Lumileds is encouraging other LED makers to follow its lead and publish LM-80 test reports online. 
Philips Lumileds is claiming to be the first power LED manufacturer to publicly publish LM-80 test report data, which describes the lumen maintenance characteristics of its white Luxeon Rebel LEDs.
The test report, available from the company’s website, will be useful for luminaire manufacturers when evaluating the merits of using different LEDs in their solid-state lighting products. Lumileds’ LM-80 test reports adhere to, and are published in accordance with, the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) LM-80-08 standard.

Steve Barlow, Executive VP of Sales and Marketing for Philips Lumileds, said that the Rebel's lumen maintenance “clearly leads the industry,” adding that the published LM-80 reports will “help system designers meet Energy Star eligibility criteria” and optimize solutions for a desired lumen maintenance level.

“These reports are just one of the many tools we make available in order to simplify the development and production of LED luminaires,” said Barlow. “We encourage other manufacturers to follow our lead to help simplify and accelerate solid-state lighting market development.”

Lumen maintenance performance of LEDs varies significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer due to differences in materials and manufacturing processes. Philips Lumileds says that it has been studying the factors that affect power LED lumen maintenance longer than any other manufacturer in an ongoing effort to improve performance and more accurately describe lumen maintenance behavior for the lighting community.

“Reliance on generic LED lumen maintenance statements that are adopted by luminaire manufacturers is destined to lead to disappointment with LED solutions,” said Rudi Hechfellner, Director of Applications at Philips Lumileds.

In order to appropriately design for optimum lumen maintenance, Philips Lumileds recommends that luminaire manufacturers and the lighting industry do the following:

Understand the specific lumen maintenance behavior of the LEDs they have selected.
Disregard generic statements about LED lumen maintenance performance and ask for information that is appropriate for the anticipated current and temperature conditions.
The IES LM-80-08 standard describes the testing methodology and the test report format that LED manufacturers must follow. However, this standard does not indicate whether the LED is appropriate for any particular application. Other industry programs, such as Energy Star, establish performance criteria that can be determined from published LM-80 test reports. Lumileds says that its data for the white Luxeon Rebel LEDs “clearly demonstrates that lumen maintenance performance exceeds the Energy Star requirements by a wide margin.”
 
21 Oct 2009 From LEDsmagazine