LED lamps dance to nightclub beat

06 Sep 2005

LED lighting on show at this week's CIOE in China provides an innovative alternative to halogen light bulbs.

Nightclubs, karaoke bars and discos could soon have a new look thanks to a range of LED lamps that change their emission color according to the beat and pitch of the surrounding music.

Live demonstration

Daejin Digital Micro Products of South Korea is demonstrating its new "X-leds-music" series of lamps at this week's China International Optoelectronics Expo (CIOE 2005) in Shenzhen, China.

The innovative lamps plug directly into a standard 12V MR-16 halogen light fitting and consume 5W of electrical power. According to Nick Kim, assistant manager of Daejin's Opto division, the LED lamps have a minimum lifespan of 50,000 hours and generate very little heat.

X-led

The lamp modules contain a built-in acoustic sensor that controls the emission color of six powerful LEDs. The result is blue light for bass tones, green light for middle tones and red light for treble. Alternatively the lamps can be switched to a cool white illumination mode.

Applications for the firm's LED lamps without the acoustic sensor are said to be lighting museums, galleries and modern buildings. Kim told Optics.org that the biggest challenge was reducing the cost of the lamps to make them commercially viable. Prices start at USD 35 for a MR-16 compatible lamp module.

For those looking for something a bit different, the firm can also supply X-leds in the form of a color-controllable lighting bar or tile for atmospheric illumination in hotels and bars, for example.

Daejin also supplies normal LED lamps in a range of colors which come in PAR-30 (19W), PAR-20 (13W) and MR-16 (7W) versions.

Author

By Oliver Graydon, reporting from CIOE.

Oliver Graydon is editor of Optics.org and Opto & Laser Europe magazine.