Osram Opto Semiconductors has revealed the first LED to achieve more than 1000 lumen - brighter than a 50W halogen lamp, claimed the firm.

“We can achieve this and repeat it. This is not an R&D special. The ‘heroes’ are 10 per cent higher,” Volker Haerle, marketing head at Osram, told EW. “And there was no special 25°C thermal set-up. The junction was at a representative temperature.”

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been used in electronic systems for many years. There is nothing new about the use of LEDs as panel display lights or even in optical fibre communications.

But the use of higher power LEDs as general purpose lighting sources, which have the potential to replace filament bulbs and even fluorescent tubes, has now become one of the most interesting component markets in the industry.

The device, part of Osram’s Ostar family, has the same footprint as Lumileds’ Star devices and has six 1mm sq. white LED die.

“What this means in actual practice is that a single device with a 38 degree reflector is all that is needed to illuminate a desk with more than 500 lux from a height of two metres,” said Osram.

The reflector concerned has been designed by Italian optics-maker Fraen, and also comes in a narrower beam version.

With the relatively low temperatures involved, 120°C maximum compared with 5,000°C in an incandescent bulb, heat has to be persuaded to leave any high-power LED-based luminair.

“The heat from this Ostar is in the order of 20W, 40 per cent of the heat from a halogen,” said Haerle. This equates to 50 lm/W - 75 lm/W is also claimed, at the lower operating current of 350mA.

Even at 20W, a heatsink is required. Osram has been working with Taiwanese heatsink firm CoolerMaster. “A sink 80x80x80mm would be suitable for a realistic downlighter application,” said Haerle. “This size can be reduced if 6mm heatpipes are used to take the heat away from the immediate vicinity of the LED.”

Lifetime with this heatsinking in this application has been estimated. “We feel very comfortable with 30,000 hours to half brightness,” said Haerle. “Lifetime very much depends on operating conditions.”

Samples should be with customers in May. Market launch is planned for summer 2007.