the Nobel gas color spectrum as it goes up in atomic mass (Nobel gases being seen most commonly in neon & utility lighting). After red LEDs were developed they were followed by amber, yellow, yellowish green and green. With the addition of a second diode junction in one package it became possible to create a single indicator package that could output 3 different colors, one for each diode & the resulting color from both of them at once. Many LED engines need some sort of heat sink to help balance out any residual heat concentration.