A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LED & KRYPTON BULBS

There have been considerable advancements in the type of materials and innovations in the Lighting Industry in recent times. Newer and better materials like Halogen bulbs and tubes, Gas based decorative accessories, low powered, high intensity lighting equipment are progressively being developed with an eye on the power saving characteristics coupled with functionality.

What Are LED's?

An LED is electronically a simple diode that emits light when power flows through the system. This power requirement is often as less as a few volts as coming from an ordinary dry cell. An LED is not a very new invention but the advancements in technology of manufacturing as well as usage makes it a very cheaper alternative. The size and luminescence of an LED is not much, but when used in clusters along with good quality reflectors and other materials its luminosity can be compared to any conventional source of light.

The color of an LED depends upon the material used in the components. The early LEDs were capable of emitting only infrared and red light, the newer models, however, are available in a variety of colors by using different elements. The colored LED’s are generally slightly costlier than the "standard" red LED.

Krypton Bulbs

With advancements in technology, many inert gases have found usage in lighting accessories because of their characteristic of giving out light when electrons flow thru them on application of voltage difference to its terminals. The color and luminosity of light varies as per the gas. For e.g. Halogen has yellow light, whereas neon gives white or blue light. Krypton is a colorless, odorless, inert gas used in lighting products. Ionized krypton gas appears whitish - which makes krypton-based bulbs useful as a brilliant white light source in high speed photography and other important lighting use as in high-powered, flashing airport runway lights since its bright lights can be seen as far away as a 1000 ft, despite foggy conditions.

The krypton uses include its use in lamps, advertising signs, bulbs, etc. Its use in fluorescent lights leads to reduction of power consumption significantly. Krypton is also used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Technical Comparison

1. Usage - Both these materials are increasingly finding usage in various lighting accessories like Flashlight, Emergency Light, Hand Lantern, headlamps.
2. Power Consumption - The power consumption of LED is about 25 % lower than that of similar Krypton based items.
3. Economy - The Manufacturing Cost of Krypton is also higher as compared to LED. It is also easy to maintain and replace.
4. Ergonomics – Both LED based lighting sources as well as Krypton based sources are available in the most modern designs and are in no way less than each other in functionality.
5. Availability – Krypton is a rare earth element hence difficult to obtain since the process involves fractional distillation of liquefied air which is a costly process. LCD on the other hand, can be made rather conveniently and in fact the cost of manufacture of this is reducing by the day!
6. Color And Luminosity – Krypton based products have greaer luminosity, however even the LCD based products are quite comparable and find more use because of wider range of colored lights that they can display.

An LED is a clear winner in almost all the aspects. It can last well over 20,000 hours, its lifespan significantly surpassing most other incandescent and fluorescent type of bulbs and tubes. Not only that, the output and power consumption of LEDs is incessantly being meliorated. Most manufactures are producing LED bulbs in which the energy efficiency is far better than that of krypton and other type of fluorescent bulbs.

Sources:
1. How LED Lights Are Made
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5006233_how-led-lights-made.html

2. Krypton Uses
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/krypton-uses.html