Basic system for the preliminary experimental photometric characterization of a led based luminaire

This paper presents a simplified and low-cost system set-up for the photometric characterization of small Light Emitting Diodes based luminaires. The structure has a photometric bench within a dark room equipped with both a traditional luminance meter and an imaging luminance measurement device that acquires a luminance distribution of suitable targets upon which the luminous flux emitted by a light source strikes on. Starting from the acquired luminance distribution, the reflectance of the targets surface and considering the application of cosine square law, the luminous intensity distribution of the source considered can be easily obtained. Information about the reliability and accuracy of the facility and the methodology have been deduced using a single light emitting diode as light source and comparing the experimental data with the manufacturer data.