By Michael Higlett, Marina Khazova, John O’Hagan 

The continuing development of LED technology has resulted in the ever increasing use of LEDs in a wide range of consumer products, including toys. LEDs are used to a greater extent by toy manufacturers today to enhance toys visual appeal and choosing the appropriate LED is important to avoid the risk of harm to the child. The significant increase of optical output and expansion of the emission wavelength range, from ultraviolet to infrared, raised a concern about optical radiation safety of LED use in toys. This led to the need for an easy to follow methodology for the assessment of the optical radiation safety of LEDs in toys [1] that may be adopted by toy manufactures when evaluating the suitability of an LED.The simplified approach is based on LED photometric characteristics from datasheets and avoids the need for additional complex measurements. Continue reading →