LED Arrays: Seoul Semiconductor, Stanley, Sharp, Lustrous, Bridgelux, Luminus

In recent weeks, LED manufacturers have introduced a number of high-lumen-output products that use multichip LED arrays to suit applications ranging from downlights to medical lamps.


Seoul Semiconductor

Seoul Semi's ZC DC COB package.

Seoul Semiconductor has introduced the ZC Series of chip-on-board (COB) type DC LED arrays based on the company’s Z-Power LEDs. ZC products will be offered in 6W, 10W and 16W versions, and are designed as replacements for 40W incandescent bulbs, 60W incandescent bulbs and 100W downlights, respectively.
The ZC Series has been designed to provide high-brightness with decreased thermal resistance for increased product life-expectancy. COB construction eliminates the need for LEDs to be surface-mounted on a metal plate, permitting manufacturers to bypass the chip-connection process before use, and reducing manufacturing cost.
Stanley Electric
Stanley Electric has introduced the 6J series of high-efficiency multi-die white LEDs, which are designed to meet the requirements of a variety of lighting applications.
Performance specifications include efficacy up to 150 lm/W and a typical CRI of 95. The 6J X-type LEDs feature available CCT of 2700, 3000, 4000, 5000 and 6500K. The 6J Z-type line addresses high color-rendering needs with Ra of 95 and CCT of 2700, 3000, 4000 and 5000K.



Sharp

Sharp’s 50W Mega Zeni modules.

Sharp’s Mega Zeni 50W LED-array modules can replace traditional high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps in the same performance range. Designed to operate from a forward voltage of 50V and current of 950 mA, the modules deliver output of 3590-4770 lm, a luminous efficiency of up to 100 lm/W, and have a service life of 40,000 hours at an operating temperature of up to 90°C.
The LED arrays consist of 160 LEDs laid out in ten parallel, connected rows of sixteen. The flat surface of the ceramic plate and in-place soldering points make it possible to attach the modules to a suitable heat sink.


Lustrous

Lustrous N506 Series LED array.

Like the ZC Series, the N506 Series LED array from Lustrous Technology Ltd is also designed for use in white-light downlights or incandescent bulb replacements. However, the N506 operates off AC of 200 mA and forward voltage of 30V.
The N506 series of LED arrays produce a lumen output comparable to that of a 60W incandescent bulb while consuming 6-8W. The warm-white LEDs (3000K) feature a CRI of 90 and efficacy of 125 lm/W. The cool white (5000K) version offers a CRI of 70 and 140 lm/W efficacy.
Bridgelux
Bridgelux has introduced its latest generation of LS, ES and RS product families, designed to deliver 30% better efficacy at 30% lower cost per lumen compared to previous products.
The LED arrays offer optical and mechanical compatibility with previous product generations, allowing upgradeability. Greater flexibility in system design is aimed at helping users more rapidly achieve compliance with Energy Star, Title 24, Part L and other global energy-efficiency standards.
The arrays are available in a range of color temperatures from 2700K to 5600K with 3 SDCM color-control options.



Luminus

Luminus CBT-90 array

The latest-generation CBT-90 line of single-chip LED packages are capable of meeting the needs of specialty applications including medical and entertainment lighting – areas previously dominated by xenon and metal-halide (MH) lamps.
The CBT-90 includes multiple LEDs on a single chip (3 x 3 mm) and mounted on a metal-core PCB. The array is capable of producing 2200 lm at its top current level. “Our customers developing endoscopy light boxes, now for the first time, have an LED that produces system-level light intensity that rivals the gold standard for endoscopy – the 300W xenon lamp,” said Chuck DeMilo, Global Director of Product Marketing for the Lighting Business Group at Luminus Devices.

Europe initiates public consultation on LED lighting

A Green Paper on LED- and OLED-based lighting published by the European Commission launches a period of public consultation on the future development of SSL in Europe.
The European Commission has published a Green Paper on LED- and OLED-based solid-state lighting (SSL) entitled "Lighting the Future: Accelerating the Deployment of Innovative Lighting Technologies."
The Green Paper proposes a number of new Europe-wide policy initiatives that are intended to accelerate the wide deployment of SSL. The document also encourages public debate in Europe involving all interested parties.
The Green Paper’s publication also launches a public consultation period, which is open now and ends on February 29, 2012.The Commission is seeking the views of all interested individuals and organizations on the relevant issues involved by collecting replies on specific questions set out in the Green Paper.
The Green Paper is part of the Digital Agenda for Europe initiative, under the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The Green Paper was one of several European initiatives discussed at Strategies in Light Europe 2010. Two or three large-scale demonstration projects are expected to be announced soon.
SSL in Europe
The EC believes that, while Europe’s SSL industry is both large and “world-class”, SSL market uptake is slow in Europe, and SSL-related research, innovation and cooperative activities are fragmented. In this respect, Europe compares poorly with the USA and various countries in Asia.
This situation indicates a need for immediate action at a European level. First, the Green Paper addresses policies targeting European users (consumers, professional users and public procurers) that will help to overcome existing challenges and promote wider market uptake. This includes raising awareness of, and demonstrating, the benefits of SSL, as well as proposing initiatives to prevent early market failure.
On the supply side, the Green Paper proposes policies that “foster the competitiveness and global leadership” of the European lighting industry. This will, says the EC, contribute to the creation of growth and jobs in Europe.
The public consultation invites participants to answer a series of questions (12 in total) included within the Green Paper. These include: 
• What can Member States do to reinforce the market surveillance of product performance and safety in the area of SSL lighting products? 
• Which specific measures would you propose for accelerating SSL uptake? 
• Which other actions could be taken by industry to reinforce sustainable SSL manufacturing capacity in Europe?
The public consultation web-page also contain two background documents that can be downloaded. One is entitled “Energy-Efficient Lighting and Displays: Technologies and Applications” while the second is a report on LED projects and economic test cases in Europe.

US Congress is poised to weaken light-bulb efficiency legislation

A year-end spending bill in the US Congress could impact the 2007 legislation that imposes strict energy-efficiency guidelines on light bulbs beginning in 2012.
The US Congress is close to approval of a massive spending bill that includes a rider eliminating US Department of Energy (DOE) funding that was intended to enforce the 2007 US legislation that has been incorrectly referred to as an "incandescent light-bulb ban." While there have been reports that the rider will eliminate the legislation, the National Electrical Manufactures Association (NEMA) has taken the position that the legislation will remain in effect and that law-abiding companies will follow the guidelines approved in 2007.


The light-bulb-specific activity comes just weeks before the first stage of the regulations would impact the manufacture of 100W incandescent lamps for sale in the US. The Democratic and Republican parties are using the so-called omnibus spending bill, passage of which is necessary to keep the US government funded and functioning into 2012, to advance partisan initiatives. Many Republicans, especially in the radical Tea Party faction, have previously sought and failed to overturn the light-bulb legislation despite the fact that it was enacted under Republican President George W. Bush.


The Republican-sought riders attacked a number of environmental initiatives, although President Obama and Democratic leaders have worked to limit the environmental impact. The rider eliminating lamp-efficiency regulations remains in the bill at this time. Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, "Unfortunately, the bill still contains some damaging riders, including one that will weaken air-pollution controls in the Arctic and another that will block funding to enforce new light-bulb-efficiency standards that were signed into law by George W. Bush."


The Hill website on its E2 Wire energy- and environment-focused blog reported Thursday night that both the US House of Representatives and Senate tentatively agreed to a $1 trillion spending bill that blocks the Energy Department light-bulb-efficiency standards.
In actuality, according to NEMA, it is only the funding for enforcement that is impacted. "Our view is that the standards are still in effect," said Joseph Higbee, director of marketing communications at NEMA. "The standards are the law and the manufacturers will follow the law."


The US House will vote on the bill on Friday, December 16. The US Senate will likely vote on the bill on either Saturday or Sunday. Ironically the more controversial part of the bill is an extension of middle- and lower-class tax benefits, but partisanship politics invariably intertwines unrelated measures that should ideally be handled independently. As mentioned earlier, the Republicans failed this past summer to explicitly repeal the 2007 bill.
The legislation will initially impact lamps with 1700-lm output (typical of 100W-incandescent lamps) beginning in January, requiring 30% more efficiency. Incandescent lamps would not likely meet those guidelines, making LED-based solid-state lighting (SSL) or compact-fluorescent lamps (CFLs) the primary consumer choice on store shelves.


It remains to be seen just what type of impact the rider may have. Even if the rider truly blocked the prior legislation, lighting manufacturers and retailers have been preparing for years for the change. Presumably the supply chain is poised to predominantly sell the more efficient lamps.
Indeed the Republican-led last-grasp effort to diminish the impact of the legislation could cost companies heavily. "Manufacturers have invested millions of dollars in meeting the regulations," said NEMA's Higbee.


Higbee correctly points out that the manufacturers have developed hybrid incandescent/halogen lamps that meet the new standards, as well as LED and CFL lamps. That is one reason that Higbee said, "We [NEMA] were opposed to the rider."

Philips supplies LED lighting for Zürich bridge

LED lighting from Philips has been used to illuminate Zürich’s Hardbrücke, a bridge in the central part of the city.

Zürich’s Hardbrücke

Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG, AEX:PHI) has provided LED lighting to improve the safety and energy efficiency of the Hardbrücke, a bridge in central Zurich, Switzerland.
The Hardbrücke project is reportedly the largest LED installation in Switzerland. The underside of the 2.3-km bridge is lit with 1750 LEDline2 luminaires. These require 25 kW for 1,654 hours a year, or 41,000 kWh/yr in total.
Going into the project, the main goal was to upgrade the lighting under the bridge and provide greater security for pedestrians. The lighting system took into consideration users of the bicycle and pedestrian paths as well as a newly laid S-Bahn rapid-transit rail line and an additional public-transportation lane.

1750 LEDline fixtures.

Koffer2 luminaires are used on top of the bridge, reducing Zürich’s energy requirements from 32 kW to 21 kW (savings of 42,800 kWh/yr).
Other benefits of the new lighting scheme include much longer service lifetime and reduced maintenance requirements.
The 40-year old bridge in the heart of Switzerland’s biggest city is the main connection between the north and the south, as well as providing connections to other parts of the country. For the approximately 70,000 vehicles that travel across the bridge daily, security and functionality are paramount.

The bridge uses Koffer2 fixtures.

Together with the required renovation of the bridge, the municipality of Zürich chose to renew its lighting with the intention of reducing energy costs, service costs and light pollution. Additionally, Zürich officials sought to shape the night view of the city and improve the quality of life of its residents.

Cooper SSL helps City Furniture achieve LEED Silver in superstore

Cooper Lighting has supplied indoor and outdoor LED lighting for City Furniture's new 94,000-square-foot superstore delivering an energy reduction of 60% and LEED Silver compliance.
Retailer City Furniture has opened a new 94,000-ft2 superstore in Boca Raton, Florida and 98% of the lighting in the building is LED based. Cooper Lighting supplies indoor track, and outdoor wall-pack and parking-lot solid-state-lighting (SSL) fixtures that have helped enable the store to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver requirements.

Cooper fixtures used by City Furniture

The new store has realized a 60% reduction in energy for lighting relative to similar stores lit with legacy sources. "Over the past year, I spent countless hours searching for the most cost-effective ways to save energy without sacrificing the quality of our lighting," said Mike Jaroszyk, director of facilities and new construction for City Furniture. "City Furniture was able to realize such savings at this facility because of a driving factor of specifying 98% of the lighting with LED technology."


The new store includes 3,500 of Cooper's Halo Stasis LED track fixtures to illuminate merchandise. "The Halo Stasis LED fixture has a very high center beam candlepower that lends itself very well to highlighting retail spaces," said lighting consultant Dominick Falso of DMD Lighting and Energy Control Systems. "Plus, it consumes less than half the energy of the typical 39W ceramic metal-halide fixture used in many current retail applications."


Outside, Cooper supplied 18 McGraw-Edison Ventus LED parking-lot luminaires, and 10 Lumark LED Wal-Pak fixtures for exterior-security lighting. The 40W wall-packs were used instead of 175W metal-halide (MH) sources typically used in such applications.


The indoor and outdoor lighting is controlled by an energy-management system that maximizes the energy savings. The system can dim or extinguish some of the indoor lights during the day when the system detects high levels of natural light. The system can dim the outdoor lighting late at night when no customers are present.


The new store is the first City Furniture to meet LEED Silver requirements. LEED is a green building certification system program developed by the US Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED was designed to guide building owners in achieving resource efficiency, including energy and other things such as water, in terms of design, construction, operations and maintenance. In the point-based LEED system, the Silver level is above baseline LEED certification but below the Gold and Platinum levels.

LED Industry News: LED lamp prices, India’s lighting industry, Osram and China, Rubicon facility

IMS Research has updated its LED lamp price report, Frost & Sullivan has released a report on LED lighting industry, Osram has met with the China minister, and Rubicon has celebrated the anniversary of its Batavia sapphire production facility.
IMS reports fastest discounts on LED lamps in China

Retail replacement lamp prices by country.

The latest analysis of global retail prices for LED lamps and luminaires from IMS Research of Austin, TX, has indicated that the most significant decline in LED lamp prices has occurred in China, with prices falling on average 62% (from $30 to $11) from September to November.
IMS is tracking the sales of 420 LED lamps in 12 countries. Worldwide, it reported no 100W replacements on the market and only 32 lamps (7%) designed as 60W and 75W incandescent replacements.
In South Korea, 26 of the 31 lamps tracked were mislabeled with regard to their wattage equivalency. In Japan, the average price of a 40W LED lamp is over $30.



India LED lighting market to enjoy rapid growth
LED lighting is considered the key emerging lighting segment in the Indian market, driven by the move towards energy efficiency. Local issues include those of energy deficiency in remote rural regions and strong interest in energy sustainability.
According to Frost & Sullivan Research, the LED lighting market in India was $73.3 million in 2010 and is forecast to grow at a CAGR 45.53% through 2014. The anticipated market growth will be mainly due to street lighting and railway lighting applications, which could account for over 60% of total demand next year.
The research firm has warned that the penetration of LED lighting in India largely depends on standardization, government support, awareness and affordability. India’s Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) is working to address standards issues and limited awareness of energy-efficient options.



Osram managing board meets Chinese minister Wan Gang
The Chinese Minister of Science and Technology, Wan Gang, met with the managing board of Osram AG recently. Discussions focused on future areas of cooperation in the LED sector.
This meeting followed an inspection of a test installation of LED applications in an art collection in Munich. Osram employs more than 10,000 staff in the Chinese market.
Rubicon marks anniversary of Batavia sapphire-growth facility

Rubicon executives
Rubicon Technology, based in Bensenville, IL, has celebrated the first anniversary of its sapphire crystal growth facility in Batavia, IL. The company produced its first sapphire boule at the facility last November.
The 135,000-square-foot manufacturing plant produces sapphire crystals that are in turn processed into sapphire boules and then large-diameter sapphire wafers used in LED manufacturing.
Rubicon's sapphire crystals are grown from raw materials in custom-built proprietary furnaces. To date, the company has shipped more than 200,000 six-inch sapphire wafers to the LED manufacturing and RFIC industries.

Utility offers instant rebates on LED lamps

Puget Sound Energy, a utility based in Washington state, has introduced an instant rebate that provides up to $10 off the purchase of LED lamps to residential customers.


Puget Sound Energy (PSE) of Bellevue, WA, which serves over a million customers of electricity in Washington state, has introduced an instant rebate for residential consumers purchasing LED replacement lamps. The rebate is PSE's first LED bulb rebate for residential customers.


The rebates are good for the purchase of a variety of Energy-Star-qualified LED lamps. Depending on the bulb type, after-rebate price varies between $15 and $50. Customers can purchase the lamps at participating retailers including Costco, Lowe’s and The Home Depot. PSE is also hosting an online survey for bulb purchasers at PSE.com/LEDsurvey, where participants will be entered in a drawing for one of five $100 pre-paid gift cards. The website also provides incentives for energy efficiency in the home.


In 2010, PSE was among 14 utilities and energy-efficiency organizations to partner with the US Department of Energy's Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize (L Prize) competition to field test energy-efficient LED lamps to replace the standard 60W incandescent bulb.


Philips Lighting North America, the L Prize winner of the 60W replacement bulb category, met the competition requirements including extensive field and laboratory assessment, stress testing, and a required lifetime of more than 25,000 hours. The Philips LED lamp is expected to arrive in stores as soon as early 2012.


Public utility rebates for LED products have been widely applied for street-lighting and parking-lot-lighting projects. The consumer LED replacement lamp market may well require rebate incentives until the cost of LED lamps can be reduced significantly. Indeed, rebate programs and even bulb “swaps” were common during the years when compact fluorescent bulbs first became available.