The necessity of the introduction of LED lighting safety standards

At the "2013 China International Semiconductor Lighting Application Technology Forum" recently held, some experts disclosed that China's LED lighting safety standards are expected to be introduced next year.

Although prices have remained high, LED home lighting still has not slowed down into the family. The reporters found that LED lighting products to attract consumers is not just its ultra-high energy performance and long life, many consumers value their eye protection concept. "The child is going to middle school and has to write a few hours of work every day. To protect his child's glasses, he is specifically given him an eye protection desk lamp," said Ms. Wu, a consumer. The reporter found that most of the LED desk lamps sold on the Internet focused on their effects such as “no flicker”, “defense against myopia” and “eye protection”.

But recently, some medical and electric light source experts pointed out that many LED lamps and lanterns have serious blue light spillage problems. Over time, the retina of the human eye will be irreversibly damaged, and even serious blindness may result. The reporter learned that, in response to this problem, in January this year, the Shanghai Bureau of Quality Supervision organized inspection agencies to conduct risk monitoring on some LED lighting products. At the same time, the Bureau also for the first time "cross-border" invited experts from the medical community, universities and industry to "consult" and listen to opinions from all parties.

Dr. Zhang Shanduan, deputy director of the Institute of Electric Light Sources at Fudan University, said that the most recent example of blue light damage is the blue light of Yuba’s lamp that caused the eyes of a baby in Xi’an to be burned and eventually lead to blindness.

According to reports, in the LED light source, white light emitted by most light sources is formed by mixing a blue LED chip with a yellow phosphor, and the peak of the spectral energy is just in the blue light region. Related studies have shown that different wavelengths of blue light have different harmful effects on the human eye, and blue light between 435 nm and 440 nm is the most harmful to the eyes, and the degree of damage gradually decreases as the wavelength increases or decreases.

According to Yu Anqi, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Lighting Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Station and director of the Shanghai Illuminating Society, the “rich blue” environment and the normalized environment are two different concepts. However, he also stressed that it was because of the rich blue light spectrum characteristics of white LED lighting products that they had international standards for photobiological hazards, which suggested that the products should achieve safety.

Zhang Shanduan pointed out that although China's GB/T 20145-2006 “Light Bio-safety of Lamps and Lamps System” national standard has made clear provisions on the calculation method of Blu-ray harm and quantification, this standard is only recommended, and it is currently entering the LED industry. There is almost no threshold. Especially in the downstream assembly of lamps and lanterns, there are many hand-workshops in the mom-and-pop model. It is difficult to ensure quality.

Professor Tong Tongsheng of the Department of Optoelectronic Information Engineering of Zhejiang University stated that the current standard limits are based on experimental data of adults and 8-hour exposures. The long-term cumulative effects of light on the human body and certain special groups such as infants may not be considered. Will look directly at the light source for a long time, causing damage to the retina. The Light Biosafety of Lamps and Lamps System states that Type 0 (non-hazardous) and Type 1 (low-risk) products are safe to use. Shanghai Lighting Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Station collected 27 LED samples from different channels at the end of 2012. According to the IECEECTL (International Electrotechnical Commission-Laboratory Committee) resolution, the Blu-ray hazard was determined. The result is: Under normal use, 14 The samples were classified as non-hazardous category 0 and 13 as low-risk category 1 and were all within the safe range. However, if it is used in an abnormal state, ie, the front diffuser cover is removed, there is one class that has reached a dangerous level.

However, the reporter found that the current LED lamps on the market did not clearly indicate which type of blue light it was. At the 2013 China (Shanghai) International Semiconductor Lighting Application Technology Forum, experts suggested that the LED lamps sold in the market should be clearly marked what kind of standard, and who should be used with caution. At the same time, the nature of the "Photobiological Safety of Lamps and Lamps System" standard was promoted to mandatory and included in the lighting fixture certification standards.

According to Prof. Tong Tongsheng, who is responsible for the development of international standards for the safety and performance of LED technology, a new mandatory national lighting safety standard is under development and expected to be introduced next year. By then, the safety performance of all lighting products will be divided into 4 levels, and will be labeled and clearly indicated to consumers. Only Grade 0 and Level 1 are suitable for home use.