Dialight Lumidrives, in collaboration with the University of Manchester, has been awarded a £330,000 grant by the Department of Trade and Industry-led Technology Programme to develop advanced LED lighting modules.
A aim of the project is to address power management issues which currently present technical barriers to the wider adoption of solid state lighting.
“Although many companies have made demonstrators of LED lighting in existing lighting applications, very little work has been completed into the associated technologies beyond LEDs at the component level. Significant improvements in cost, efficiency and reliability are therefore essential,” said Gordon Routledge, Dialight Lumidrives managing director.
The applied research programme runs until April 2008 and aims to produce a number of high output LED modules 
with light outputs exceeding 12,000 lumens. The modules will be designed for applications such as architectural, road way and industrial lighting.
According to Routledge, the thermal requirements of LED devices represent the biggest challenge in most applications for general lighting. “The project should produce a result which will prove to the European lighting industry the wider potential of LED lighting technology and encourage further investment in research and development by other companies in the supply chain,” said Routledge.
According to Science and Innovation Minister, Malcolm Wicks: “It provides a great opportunity to harness the UK’s world class expertise and use it to help boost our economy.”
Dialight Lumidrives has been developing and exploiting LED technology for lighting applications for almost five years. The University of Manchester’s School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering has experience in the research and development of high reliability power electronics for demanding environments.
Routledge said the project will areas such as creating an electrical drive system for the LEDs will have to operate in a demanding thermal environment, since a significant amount of heat is generated by the LEDs.
It will also look at thermal packaging techniques and optical systems.