15 March 2016

Soraa supports TM-30 as better color test for lighting industry than the CRI metric

Soraa Inc of Fremont, CA, USA, which develops solid-state lighting technology built on 'GaN on GaN' (gallium nitride on gallium nitride) substrates, has announced its support for advances in color science and the new TM-30 method released by the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES). TM-30 uses an optimized calculation method to preclude the errors found in the existing color-rendering index (CRI) industry standard.

"IES' TM-30 method offers significant progress over the CRI," says chief scientist Aurelien David (who served as a lead technical contributor for the new TM-30 method). "For customers, TM-30 will provide better insight into how the colors of a light source compare to colors under natural light. And for manufacturers, the information found under TM-30 — combined with other aspects of color science — will be key for developing better products and optimizing the trade-off between color rendition and other criteria of light quality," he adds. 

The TM-30 test was developed to provide a more accurate indication of the color rendition of an object by comparing the color of the object under a test source (an LED lamp, for example) to those under a reference illuminant (a standard emitter such as idealized sunlight or filament bulb, depending on the correlated color temperature). By doing so, the test will indicate if the colors under the test source are different from natural colors — providing a more precise indication of color fidelity.

TM-30 distinguishes itself from the CRI test in two significant areas. First, it uses state-of-the-art color science to test a light source's color rendition of more color samples, which will preclude the inaccurate predictions of rendering seen with the CRI — in particular for narrow-band sources. Second, it provides users with more information: the color fidelity index Rf is now complemented by a color gamut index Rg and by a color vector graphic, which further characterize the appearance of colors.

David is posting a series of blogs on Soraa's website explaining and evaluating the new TM-30 method throughout the month of March.

Tags: Soraa GaN-on-GaN

Visit:  www.soraa.com