Chapter 4. The Bulb
There isn’t a whole lot to the typical LED bulb. In addition to the standard gear—the base, lens (optics), and/or reflector—there is a driver, which is explained in more detail below; PCB, LEDs, an encapsulant over the LEDs, a phosphor, and usually some sort of a heat sink. The ideal scenario (or the goal for some manufacturers, at least) is for the LEDs, hardware (cooling materials, etc.), and driver to each make up for one third of the cost of the bulb, but that’s essentially just a rule of thumb—real-world demands and technology issues often get in the way of such ideals. As with any other manufactured product, it’s all about tradeoffs. By investing more in the cooling, it’s possible to run more power through the LEDs, which ...
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