Avnet Electronics Marketing has opened a new 900-ft² LED-centric test lab in Chandler, Arizona that it calls Avnet LightLab. The lab allows Avnet's customer to characterize LEDs and solid-state lighting (SSL) products in terms of optical, electrical, and thermal performance.

Goniophotometer in Avnet's LightLab

Among other equipment in the lab, Avnet installed two integrating spheres, a spectroradiometer, and a goniophotometer for optical tests. The integrating spheres can measure total luminous flux and spectral power distributions of light sources ranging from individual LEDs to SSL luminaires.

The goniophotometer can measure light intensity relative to beam angle of LEDs or modules/light engines. Moreover, it can be used to characterize the combination of an LED source and secondary optics. The spectroradiometer is used in conjunction with the other tools to capture spectral power distribution.

Thermal analysis in LightLab

George Kelly, Avnet technical specialist and LightLab manager, said that the lab "substantially reduces our customers’ design time and provides a means to weigh various design option -ultimately optimizing their end-products’ performance and extending their competitive edge."

Avnet said that it will perform "all photometric, radiometric and colorimetric testing" based on specifications prescribed by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE). Typical tests and characterizations will include color rendering index (CRI), optical efficiency, source and system efficacy, total flux output, and thermal analysis and mapping.

The new US-based LightLab is similarly equipped and focused as the LightLab that Avnet EBV Elektronik opened this past February near Munich, Germany.