
{"id":180,"date":"2018-09-18T17:07:51","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T17:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/?page_id=180"},"modified":"2018-09-18T19:38:26","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T19:38:26","slug":"led-light-emitting-diode-glossary-entry-tbd","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/glossary-2\/led-light-emitting-diode-glossary-entry-tbd\/","title":{"rendered":"LED &#8211; Light Emitting Diode (Glossary Entry)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An electronic device that emits light when a current passes through it. As with any diode, current can only pass in one direction (from the \u201canode\u201d to the \u201ccathode\u201d).<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_185\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-185\" style=\"width: 181px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-185 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2018\/09\/LEDimage-181x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"181\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2018\/09\/LEDimage-181x300.png 181w, https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2018\/09\/LEDimage-260x431.png 260w, https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2018\/09\/LEDimage-160x265.png 160w, https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2018\/09\/LEDimage.png 285w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 181px) 100vw, 181px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-185\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Identifying the anode of the LED as the longer lead<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_184\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-184\" style=\"width: 152px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-184\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2018\/09\/LEDschematic-152x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"152\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2018\/09\/LEDschematic-152x300.png 152w, https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2018\/09\/LEDschematic-260x514.png 260w, https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2018\/09\/LEDschematic-160x317.png 160w, https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2018\/09\/LEDschematic.png 283w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 152px) 100vw, 152px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-184\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Schematic symbol for a Light Emitting Diode (LED)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The schematic symbol for an LED is shown opposite (there are some variants. Sometimes the circle is missing). The anode typically has a longer lead as identified in the photo.<\/p>\n<p>Consider the LED circuit below. The current <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/ql-cache\/quicklatex.com-ca2b1f375fecf1f1d2741f9a14018727_l3.png\" class=\"ql-img-inline-formula quicklatex-auto-format\" alt=\"&#73;\" title=\"Rendered by QuickLaTeX.com\" height=\"12\" width=\"9\" style=\"vertical-align: 0px;\"\/> needs to be sufficient such that the LED light is sufficiently bright. We say this is now biased. There will be a voltage drop across the diode (<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/ql-cache\/quicklatex.com-e0b6f4d11965c3c12c8169e89fa3ee3f_l3.png\" class=\"ql-img-inline-formula quicklatex-auto-format\" alt=\"&#86;&#95;&#123;&#76;&#69;&#68;&#125;\" title=\"Rendered by QuickLaTeX.com\" height=\"15\" width=\"42\" style=\"vertical-align: -3px;\"\/>) . Note that this would not significantly rise if <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/ql-cache\/quicklatex.com-ca2b1f375fecf1f1d2741f9a14018727_l3.png\" class=\"ql-img-inline-formula quicklatex-auto-format\" alt=\"&#73;\" title=\"Rendered by QuickLaTeX.com\" height=\"12\" width=\"9\" style=\"vertical-align: 0px;\"\/> was to rise (maybe by reducing R).<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The current needed for full brightness and the voltage drop <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/ql-cache\/quicklatex.com-e0b6f4d11965c3c12c8169e89fa3ee3f_l3.png\" class=\"ql-img-inline-formula quicklatex-auto-format\" alt=\"&#86;&#95;&#123;&#76;&#69;&#68;&#125;\" title=\"Rendered by QuickLaTeX.com\" height=\"15\" width=\"42\" style=\"vertical-align: -3px;\"\/>\u00a0will vary with each device. You need to consider these parameters carefully before selecting an LED and the resistor <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/ql-cache\/quicklatex.com-dfd80738ac64385be5b381ea59d7fe55_l3.png\" class=\"ql-img-inline-formula quicklatex-auto-format\" alt=\"&#82;\" title=\"Rendered by QuickLaTeX.com\" height=\"12\" width=\"14\" style=\"vertical-align: 0px;\"\/>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_187\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-187\" style=\"width: 247px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-187 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2018\/09\/LEDcircuit-247x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"247\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2018\/09\/LEDcircuit-247x300.png 247w, https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2018\/09\/LEDcircuit-260x316.png 260w, https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2018\/09\/LEDcircuit-160x195.png 160w, https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2018\/09\/LEDcircuit.png 522w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 247px) 100vw, 247px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-187\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Simple LED circuit with a current limiting resistor R<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Note that if you try and pass current through an LED in the opposite direction (reverse biased), almost zero current will flow. In the circuit above, swapping the LED direction would mean that <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-content\/ql-cache\/quicklatex.com-5b21c50725d8887ebac3a6faa53e9f3c_l3.png\" class=\"ql-img-inline-formula quicklatex-auto-format\" alt=\"&#86;&#95;&#123;&#76;&#69;&#68;&#125;&#32;&#124;&#95;&#123;&#114;&#101;&#118;&#101;&#114;&#115;&#101;&#100;&#125;&#32;&#92;&#97;&#112;&#112;&#114;&#111;&#120;&#32;&#86;&#95;&#123;&#111;&#117;&#116;&#125;\" title=\"Rendered by QuickLaTeX.com\" height=\"19\" width=\"155\" style=\"vertical-align: -5px;\"\/>\u00a0and no light would emit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An electronic device that emits light when a current passes through it. As with any diode, current can only pass in one direction (from the \u201canode\u201d to the \u201ccathode\u201d).\u00a0 The schematic symbol for an LED is shown opposite (there are some variants. Sometimes the circle is missing). The anode typically has a longer lead as&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/glossary-2\/led-light-emitting-diode-glossary-entry-tbd\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">LED &#8211; Light Emitting Diode (Glossary Entry)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":153,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-180","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/180\/revisions\/191"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.plymouth.ac.uk\/embedded-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}