12 May 2016

Osram Opto's TEN° binning eliminates disturbances in colour perception between light sources

Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH of Regensburg, Germany says that it has applied the latest findings of physiological research into how human eyes perceive color in order to solve an 85-year-old challenge around why the same light from two different LED light sources, which are measured to be exactly the same, can still look different. 

With its TEN° binning feature, Osram Opto says that it has closed the gap between the measured color coordinates emitted by a single-LED light source and the perception of that color by the human eye. The phenomenon of color perception versus reality color measurement of different light sources has been well known to scientists in various forms for decades. In general lighting, this occurs when there are several LED white-light sources in the same space, such as spotlights, wallwashers and downlights. 

In 2015 the International Commission of Illumination (CIE 170-2:2015) published a new color space based on years of extensive research. Beside the physiological meaningful axis of the color space, the most important improvement is the definition for a 10° observer view. Osram has applied these findings to the general lighting market. 

"Color coordinates in general lighting are typically measured with the CIE 1931 2° colour space," explains applications manager Alexander Wilm. "It is assumed that the blue, green and red cones that are responsible for color perception in our eyes are evenly distributed, and that the color perception over viewing angle is constant. In reality, this is not the case, and pigment density varies significantly over the field of view's size," he adds.

"Most people have had this peculiar experience without realising, and it has a big impact on many markets," Wilm continues. "In retail and museum applications for example, color inconsistency is not an option, and often unpleasant, as it doesn't show a dress or object in the best possible and consistent illumination. The world's greatest modern artists also want their work to be viewed as they had originally intended." 

Osram says that it has solved the problem by complementing the CIE 1931 2° xy color space with the CIE 2015 10° u'v'. By assessing the color consistency not only at 2° field of view but also at a significantly larger 10° field of view, the measurement and binning provides a more accurate assessment of color discrepancies under realistic observation conditions. The resulting TEN binning feature has already been implemented in the firm's the new Soleriq S 13 LED type, achieving what is claimed to be unprecedented color consistency under LED lighting.

See related items:

Osram introduces first 10° binning for white LEDs

Tags: Osram LEDs

Visit: www.osram-os.com/tenbinning