Samsung targets a new market of "LEDs for photosynthesis"

Date: 27/08/2022
Due to growth in demand for food production, indoor farming is growing in some of the thickly populated nations where they have less land to grow. For indoor farming/agriculture there is a need of sunlight substitute for photosynthesis. Until the invention of high brightness LEDs, the cost of such alternatives to sunlight was very expensive and highly power consuming making it not a economical option.

With a capability of the LED to produce high flux of light at very low power consumption, and also cast of LEDs falling resulting into use LED light source for photosynthesis.

Recently researchers also found that the spectrum of light has impact on Plant growth. Researchers have found that a particular bandwidth of the light produces more effective photosynthesis. This is different from what we generally use at home lighting and office lighting. The horticultural lighting industry looking for light source for a holistic plant development considering factors such as freshness of a crop and its nutritional content.

By taking all this into consideration, the leading LED manufacturer Samsung has come out with plant-centric spectrum LEDs made specifically for indoor farming. Samsung has developed a true horticultural light source delivering 437 nm spectral peak photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) to improve plant growth and enhances crop quality. Samsung claims these plant specific spectrum LED dramatically boosts photosynthesis over existing horticulture lighting solutions and results in better, more holistic plant growth.

Samsung says Its 437 nm spectral peak, a shorter wavelength than that of conventional horticultural white LEDs, also stimulates secondary metabolites, such as phenolics and flavonols, to improve plant’s nutritional quality.

Another interesting point Samsung higlights is this light source inhibits the growth of microorganisms like bacteria and fungi, leading to longer-lasting storability. Lastly, its industry-leading PPE consumes minimal energy, contributing to long term energy-savings and reduced operational costs for indoor farms.

Samsung is conducted field experiment of effectiveness of various horticultural light sources on holistic plant growth jointly with Gyeongsang National University. Researchers have used four types of LED lighting including Samsung’s LM301H EVO series, which uses this plant-centric light spectrum.

Dr. Ki-Ho Son of Gyeongsang National University, the researcher who headed this experiment said “Not only is LED lighting more effective and durable, but its greatest advantage is that we are able to specifically engineer its spectrum to optimize plant growth. Our experiment showed that the LM301H EVO series, which uses the shorter wavelength plant-centric spectrum, promotes higher physical and qualitative growth than normal white LEDs or combinations of blue and red LEDs. The plants grown under the plant-centric light spectrum had bigger and thicker leaves and had higher levels of nutrients.”

Mike Mang, Vice President of LED Business Team at Samsung Electronics, stated, “Our newly released line-up is specifically engineered to serve the needs of horticulturalists who seek a more robust, valuable crop while consuming less energy.” He continued, sharing that, “Horticulture lighting based on our new plant-centric spectrum will allow growers to experience next-level agriculture by cultivating higher quantity and better quality production while saving costs. We intend to continue developing Samsung’s spectrum engineering technology to provide innovative LED lighting solutions for an even wider variety of spaces, from indoor living spaces to the larger horticulture industry.”

This new LM301H EVO LEDs are now in mass production.

Author: Srinivasa Reddy N
Header ad