The Rationale behind the LED Panel
In commercial buildings there is no doubt that fluorescent tubes have been an excellent solution. If you tuck four 600mm tubes behind a 600x600mm ceiling panel you can get good lighting with fair economy and additionally the look is pleasing to the eye. However the look is not perfect because when you look straight up at them you can see the individual tubes which can be slightly disconcerting if you want that very clean consistent contemporary commercial look. Now you can take the obvious step forward by replacing the 4 fluorescent tubes with LED tubes and this will for sure give some significant benefits. The LED tubes are typically 55% more efficient so you will save a significant amount in electricity but additionally the longer life which is typically 30-50000 hours means they will last around 25 times longer than traditional fluorescent tubes. Also if you are repeatably turning the tubes on and off by for example a motion sensor then this life time difference will be even more because the fluorescent tube life time is significantly shortened by repeated switching. This means that the best way forward is to go for the LED Panel.
The advantages of the LED Panel
The LED panel is a thin light fitting typically 600x600mm and normally just around 35mm thick. It is illuminated by a vast array of individual LEDs normally of the SMD technology which are hidden behind a frosted front panel. This means that the look is slick with clean visual lines and additionally when turned on you get a nice even consistent radiation of light. This provides a very modern and up to date aesthetic appearance for the 21st century office. Th alternative would be to use four LED tubes but the additional benefit of the LED panel is that the commercials are improved because an LED panel is more cost effective that 4 individual LED tubes. For this reason we are seeing a gradually migration to the LED panel in offices, hospitals, retail outlets and the multitude of commercial buildings that use this form of lighting. The LED panel is not restricted to 600mm square and units are also available in the larger 600x1200mm size which means that the panels can span 2 ceiling tiles. This means that the scale of the economy is even greater then using multiple LED tubes.
Emergency Back up LED Panels
In most commercial buildings then a percentage of your lights will need emergency back up. This means that in the eventuality of a power failure then you do not loose all light which would clearly by a hazard particularly in places like hospitals or nursing homes. The normal requirement is to have a 3 hour emergency backup solution so that light can be preserved at a reduced but acceptable light level for over 180 minutes. The benefit if the LED solution here is that because the LED has a lower power consumption then the size of emergency backup battery is considerably reduce compared to fluorescent light sources. However you will need to ensure that the backup solution has the correct driver for the Emergency LED panel.
