LED bulbs, A Matter of CRI and CQS

LED bulbs, a matter of CRI and CQS

One aspect that has introduced LED bulbs technology is the emergence of a new jargon in our vocabulary, although no terms were already very familiar, as they could be " lumens "or" kilowatt hour ", there are new concepts we have to know and understand.

In this article we will focus on two of them, which are the Color Rendering Index - CRI (CRI English: Color Rendering Index) and Quality Chromatic Scale - ECC (English CQS: Color Quality Scale).

The CRI

The CRI measures how colors appear under the illumination source, compared with a reference source that has the same color temperature.

What comes to mean a roughly is how accurate is the reproduction of a color, a numeric value classifies the color quality produced by a light source. If incandescent bulbs are taken as the reference point (have the value 100), while an LED bulb quality is estimated to be about 80 at least. This CRI 80 is what the manufacturers listed on the packaging of their products.

Why the value of incandescent bulbs or the sun is taken, it is because they emit light in all directions within the visible spectrum and this does not happen with compact lamps (CFL) or LED.

Is it enough a CRI of 80?

For general for everyday use in our homes is the appropriate value. Higher values ​​are converted to other areas such rooms would be art exhibitions and similar centers. In contrast, values ​​below 80 make colors appear duller and yes are a not recommended choice.

CRI test is based on an average of eight colors pastel (little saturated), for the classification. This would mean that even if a bulb playing a couple of colors at a low value, the CRI can still remain high as long as these colors are not bad played one of 8 colors that are averaged.

LED bulbs can reproduce faithfully bright colors (saturated), but not always pastel colors, which can be misleading the CRI in this type of bulbs.

The CQS

To overcome the shortcomings hauling CRI LEDs method has been developed color quality scale as an alternative method. CQS considers a number of factors when trying to define the way a light source reproduces color. These include the chromatic discrimination, human preference and color rendering (the method evaluates 15 colors more accurately cover the range of normal colors of an object).CQS factors focus a little less on color fidelity and more on perception.

In future articles we will increase the vocabulary while we explain the most common concepts that we find in the printed features packages of this type of bulbs.