What is the difference between an incandescent bulb and an LED bulb?

What is the difference between an incandescent bulb and an LED bulb?

Incandescent bulb

How does a classic incandescent bulb work?

An incandescent light bulb consists of a glass bulb containing a filling gas. The filament, made of tungsten, connected to the electrical connections is then raised to a high temperature by the passage of an electric current which then emits light.

Advantages and disadvantages of an incandescent light bulb

With a cheap purchase price, incandescent bulbs allow a color rendering equal to 100. This means a high perception of colors equivalent to that obtained with natural light that restores all shades of color. However, incandescent light bulbs - compared to all lighting technologies - record the worst energy efficiency since almost 90% of the energy is lost to heat the filament and not produce light. In addition, with an average life of 1000 hours, it is necessary to replace your defective bulbs regularly, which has a significant cost in the long term. Finally, despite its 360 ° light beam, the light radiation of an incandescent bulb is poorly distributed with an exposure oriented, for example, to the ceiling.

Application areas

The main use of incandescent lamps is in residential areas, for interior lighting, thanks to a very warm white light of 2700K. This lighting technology is not generally used in businesses because of its short life and low energy efficiency.

LED bulb

How does an LED bulb work?

An LED - light-emitting diode - is an optoelectronic component that emits light when traversed by a continuous electric current. Thus, an LED bulb has no filament, unlike an incandescent bulb, but consists of layers of several semiconductor materials that are aluminum nitride and gallium phosphide. These materials, with no resistance to current, prevent energy loss while creating light. In fact, the excess electrons encounter positively charged atoms, when the electric current passes through the semiconductor layers, which releases energy in the form of light. Thus, LED bulbs to use all of the energy received in the light output.

Advantages and disadvantages of an LED bulb

The major advantage of an LED bulb is undoubtedly its high energy efficiency because no energy is lost as seen previously. Thus, with LED technology, the operating time of a light bulb is approximately 35,000 to 50,000 hours, which is an extended life of 35 to 50 times compared to a standard bulb. In the long run, this translates into low maintenance costs and a return on investment of the initial purchase cost, generally higher, of less then one year.

Application areas

LED lighting has almost unlimited application possibilities - accent lighting, general lighting, etc. Indeed, it is available in a wide range of light colors - from 1700K which corresponds to the light intensity of a 6500K candle which corresponds to daylight - with a color rendering index of 90 to 100 The IRC 100 is that of sunlight. And, it has a light beam (also called opening angle or radiation angle) of 8 ° to 360 ° to reduce, as much as possible, the loss of brightness so the "stray light", that is to say tell the amount of light that falls outside the cone of the light output.