14 October 2009 - What is an LED

What is an LED?

Light Emitting Diodes (LED's) are the illuminating element in all of Bartco Matrix displays, Traffic lights, and Arrow Boards. Bartco full size matrix displays for instance have 1’344 individually controlled LED’s, meaning you can display virtually any text or image you desire.

LED’s are lower power consuming and long lasting light source. The technology was first used in the 1920's by Russian radio technician, Oleg Vladimirovich Losev who noticed that diodes used in radio receivers emitted light when current was passed through them.

A diode is a semiconductor that only allows for the passage of electricity in one direction. An LED consists of two elements of processed material: P-Type semiconductors and N-type semiconductors. These two elements are placed in direct contact, forming a region called the P-N junction. The main difference between an LED and other diodes is that an LED is specifically designed to emit electromagnetic radiation in the visable spectrum and has a transparent package that allows this visible energy to pass through.

Bartco pioneered the use of LEDs in Portable VMS, in fact our business was born with that simple and innovative idea. Prior to Bartco portable VMS, and Arrow Boards used incandescent light bulbs and required environmentally unfriendly diesel generators to power them.

Because Bartco exclusively uses LED's all our products can operate indefinably from renewable solar energy.