AeroLEDS has introduced the SUNSpot Landing/Recognition Light, which was designed as a “drop in” replacement for existing PAR 36 lighting applications.
The lighter weight SUNSpot eliminates radiant heat and projects 2800 lumens, equivalent to two 100-watt halogen lights. It also incorporates built-in circuitry to allow recognition “wig/wag” flashing lights that are used to increase aircraft visibility and safety during all phases of flight, according to company officials. Additionally, its low current draw (33% of a GE4509) reduces power consumption so that constant operation of the lights can be employed without drawing significant power from the electrical system, officials add.
SUNSpot can be installed as a single unit or in pairs in the nose gear, cowling or wingtips. All configurations enable the wig-wag feature of the lights, offering a highly visible anti-collision system that does not shorten the service life of the lights.
SUNSpot is rated for 50,000 hours of operation. A single SUNSpot retails for $585.95 or a pair retails for $995.95. AeroLEDs offers a 10-year manufacturer’s warranty.
For more information: 208-867-1319 or AeroLEDS.com.
http://www.aeroleds.com/Portals/53/PDFs/Sunspot%20White%20Paper.pdf
care to comment on this ridiculous story of trying to make your lights brighter than they are?
Dear Justin,
Do the maths, and you will find that the claimed 2,800 lumens is not in agreement with what the design is. I suggest you download the datasheet for SUNSpot. Here are the details:
Narrow Beam: 10 degrees, 30,000 candela
Wide Beam, 30 degrees, 10,000 candela
Converting the intensity to luminous flux with the given values (assuming 100% transmission)
30,000 cd @ 10 deg -> 717.283 lumens
10,000 cd @ 30 deg -> 2,140.943 lumens
Isn’t there a disparity in the luminous flux? A huge one, between the narrow beam and wide beam? Probably they designed the lights for 30,000 cd @ 10 degrees, then (erraneously) thought that if the angle was made thrice the intensity would fall by 1/3, and then PROBABLY someone did the reverse calculations. Assuming for 717 lumens output, 1000 lumens is required (transmission losses), then we’d need 62.5 lm per LED. All sounds good? 🙂
I am a college grad student from MIT and have already worked on several aviation related projects with LEDs including the logo lights on Airbus. I am just wondering if anyone can tell me what kind of LEDs this product uses because I don’t understand how 16 LEDs can generate this much light output. As the article claims, the landing light can generate 2800 lumens. However, a modern hight power LED will only produce about 110 lumens at 350mA, assuming the LEDs are from a high flux bin. To generate 175 lumens you would need to drive the LED close to 700mA, resulting in 40 watts of total power dissipation when you account for 16 LEDs plus drivers. Now this is assuming a junction temperature of 25 degrees Celsius. In the real world, your LED junction will be normally be at least 60 to 80 degrees Celsius, and that’s if you have a very large and efficient heat sink. When you account for true junction temperature, you will find that your total light output is only approximately 70%, or about 2000 lumens!