Surgical lamp to use high-power LEDs

26 Feb 2003

A surgical lamp that uses the world's brightest LEDs will be released in the third quarter of this year.

Rimsa, a medical and industrial lighting manufacturer based in Italy, is using Lumileds' advanced LED technology to develop the world's first surgical lamp with 100% cold light and a 50 000-hour life.

The PentaLED lamp, scheduled for release in the third quarter of 2003, will equip surgeons with a longer-lasting and energy-efficient alternative to conventional halogen-based instruments.

Rimsa selected Lumileds' Luxeon V because it can generate sufficient light for a surgical environment. The lamp will use five emitters. At 120 lumens per emitter, the PentaLED lamp will have a light output of 600 lumens with 50 000 lux. Other LED products would require at least 120 LEDs to produce equivalent brightness, says Lumileds.

The inherent energy efficiency of LEDs will allow the PentaLED lamp to operate with only 25W of power, a third of that required by a comparable halogen lamp. Lumileds also predicts that the use of the lamp to last up to 25 times longer than halogen products.

In addition, the cool LED light beam will increase physician comfort in the operating room and help prevent the open wound area from drying out, which eliminates the need to keep the area humid for the patient's safety.

"Until Lumileds' Luxeon V light source became available, no LED was bright enough for use in a surgical lamp," said Ing. Paolo Longoni, Rimsa Product Manager. "By incorporating this technology in our new PentaLED product, we are enabling physicians and operating room personnel to take advantage of the coolness, long life and energy efficiency of LEDs for the first time."