LEDs are widely used as new lighting solutions with longer lifespan and fewer power consumption than fluorescent lights. However, in order to ensure the safety and performance of lighting products equipped with LEDs, various certifications are required in the global market.

Authorized certification authorities conduct quality validation to verify the safety of the product. They also issue 'International Certified Testing Institution Accreditation System,’ that grants manufacturers a test and certification authority to operate their own testing lab and verify the quality of their products on their own.

Samsung has been operating its own LED component test laboratory since 2011 that is qualified by international certification institutes.

There are representative global certification to review the safety of lighting products, such as UL (Understanding Laboratories) and VDE (Verband Deutscher Elektrotrchniker e.v).

UL is a widely-recognized global safety science organization and also the first safety-standard development institute in the United States. It certify products and approve UL certification marks as well as conduct post-management verification and inspection. It has a high level of trust world widely as it authorizes a certification through thorough test management. Samsung has acquired the UL Total Certification Program (UL TCP) Lab, the highest level of the Data Acceptance Program (DAP), based on the quality verification technology for LED components accumulated through the long certification test experiences with UL. As we have obtained the highest level of LED component manufacturer testing labs, we can also conduct UL certification testing under the independent authority of Samsung Electronics itself.

In October last year, Samsung acquired the highest level qualification of Test Data Acceptance Program (TDAP) from VDE (German Institute of Electrical Engineers). VDE is Europe's leading test certification institute in lighting, electrical and electronic equipment and technology. It is highly recognized and demanded by customers in Europe.

In addition, Samsung has teamed up with TüV SüD (Technischer überwachungs Vereine), which boasts more than 100 years of history and systematic authority in the field of automotive test certification, to develop test programs for automotive LEDs. We are taking the lead in strengthening quality verification by jointly developing and applying various test items including AEC-Q102, an international standard of automotive LED components.

Besides, we also conduct the LM80 test, a standard for reliability evaluation of LED lighting since 2011 with the recognition of KOLAS (Korea Laboratory Accreditation Scheme). In 2019, Our LED testing lab was selected as an excellent test lab for the KOLAS Certified Testing Program and won a ministerial award at the World Recognition Day ceremony.

Like these, Samsung LED putting so much efforts to provide the best LED components for customers in overseas by conducting all the tests necessary for the safety certification of LED components. 

“Certification is a must-have product specification for export. Samsung Electronics LED business team is supplying LED components to customers not only in Korea but also in the United States, Europe, and many other countries over the world, and customers’ fixtures using Samsung LEDs are being exported as well. Therefore, obtaining quality certification for each region is necessary to supply reliable LED components to customers in various countries. For this reason, we are conducting multiple certifications of credible institutes such as UL, VDE and TüV SüD.” said Seung-hwan Lee, the leader of LED quality team. 

Q. What are the advantages of using a LED light source certified by Samsung Electronics for a lighting company?

Customers using Samsung’s LED components can obtain lamp product certification faster and more easily because our LED components are certified. In addition, we operate a customer support program, called the Certification Support Program to improve customer satisfaction so that customers can enjoy the same benefits by using Samsung’s LED components. It allows them to process certification faster and at a more reasonable cost with our partner global certification institutes. We are doing our best to meet our customers' needs more quickly by securing the testing infrastructure and technology to ensure the safety and quality of LED components.

Q. What are the recent certification trends? Tell us how you are preparing for the changes.

In recent years, the needs of new lighting markets including plant growth and human-centric lighting have been growing. In these markets, durability and light efficacy are as important as they used to be, but new performance is important to meet the needs of each lighting application.

For example, a 'photon efficacy' (the light efficacy level for photosynthesis in plants) is more important than simply a light efficacy in horticulture lighting. Similarly, human-centered lighting considers M / P ratios, which shows how efficiently a light source triggers suppression of melatonin.

It is also true that corporates’ green activities are affecting business so recently they are more seeking to obtain green certification contributing to carbon reduction world widely. In line with this trend, Samsung Electronics LED business team is actively responding to the change by acquiring green certification and developing certification program for human-centric lighting.