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This standard will help product development and accurate energy efficiency categorisation of established solid-state lighting products

After the phase-out of incandescent light bulbs in 2012 in the European Union, photometry standards became outdated as well and contributed to less accurate measurements of solid-state lighting products, including white light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The EMPIR project Future photometry based on solid-state lighting products (15SIB07, PhotoLED) developed the new reference spectrum L41 based on white LEDs, which decreases the photometric measurement uncertainty of solid-state lighting products by a factor of two, compared to previous standards based on incandescent light source.

In collaboration with the International Commission on Illumination (CIE), this was published as part of the technical report CIE251:2023 LED reference spectrum for photometer calibration. This new technical report will help the development of new LED calibration standards as well as increase the measurement accuracy in classification of consumer lighting products according to their energy efficiency, thus increasing consumer trust.

The project coordinator Tuomas Poikonen (VTT MIKES) comments on the success of the project: 

‘We are delighted to see that the results of the project are taken into use by laboratories and standardisation. The new reference spectrum L41 is a significant achievement and provides a fresh alternative to the conventional CIE standard illuminant A that has been used for decades in calibrations of photometric instruments.’

Further details about the development and publication of the CIE251:2023 technical report can be found here.

This EMPIR project is co-funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the EMPIR Participating States.

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