An important topic for us at LuxLED is the transparency of optics or reflectors. There are different materials both for making the optics and for making surfaces for global protection of the lamp. These are all transparent materials but this is the crux of the matter. What transparency?
The LED placed under the optics and, in some cases, the optics is in turn placed behind a glass or polycarbonate screen, inevitably loses brightness.
Unfortunately, many competitors declare, in their data sheets, lighting values (expressed in lumens or micromoles/s) that are typical of the native LED without taking into account the losses due to optics, glass or polycarbonate.
From scientific documentation we ascertain that glass has a transparency of 92%, polycarbonate has a transparency of 86%, PMMA has a transparency of 89% and finally silicone has a transparency of 94%.
It is clear that in cases where there is a PMMA optic and a further GLASS protection, the loss is around 20%. At LuxLED we use silicone optics in some of our fixtures, which in addition to protecting the LED from sources of heat, dust and dirt. Thanks to our patent we have no need to place an additional protection in glass or other material.
