Orb Optronix Offers New Standard LED Testing Services

Kirkland, WA; January 14, 2010. Orb Optronix has announced that the company will offer pulse-width modulation (PWM) and single-pulse LED characterization through its LED Test and Measurement Lab as standard testing services. PWM and single-pulse LED characterization services were previously offered as customized tests. Those customers utilizing Orb's electrical-thermal-optical LED measurement services, also known as ETO test services, may now include PWM electrical input variables and single-pulse LED characterization in their test plan.

Pulse-width modulation is a common method of varying the amount of power delivered to an LED. If the duty cycle is varied, the LED output can be controlled. For general illumination or display applications, the pulses occur much faster than the eye will notice (100 Hz or faster). The Orb Optronix PWM testing regimen allows sweeping of any one duty cycle (pulse duration), pulse frequency, or LED drive current in conjunction with temperature to produce the parametric data sets necessary to optimize LED performance in a PWM controlled system.

Single-pulse LED characterization allows a customer to gather comparative data by testing a device using single-pulse NIST traceable measurements. The resulting measurements provide data for comparison of particular lots of LEDs to the specifications provided by LED manufacturers in their datasheets. These tests can also be used to generate comprehensive LED datasheets for manufacturers from an independent test lab.

The current industry standard of production-testing LEDs with a single, short pulse measures the basic features of LEDs for sorting purposes. These quick measurements are very practical for the manufacturer, as the same fixture can test 20 or more LEDs per second. However, measuring an LED's color, dominant wavelength, efficiency, and forward voltage using the 25 ms pulse method does not give the best metrics for true use environments.