Results of Research into Energy Parameters and Characteristics of LED Lamps

Light emitting diode (LED) based solutions for lighting systems, particularly LED lamps, are becoming increasingly more popular due to their high reliability, energy efficiency, long lifetime, and decreasing cost. At the same time, modern semiconductor lighting equipment can be both a source of electromagnetic interference and sensitive to it. Manufacturers of LED lamps provide a few energy parameters and characteristics that make it possible to assess the interaction between the lamp and the electrical network at the design stage, but in some cases, the range of indicators provided does not fully justify the selection of LED-based solutions. The issues of electromagnetic compatibility of LED lamps are considered in the paper. LED lamps, as non-linear elements, are shown to create electromagnetic interference for the electrical network. First, emitting current harmonics, they are consumers of reactive power. The paper considers Russian and foreign documents that regulate energy parameters and characteristics of LED lamps. It is shown that datasheets of LED lamps do not fully represent their energy parameters and characteristics. The paper presents the approaches and methods based on experimental and analytical research for evaluating a wide range of energy parameters and characteristics of LED lamps. Particular attention is paid to the issue of light flicker: the range of luminous flux frequencies that negatively affect human health is shown, approaches to flicker assessment are given. Based on the study of a few LED lamps, a wide spread of their energy parameters and characteristics, the power factor and the flicker in particular, has been registered. The paper gives recommendations on the choice of products in the design of lighting systems based on LED lamps.