LED lights require a good seal to help them with their efficiency and most people turn to silicone rubber for their sealing solution, but Robafoam's foam solution offers a fantastic option for lighting sealing needs.
Since our establishment, our work within the lighting industry has progressively grown and exposed us to some very interesting projects.
Initially, we marketed our sealing technology to complement the UK Governments initiatives to convert to LED systems. The majority of applications were related to either diffuser sealing on glass or plastic substrates, or seals required for the main access cover components; these generally being powdered coated aluminium parts.
In nearly all cases these first applications were introduced to remove manually fitted cord seals. The conversion to FIPFG, improved productivity and reduced the quality issues regularly seen with manually fitted seals. It is increasing IP rating performance, improved service requirements due to the adhesion of our foam to the part surface.
Our foam can be currently found on a range of different lighting applications around the country. Main light seals on street lighting include foam on the diffuser, access covers, body seals and heat sinks. We also do applications for NEMA/Node unit sealing, solar charging units on the streetlights themselves, illuminated street light signage, bollard diffuser sealing and BEV/HEV charging point connections (located within the base of the lamp post).
One of the qualities of Robafoam foam material that makes it so suitable for the lighting industry is its ability to provide a high Ingress Protection level (IP rating). By varying the compression, foam hardness and bead size, we can produce a seal that withstands contact with water ranging from water spray to deeper immersion.
Over the past few years, our customer base within the lighting industry has continued to grow and has meant we have taken on a variety of different sealing applications. Our technology is beginning to be known in the industry and our attendance at different exhibitions has helped to increase the awareness of what we do. The flexibility of the foam and its application means that we are able to work with a range of different parts and still produce high quality, high-performance foam beads.
If you work within the Lighting sector and are interested in some more information on foam sealing, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Our sealing solution is thoroughly tested to guarantee its quality. We work with a range of different light products as our foam is versatile and reliable. From street lights to solar charging units, our foam can provide all of your sealant needs.
Robafoam foam material has been subjected to vigorous testing during its development and continues to be tested to ensure its compliance with a variety of standards, including some which make it perfectly suited to the Lighting industry’s requirements. One of these is the ASTM D1003 standard test method for haze and clarity. Our material was initially approved against the ASTM D1003 standard for our automotive lighting applications; however, this is of course a factor for the lighting industry as a whole.
We understand that no two application designs are the same and we can use our expertise to support designers, adapt designs as necessary and seal accordingly, all to achieve the standards required for the specific application.
LED seals help the light to keep in the heat, to keep out germs and other factors that will shorten the products life and quality. A good seal also keeps helps the light be more efficient and produce a better quality of light.
Not such a daft question, as it first may appear. Obviously, the question depends on whether we are referring to the assembly of the light unit itself, or its installation. Light units targeted IP rating should be considered at the design phase. It is all too easy to compromise necessary seal function in favour of aesthetics or ease of manufacture or assembly. If you are launching a new IP69 LED downlight. It can be the most beautiful and simplest light in the world, but if it leaks on the test, you’ve got a problem. So the first answer is “targeted functionality”.
We can then consider the relationship of the light unit with the environment to be installed. When we consider building interiors, there are 2 main reasons:
As energy costs continue to rise, the loss of airflow and therefore heat, through installed light units, is a clear benefit that should be promoted.
As much as we want to ensure a light unit keeps the desired elements “IN”, it should also do the reverse. Promoting a more hermetically sealed environment has obvious health and cleanliness benefits. Although both of these are desired in a domestic setting, it becomes even more important in medical or clean room industrial facilities. A sealed light installation also has the benefit of restricting access from undesirable inspects.
Most typically, seals are made from silicone rubber or glue; however, our foam solution offers a high Ingress Protection level, meaning you can rely on the quality of its seal.
There are a huge amount of material types used for the creation of light seals and each has there place, in accordance with the target environment and performance needed. The most typical is silicone or EPDM cord seals. It is important to remember that solid substrates do not compress – they displace. They can also be more susceptible to compression sets, but this is dependent on the material type.
Gases do compress and therefore the bubble structure used in foam seals allows the material to compress and generally the recovery of the material improves. Of course, over-compression (bubble structure damage), heat stress and other factors will impact this. You then have to consider the cell structure of the foam. The more open cell of the structure, the faster the recovery from compression (consider squeezing a dry sponge in your hand). Open-cell structures do not offer effect seals. They are reliant on the skin of the bead to be intact. Closed-cell foams (separated bubble structure) are slower to recover but are the better seal material in the foam family.
Robafoam creates a very close to closed cell structure in the liquid foam seals we apply. The most common base compound is polyurethane.
The typical cell structure of Robafoam process/material: no moisture penetration to exposed cell structure.
We use the CeraCon gasket system in our outdoor wall glazing luminaires, and we are extremely happy with the performance of the gasket. As you might imagine, LED luminaires don’t take kindly to water ingress – especially when they are in the ground, so having a high performance gasket solution is key to customer satisfaction.
Head of Supply Chain, acdc lighting
We are the UK’ only dedicated robotic foam sealing specialist company
Dedicated laboratory cell, located within our technical centre capable of processing parts up to 2m x 3m
With decades of experience across many industry types, give our company a huge depth of knowledge in meeting sealing performance.
Working closely with designers we can give valuable insight to enhancing component deign for optimal sealing performance.
