GE Lighting developed the bulb in its East Cleveland, Ohio, LED lab. The new LED bulb consumes just 27 W and comes in a standard “A-19” bulb shape. GE says its Energy Smart 27-W LED bulb incorporates proprietary synthetic jet technology that was enabled by a collaboration with ecomagination Challenge winner Nuventix, creator of LED cooling technologies for energy-efficient lighting.
GE says the new bulb will be on store shelves in the U.S. and Canada the first half of 2013, but doesn't say how much its price tag will set consumers back.
GE already makes a 13-W LED (60-W incandescent replacement) and a 9-W LED (40-W incandescent replacement), which was the first incandescent-shaped (A-19) LED to earn Energy Star qualification. GE says it was tough to get the LED bulb down to a size equivalent to that of an ordinary light bulb. Says Steve Briggs, general manager of LED systems, GE Lighting, “Each subsystem such as optics, electronics and thermals needed to be designed for miniaturization and cooperative performance. We explored the limits of what’s possible and pushed far beyond industry expectations and competitors’ thinking and product offerings.”
GE says its new bulb puts out 1,600+ lumens, has the same kind of uniform omnidirectional light distribution as an ordinary incandescent, exhibits 3000 K color temperature, and should last 22.8 years when on for three hours daily. It is dimmable and has a figure of merit of 60+ lumens per watt.
Working with GE, Nuventix developed a method for moving air to cool LEDs using an oscillating membrane, called a synthetic jet (an alternative to a fan), which fits within the envelope of the A-19 bulb shape. GE Energy says the new bulb, like its other Smart LED incandescent replacement bulbs, dim smoothly like an incandescent bulb, with no stepped dimming, flicker, shimmer, pop-on, drop-off or even inaction that plague other LED bulbs touting a dimming capability. GE’s LED bulbs also have the same soft-white appearance as an ordinary incandescent when turned off, a consumer preference that GE discovered through market research.
More info: http://pressroom.geconsumerproducts.com/pr/ge/ge-plans-world-debut-of-led-bulb-233556.aspx
Nuventix: www.nuventix.com
