Lumistrips LED Lighting Blog

A Cove light is a line of light can obtained via a LED strip hidden from view inside a cove in the wall or ceiling that illuminates an adjacent surface. Light is reflected from this surface into the space that has to be illuminated. That is why lines of light are commonly known as cove or indirect lighting.

Cove lighting is beneficial trend to design lighting, with focus on human nature and how natural light behaves. It is today widely adopted, with lines of light as a principal way to illuminate interiors.

The allure is the similarity with natural light. With the proper light source used, we could imagine that the cove is actually a hidden window to the outside from where sunlight flows in.

Lets explore how we can have the best results with cove lighting

Nichia's Optisolis innovative white LEDs use a special blue LED chip and a new high-quality, phosphor devoped with Nichia's proprietary technologies and extensive expertise. Their light spectrum closely matches the spectrum of natural sunlight, renders colors accurately and adds the benefit of increased awareness of contrast and texture.

Nichia Optisolis LEDs with the full spectrum of sunlight

The latest innovation in LED development is the Optisolis technology form world market leader Nichia. Optisolis™ LED emitters provide a natural light source with a spectrum which achieves the industry’s closest match to that of the standard illuminants, sunlight and incandescent artificial light, having a CRI higher than 98.

Growing plants in closed and fully controlled environments, under artificial lighting is method of growing popularity, with increasing competition to have results at a low cost and as fast as possible. Thus the lighting system plays a crucial role.

Below you will find a quick guide how to build the most efficient lighting system.

1) Research, research

Discover what spectrum and intensity of light your plants need.

You can start by reading our detailed article about horticulture lighting here

2) Choose the right PPFD and light color for your plants

By using the latest technology, special or full spectrum white light LEDs have become the most efficient and cost effective light sources for plant growth. 

With our Nichia 757 Rsp0a LEDs with white light for special spectrum for plant growth or full spectrum Nichia Optisolis CRI98 LEDs your plants will grow up to 50% more than conventional light, including standard white LEDs, a combination of red and blue LEDs or a fluorescent tube, for lower energy consumption.

With 3000K white color temperature you will have more pleasant looking plants while with 5000K you obtain faster growth.

The positive health effects of the full spectrum SunLike LEDs from Seoul Semiconductor have been confirmed in two independent studies, by universities from Switzerland and South Korea.

The new SunLike LED technology brings a major improvement to the spectral power distribution (SPD) of LED lights, which now mimic the SPD of the sun within the bounds of the human visual range. The SunLike LEDs use a three-phosphor mix and a violet emitter to achieve the SPD. Seoul has said that the LEDs can be used in a variety of applications including in human-centric lighting or lighting for health and well-being where tunable lighting can be applied to improve human well-being.

A study published by the University of Basel in Switzerland titled “Effect of daylight LED on visual comfort, melatonin, mood, waking performance, and sleep” found that volunteers had better visual comfort, more alertness, and happier moods associated with exposure to SunLike LEDs compared to other LEDs. 

The new SunLike LEDs from Seoul Semiconductor are the world’s first natural spectrum LEDs, as they produce light that closely matches the spectrum of natural sunlight. This is made possible by using a the TRI-R technology new LED architecture, with a purple emitter in combination with a red, green, and blue (RGB) phosphor mix, unlike conventional white LED that use a blue emitter and yellow phosphor. 

This new design makes possible for an LED to render colors very accurately, almost as sunlight, with the added benefits of increased awareness of contrast and texture.

The high quality of the SunLike LEDs light spectrum is expressed both by the traditional color rendering index (CRI) and the new Color Fidelity Index. Therefore, SunLike LEDs have CRI 97+ and  Rf 96(TM30 Fidelity Index), values that indicate the high accuracy of reproducing the original color from 99 representative color indexes.

The illuminated ceiling or stretch ceiling is very interesting trend in interior lighting. By using a translucent material many square meters in size with a backlighting system, a diffuse, even and relaxing illumination of interiors can be created. The main advantage of this type of lighting is the absence of glare, as the light sources are distributed over a large area and hidden behind the material.

The backlight source is usually low or medium brightness LEDs (5 to 50 lumens) mounted on strips or modules. Since the illuminated surface has a large area, such low power illumination is the best choice.

Illuminated stretch ceilings can have personalized shapes and even feature translucent images. They can therefore influence the overall design of a room much more than other lighting fixtures. From a lighting design perspective, uniform light should be supplemented by spotlights or lamps that can draw attention to specific areas or objects.

The proper design and installation of a luminous ceiling has a number of unique challenges that we will address in this article.

Lines of light are a new trend in lighting design and are usually made with an LED strip inside an aluminum profile that has a translucent white cover. The attraction of using such a linear light fixture is that it can be personalized. You can choose as you desire the pattern, place of installation, length (up to many meters), geometric shape or a combination of these elements.  

Because of their way of construction lines of light are a type of direct lighting. Compared with coves that are indirect lighting, lines of light are more energy efficient but can have greatly increased glare. For this reason lines of light should be designed with care and almost always be dimmable. 

Let's see how we can achieve the best results with lines of light.

Industrial scale indoor agriculture under artificial lighting in closed and fully controlled environments could become the main factor that keeps at bay famine and related conflicts. With increasing population, diminishing area of agricultural land, pollution, global warming and migration to grow plants in a reliable, predictable and efficient way will become even more important in the future. For this reason it is important to understand and corectly apply the concepts of lighting for plant growth and development.

Concepts related to Horticulture lighting

A key factor in the success of indoor plant growth is the efficiency of the lighting system compared with sunlight, in the process of plant growth.

Plants grow via a process called Photosynthesis that converts electromagnetic radiation (light) into the chemical energy needed for growth and development. The other ingredients required are carbon dioxide (CO2), nutrients and water. 

Photosynthesis and PAR radiation

The electromagnetic radiation required for Photosynthesis is defined as photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and 400 to 700 nanometers has spectral range. Only radiation in this interval can be used by photosynthetic organisms in the process of photosynthesis, to fix the carbon in CO2 into carbohydrates.

Electromagnetic radiation called visible light or simply light for a typical human eye has a spectral range from about 380 to 740 nanometers.

A common unit of measurement for Photosynthetically active radiation PAR is the photosynthetic photon flux (PPF in short), measured in units of moles per second. For many practical applications this unit is extended to PPFD, units of moles per second per square meter.

The theory behind PPF is that every absorbed photon, regardless of its wavelength and energy, has an equal contribution to the photosynthetic process. As in accordance with the Stark-Einstein law, every photon (or quantum) that is absorbed will excite one electron, regardless of the photon’s energy, between 400 nm and 700 nm. 

However, only some of photons are absorbed by a plant leaf, as determined by its optical properties and the concentration of plant pigments. The pigments are Chlorophyll A, Chlorophyll B, and Carotenoids (a/-Carotene, Lycopene, Xanthophyll).

The Chlorophylls A and B give plant leaves the characteristic green color because they reflect most of the radiation between 500 and 600 nanometres.  Plants Where more Carotenoids than Chlorophylls are present plant leaves reflect wavelengths beyond 540nm and have yellow, orange, and red colors. This includes autumn leaves when Chlorophylls have dried away. 

The graph below shows the typical absorptance spectra for Chlorophyll A, Chlorophyll B and Chlorophyll (beta-carotene). Each are explained briefly afterwards:

The innovative SunLike LEDs from Seoul Semiconductor are the first natural spectrum LEDs on the global market. For the first time an LED can emit light that closely matches the spectrum of natural sunlight.

The special ability to have a spectrum close to sunlight comes from using a new LED design, with a purple emitter in combination with a red, green, and blue (RGB) phosphor mix, unlike conventional white LED that use a blue emitter and yellow phosphor.  By removing the blue LED chip and replacing it with a purple light one, lighting technology is fundamentally transformed. For the first time it is possible to render colors accurately with very low energy use and positive effects on health. Compared with other LED lights, the new SunLike Series do not have a blue energy peak associated with eye discomfort and poor sleep patterns.