About European LED Product Access Standards and Experience Sharing

In recent years, the export of lighting products using LED (Light Emitting Diode) as a light source has been rapidly developing, including table lamps, wall lamps, chandeliers, neon lamps for indoor lighting, and garden lamps, street lamps, street lamps, and car lamps for outdoor lighting. Traditionally used traditional light sources, such as tungsten bulbs, halogen bulbs, lamps, etc., have gradually been replaced by LEDs.

According to China's Industry Research Network released "LED lighting exporters and development prospects analysis" shows that the rapid growth of LED products, including the following points:

I. The development of the domestic market is relatively immature;

II. From a global perspective, many countries are stepping up their efforts to encourage the use of energy-efficient light sources.

III. It is a high degree of acceptance of environmental protection awareness in foreign markets, and a higher level of acceptance of higher prices than domestic ones. In other words, overseas markets have more lucrative profits.

At present, the share of LED manufacturing enterprises in the Pearl River Delta region and the Yangtze River Delta Region accounts for an increasing proportion, which is between 50% and 70%. As a result, the demand for safety testing and quality inspection of LED-related products has increased rapidly.

The criteria for LED products entering Europe mainly include the following:

Electrical safety test The safety test standard for LED drivers is EN 61347-2-13:2006 newly developed by the European Council of Electrical Standards (CENELEC). According to the time schedule stipulated by CENELEC, EU countries should incorporate this standard into national standards by April 1, 2007. In addition, if such products were previously certified using standards for other similar products, they must still obtain the new standard EN 61347-2-13:2006 certification by July 1, 2009 at the latest.

When LED lamps use built-in electronic power supply lines, when applying for European safety certification, in addition to passing the tests of the lighting standards EN 60598-1 and EN 60598-2, the built-in electronic power supply lines must also be Meet the requirements of EN 61347-2-13:2006.

CB certification process:

A single audit and certification can prove the safety of your electrical products in the world's most important markets - this is the CB certification process. Having CB certificates and reports, as well as country-specific documents, makes it easier for you to enter the target market.

The CB (Certificate Authority) process was established on the basis of the IECEE "International System for Qualification Testing and Certification of Electrotechnical Products." It is an agreement between the national certification bodies within the system (including the TÃœV Rheinland Group) and is committed to the mutual recognition of the results of the audit of electrical products. Designated institutions in 52 countries, including major industrialized countries, are currently part of the CB certification process - it is considered the basis for domestic certification in many countries in the European Union (including those that have not yet become formal members).

European CE mark:

The abbreviation "CE" in French is "Communauté Européenne" and stands for "European Community". CE also represents a variety of EU standards that simplify the circulation of European goods.

The European market only accepts safe, defect-free high-quality goods, and these are exactly the targets of the CE logo. The logo can prove that the product (whether it is a toy or a construction machine) complies with EU health and safety standards. TÃœV Rheinland's team of experts performs audits of your products in accordance with the relevant EU regulations, such as: Low voltage or electromagnetic compatibility directives. The CE conformity statement means that your product can enter the European market for sales.

TUV Bauart Mark, Germany:

The importance of TUV Bauart Mark in Germany lies in the fact that, in addition to the products conforming to the specifications, the manufacturer still has to observe the following factory inspections once a year. Unlike most products, the product is only self-declared by the CE mark, and there is no continuous quality inspection by a third-party certification body. The follow-up quality is not easy to grasp. Therefore, it has obtained the TUV Bauart Mark certification. It also represents the firm's insistence and commitment to continuously producing high-quality and safe products.

Optical characteristics Characteristics of the performance of optical radiation safety and performance of LEDs in the optical field:

A variety of optical radiation hazards are closely related to LED luminaires and light source systems. These tests were originally performed according to the IEC/EN 60825 laser standard. With recent updates of standards, these safety hazards have now been changed to Photobiological Safety of Lamps and Lamp Systems (IEC/EN 62471) and the European Physical Agent Directive (European Physical Agent Directive). (2006/25/EC)" to be standardized. TUV Rheinland has complete testing equipment and can perform qualified tests according to relevant requirements.

In addition to the evaluation of optical hazards, the optical properties of LED products are thus formally determined. In addition to spectral measurements and color consistency, we can also provide color performance indicators (CRI), LED burn-in tests, energy conversion efficiencies, full luminous flux, viewing angle range, and more.

CE Marking's EMC Safety Tests There are no clear specifications for EMC testing of LED lighting fixtures, but TUV Rheinland tests this type of product to classify it as a white heat fixture and tests it using EN 55015 and EN 61547. product.

LED lighting equipment, like all electronic products, must comply with the mandatory requirements of EMC Directive 2004/108/EC. The main electronic rectifier circuit of the LED light source is basically the same as that of the switched power supply. Therefore, EMC-related considerations should be taken into account during the product design phase. It is worth noting that in the EN 61000-3-2, the input current standard for limiting harmonic content, lighting fixtures are classified as Class C, and the specifications and restrictions related to Class C are relatively stringent.

WEEE/RoHS Compliance Testing LED lighting equipment with a working voltage of less than 1000V AC and 1500V DC is subject to the EU WEEE Directive (2002/96/EC) and the RoHS Directive (2002/95/EC).

In the WEEE Directive section: products that entered the European Union market after August 13, 2005 must be labelled according to the WEEE Directive. At the same time, the product design should be introduced into the concept of environmental design, achieving a target recovery value of 70% or more and a recycling rate of 50% or more. The self-branded players, importers and distributors should also complete the WEEE registration of the countries where the products are sold.

In the RoHS Directive section, hazardous substances such as lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers, which are homogenous materials in the product, must not exceed 0.1% and the cadmium content must not exceed 0.01%.

The application of LED in car lights In today's green trend, energy-saving and longer-life LED light sources have been widely used in vehicle lamps, such as position lights, direction lights and brake lights. The ECE regulations stipulate the requirements of the LED revision test procedure. In addition to the illumination intensity and environmental test of the conventional car lights, the light and color of the 30 minutes after lighting the light source must meet the test requirements; Need to meet regulatory requirements.

In recent years, due to the maturity of white LED technology, major car manufacturers in the world have proposed various new LED headlights and front fog lamp design concepts. The member states of the European Economic Commission adopted the draft ECE regulations for headlights and front fog lamps at the end of 2007 to specify test procedures and requirements for LED lighting fixtures to improve the performance and product safety of the lamps.

Different from the safety requirements of general EMC directives, lamps that use special electronic device designs, such as gas discharge (HID) headlamps with special ballasts or special LED lamp control devices, must be complied with. EMC requirements for ECE R10 or 72/245/EC. At the same time, the use of LED light sources for traffic lighting must also be E/e mark certified.

Other tests:

In the detection of LED products, in addition to the common specifications for safety, performance, EMC, optics, WEEE/RoHS and other requirements, TUV Rheinland recommends that manufacturers consider the overall safety test evaluation from the system side. In the European ErP Directive, the latest implementation of EC 244/2009 and EC 245/2009 on September 1, 2009 is a mandatory specification. Major manufacturers need to pay attention to the consumption of luminous efficacy of the system lamps, especially from the system side to enhance the light source. The energy conversion efficiency of light energy to meet the ErP specification.

LED test experience sharing LED products need to meet different certification specifications, such as: In the LED light source part, the energy-saving light bulb test standards for IEC62560 lamp electrical safety, IEC/EN 62031 LED module electrical safety, etc., detection requirements It is almost the same as LED lamps, but it needs more failure modes and overload test of electronic circuits. LED street lamps are used outdoors, so they need environmental resistance related tests, such as continuous testing, wind resistance, dust and waterproof testing.

In the certification process, the most encountered problem is the low electrical insulation strength of the LED light source, whether isolated voltage withstand requirements for the output stage (LED load level) AC500V when isolating the low voltage drive, or AC3000V insulation withstand voltage requirements for the non-isolated high voltage drive, In the industry, there is generally no awareness or resolution. Because of the current production process problems, the integrated light source is even more insecure and cannot meet application requirements and standards. TUV Rheinland has more than 15 years of experience in verifying LED luminaires. It is recommended that manufacturers introduce certification specifications during the product development phase, which will accelerate the time for LED products to pass certification.

In addition, as CE marking requirements have been widely recognized in China in recent years, a large number of domestic manufacturers and traders already have a certain level of understanding and understanding of the necessity of CE marking and other European standards. However, we also find that our customers' understanding of the authority and effectiveness of relevant certificates and test reports in Europe is not yet clear. To this end, we have the following two points of advice: First, to confirm whether the laboratory of this institution is a laboratory of the European ZLS accredited certification body, DAkks authorized accredited laboratory and IECEE accredited CB laboratory are very important; Secondly, certificates issued by European visa officers are more beneficial because of their higher recognition and credit guarantee in Europe and other foreign markets.