LED that lasts for 40 years

An LED which lasts for 40 years will be marketed next year under the name Ariel – the name of Prospero’s spirit in The Tempest.

Designed by Jake Dyson, the son of Sir James, the bulb will cost £1,400.

Dyson told The Guardian that, while LEDs should last a lifetime, manufacturers are building them to have only six or seven years life so that they have a healthy replacement market.

Dyson says that some LEDs degrade in brightness quite quickly – 30% in six months – but Ariel will maintain its brightness for 180,000 hours – 40 years at 12 hours a day.

The trick to extend lifetime is to remove heat, says Dyson. He gets his LED to operate at 55 deg Centigrade by drawing heat away from it ‘like a radiator”, he says.

Ariel is Zigbee-enabled to provide control.

Dyson sees applications for it in airports and high profile buildings.

david manners

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via Yuichun