Laser safety standard now covers LEDs
A
Specialised Technology Resources product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Mar 25, 2005
For those unfamiliar with how bright modern LEDs can be, having LEDs classed as lasers must sound ridiculous.
For those unfamiliar with how bright modern LEDs can be, having LEDs classed as lasers must sound ridiculous.
In fact, bright LEDs could be really harmful to the eyes of children who may experiment by staring at them for a long time.
Even looking at a bright LED for a relatively short period of time could be damaging.
So says Professor Colin Humphreys Cambridge University, the world-leading expert in gallium nitride LEDs.
LEDs are increasingly widely used, in the original red and now also bright green and blue.
Manufacturers and designers seem to think it "cool" to use blue LEDs and these are now appearing everywhere, increasingly in toys and home appliances.
BS EN60825 Part 1:1994 covers the safety of lasers.
It is not well known that the definition of Class 1 lasers also covers light emitting diodes, and so all toys containing LEDs that will be in the supply chain as at March 2005 must be tested for conformance to the standard.
Many suppliers may leave themselves open to prosecution through ignorance of this.
Some manufacturers have assumed that compliance to the US specification AISI2136 is adequate.
However, the European standard is tighter as it requires the simulation of fault conditions and it is not uncommon for products that have passed ANSI2136 to fail to conform to BS EN60825.
John Reece, Electrical Products Manager at Specialised Technology Resources (STR), says: "New clients often have a nasty shock when they realise they have been selling products without the necessary compliance testing".
"This is another example of the challenge faced by manufacturers, as well as their distributors and retailers, in navigating the constantly changing mix of national laws, EU legislation and standards organisations, which demonstrates why many of them now retain the services of specialist compliance test-houses like STR", he continued.
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