Fluence Demonstrates Advanced LED Grow Lights

Fluence Bioengineering, a photobiology design and manufacturing company, has developed an indoor and greenhouse LED lighting system with an efficacy above 2 μmol/J according to replicate collaborative testing conducted by Rutgers University and Utah State University.

Organic herb producer, Shenandoah Growers has moved from high-pressure sodium lamps to Fluence VYPRx PLUS, an LED system by Fluence Bioengineering. Courtesy of Fluence Bioengineering.

Testing found that the VYPRx PLUS lighting system had a 21 percent and 58 percent greater efficacy than the leading 1000-W double-ended and single-ended high pressure sodium (HPS) fixtures respectively, and better than any of the LED technologies studied in an economic analysis of greenhouse lighting paper by Nelson and Bugbee.

According to the tests, the efficacy for VYPRx PLUS came in at 2.05 μmol/J with flat plane integration at Utah State University, and 2.02 to 2.05 μmol/J at Rutgers University, depending on supply voltages (120 or 277 VAC, respectively). Efficacy is the ratio of useful output (moles of photons) to energy input and is the most appropriate measurement for plant-growth lighting, said Utah State professor Bruce Bugbee.

With a patent-pending thermal management system, Fluence VYPRx PLUS is a passively cooled, LED-based lighting system for indoor and greenhouse horticulture environments. Courtesy of Fluence Bioengineering.

“There are several criteria in addition to high efficacy that should be considered in selecting among lighting technologies,” Bugbee said. “One criteria is temperature control. The VYPR system has an innovative design to help remove the heat from the 505-W fixture. Some other high-wattage LED fixtures can be too hot to touch, and I am concerned about the lifetime of those LEDs."

VYPR delivers photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) greater than 1000 μmol/s with a dramatic reduction in shading compared to HPS fixtures, Fluence said. The fixture is designed to be a one-for-one replacement of traditional 1000-W HPS systems.