LED light bulbs~ are built around solid-state semiconductor devices, so the developing process most closely is similar to that used in making electronic products like Desktop mother boards.
Let’s consider the manufacturing steps for a typical LED light bulb designed to replace a typical incandescent bulb having an Edison Screw. You will find it is a very different process from the highly computerized processes used to assemble our familiar incandescent bulbs. And, regardless of what you might imagine, people are still very much a significant part of the developing process, instead of just for testing and Quality Assurance only.
Once the larger sheets of LED circuit boards have undergone a solder reflow oven (a hot air furnace that melts the solder paste), the sheets are broken up into the individual small circuit boards and power wires manually soldered on.
The small supply of power housed in the body of the light bulb goes through a similar process, or may be delivered complete from the other factory. Either way, the manufacturing steps are the same; first the PCB passes through SMT lines, then it would go to a manual dual in-line package (DIP) installation line where a long row of factory employees add one component at a time. DIP refers to the two parallel rows of leads projecting from the sides of the package. DIP components include all integral chips and chip sockets.
While LED lights burn several times longer than incandescent or CFLs and demand less than half the power, they need some type of passive heatsink to sustain the high-power LEDs from overheating. The LED circuit board, which is made up of 1.6-2mm thick metal, will undertake the heat from the dozen or so LED elements to the metal heatsink frame and thus keep temperatures under control. Aluminum-backed PCBs are sometimes called “metal core printed circuit boards,” and though made from a conductive material the white covering is electrically coated. The aluminum PCB is actually screwed in place within the heatsink which shapes the lower half of the LED light bulb.
Shell setup consists of locking the shell in place with screws. A plastic shell hides the power supply and hooks up with the metal heatsink and LED circuit board. Ventilation holes are included to allow hot air to escape. Wiring setup for plug socket needs soldering wires to the bulb attachment. Then shell is attached.
Next, the completed LED , goes to burn-in local testing and quality control. The burn-in test generally lasts for 30 minutes. The completed LED light bulb is then powered up to see if it is working correctly and burned in for 30 minutes. There is also a high-voltage leakage and failure test and power consumption and energy factor test. Samples from the production run are tried for high-voltage spills, energy used, and electricity factor (efficiency).
After a final check to make sure all the different parts of the LED light are tighter, then it is arranged into individual boxes, and bulbs are transported.
Therefore, if you have wondered why LED light bulbs are so expensive today, this justification of how they are manufactured and how that compares to the manufacturing of traditional light bulbs should help. However, it also compares why the cost will decrease pretty dramatically over the next several years. Just as the cost of production other semiconductor-based products has fallen drastically due to standardization, computerization and other key procedures along the manufacturing training curve, identical inexorable forces will drive down values of LED light bulb production.
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