Light engines hand wire with easeLED Engin has announced LED light engines with integral connectors that eliminate soldering during the assembly, writes Steve Bush.

The poke-home connectors accept 18-24AWG wires to terminate the metal-core PCBs inside LED fixtures.

With a common 50mm footprint, the LuxiGen LZC 12 die and LZP 24 die emitters can be driven up to 1A and the boards feature mounting holes for LuxiGen TIR lens-holder legs for integration with secondary optics.

"There are mounting-screw cut-outs to facilitate attachment of a heatsink. The boards include one connector for the LED and one for an on-board thermistor to be used with common constant current sources with thermal feedback option," said the firm.

AMOLED TVs stand out but at a price - IHSGlobal shipments of TVs based on active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) technology are expected to reach 2.1 million units in 2015, up from just 34,000 in 2012, according to market analyst IHS iSuppli

But even this large increase will mean that AMOLED TV shipments will still account for only 1% of the flat-panel market by 2015. The reason AMOLED will not make more of an impact on the TV market is high cost of manufacture.

Luxeon MLumileds has announced Luxeon M, aimed at outdoor lighting, writes Steve Bush.

With an 8mm2 emission area producing 900 lm at 700mA (Tj=85°C Vf=12V) from its 8W package, application in high-bay lighting is also expected.

It will be released in three different colour temperatures: 3,000K,
4,000K, and 5,700K each with specified minimum colour rendering index (CRI) of 70.

Soitec and Sumitomo Electric Industries have demonstrated four- and six-inch engineered gallium nitride (GaN) substrates and are launching pilot production lines as they move toward wider market adoption of GaN, writes Richard Wilson. 

Developed as part of a joint research programme, the substrates are intended for manufacturing high-brightness light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for the lighting market and power-efficient controllers for the electric vehicles and energy markets.

"Our partnership's successful demonstration of four- and six-inch engineered GaN substrates' scalability is a critical milestone, accomplished by applying very strong innovative capabilities from both sides," said Frédéric Dupont, vice president of Soitec's Specialty Electronics Business Unit.
CRIBridgelux has released an LED family with a colour rendering index of 97, writes Steve Bush.

Branded Decor, the multi-die devices deliver 1,200 to 2,500 lumens and "these arrays have been spectrally engineered to closely replicate the light quality of halogen and incandescent light sources", said the firm. "Decor is optimised for demanding applications such as retail, hospitality, museums and high-end architectural lighting."

As well as achieving CRI=97 with the industry-standard eight colour sample set (R1-R8), they also score high on the extended colour sample set.






For the first time in five years, investment in LED manufacturing is expected to decline 18% this year, after a 36% rise last year, says SEMI, but against a background of general decline, spending in Taiwan and Korea is expected to continue to grow, writes David Manners.

Although demand for LEDs used lighting continued to grow last year reaching a $2.5bn market, demand for LEDs used in backlighting TVs- representing 40% of the LED market - has not met expectations.

However LEDs used in lighting are expected to be a $30bn market in 2020.


flexible OLED manufactureAn economically scalable route to high-volume manufacture of flexible OLED displays is the objective of programme kicked off by two European labs, writes Steve Bush.

"The shared program will bring together partners from across the value chain to tackle challenges such as high resolution, low power consumption, large area, outdoor readability, flexibility and light weight," said Belgium research lab IMEC, which has partnered with Dutch lab Holst Centre.

Even though OLED technology is in its infancy, small rigid displays are already wowing consumers in high-end phones like Samsung's Galaxy.


Sony has developed a self-emitting display technology, dubbed Crystal LED Display, which it demosntrated in a full HD, 55-inch prototype model at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, writes Richard Wilson.

It is claimed to be the first 55-inch full HD self-emitting display using LEDs as the light source.

The self-emitting display uses ultrafine LEDs in each of the red-green-blue (RGB) colours, equivalent to the number of pixels (approximately six-million LEDs for Full HD).
The RGB LED light source is mounted directly on the front of the display, which the company claimed improved the light use efficiency.

Ismosys has released details of Sharp Microelectronics 50W LED module which is capable of replacing traditional 50W HID halogen lamps in the same performance class, writes Richard Wilson.

The 50W Mega Zeni features a luminous efficiency of between 3590 and 4770 lm, a light output of up to 100 lm/W in standard operating mode and a long service life of 40,000 hours at an operating temperature of up to 90°C.

"Compared to halogen lamps the 50W Mega Zeni LED array exhibits a much lower decrease in brightness over time and at 40,000 hours, a much longer overall service life," said Ismosys managing director, Nigel Watts.
Welcome to the first post from a new contributor to LED Luminaries - Paul Ward, Opto Product Manager, Farnell.

It's always been a pain - the binning of LEDs whether by colour or lumens just made life awkward. If we imagine the wafer from which the LED dies are made as a Pizza, the edges of the Pizza are usually cooked more than the centre; and it's just the same with the LED wafers. The dies made from the edge will be slightly different from those in the middle.

To categorise them, they have to be illuminated and then flicked into one of many bins - hence binning. There could be many different bins from a single wafer. This leads to a complex and expensive selection process for the purchaser and design engineer who want to ensure a uniformity of supply and performance from one batch of LEDs to the next.






NanocoNanoco, a UK-based manufacturer of cadmium-free quantum dots, has signed a joint development agreement with a global lighting company which is major producer of LED lighting products, writes Richard Wilson.

The collaboration will see the university spin-out's cadmium-free quantum dots (CFQD) technology used in high volume LED lighting systems.

The attraction of the quantum dot technology for commercial LED lighting is its colour performance.

The Fortronic LED and Lighting Design Forum is a one day event free to engineers. It will be held, next year, at the Williams F1 Conference Centre, Oxford, on 27 March 2012.

Topics covered will include:
* LED colour/heat selection
* Thermal Management
* Driver Electronics
* Optics
* Light measurement & planning
* Applications aimed at Street, Building, Signage and Theatre,
* Light shaping (diffuser, Software Control/automation).

This is an exciting time to be in the LED lighting market, according to LED driver module supplier Harvard Engineering, writes Richard Wilson.

"It's an exciting time to be involved in the lighting industry and we're investing heavily to create in the research and development of our CoolLED drivers," said Michael McDonnell, sales and marketing director at Harvard.

The company designs and manufactures its LED lighting drivers in West Yorkshire.

Harvard's recently announced CoolLED Kompact and CoolLED 40W drivers are aimed at the professional lighting sector for powering high-brightness LEDs from a mains supply.
Adrian Rawlinson - MarlAdrian Rawlinson managing director Marl International tells Electronics Weekly the case for LED lighting will become overwhelming. He also says the UK should recognise its strengths in manufacturing

What is the biggest barrier to growth in the architectural LED market?

Adrian Rawlinson: Within five years, I believe that 90% of RGB architectural lighting will have converted to LED technology. There are a number of reasons why I don't think this will happen any more quickly.

If you look at the true cost of ownership, and factor in their exceptionally long life as well as low energy use, LED lighting is very economic, but the initial purchase price is much higher, and this is tending to put buyers off.

As volumes increase and larger fixture manufacturers move into the market, prices are sure to come down, making the case for LED overwhelming.

As the industry matures and consolidates, clear universally accepted standards for measuring light output and efficiency better standards should emerge. This will help buyers who remain confused about the specifications of the product that they are buying.

Currently, only some companies deliver a ready to install light complete with all the drivers and connectors required. Many still leave customers to sort out the complexities themselves.

Part of Taiwan's economic stimulus package announced last week is to install 320,000 LED-based street-lights on the island, writes David Manners.

The measure is one of a series of measures introduced by vice premier Sean Chen to boost high-tech industry.

Taiwan's economy grew over 10% last year with 13% growth in exports but it's looking at 4% growth next year with growth in exports of only 5.3% - if the stimulus succeeds.






Cree has annouced commercial availability of an LED lighting module which is capable of delivering 80-lumens-per-watt system efficacy combined with CRI greater than 90, writes Richard Wilson.

The modules features the supplier's TrueWhite technology for generating white light with LEDs.

"The new modules make the benefits of Cree TrueWhite Technology affordable and widely available," said Mike Watson, senior director of marketing, Cree LED components.

Arrow Electronics has announced an onine application platform for the design of LED lighting systems, writes Richard Wilson.

Called the Lighting Designer platform, it incorporates tools for selecting and optimising LEDs, adding secondary optics, defining the power supply and selecting and laying out a design.

Mouser Electronics has signed a global distribution agreement with LedLink Optics, the Taiwan-based manufacturer of secondary optics for high-power LEDs, writes Richard Wilson.

LedLink Optics has partnerships with LED manufacturers including: Cree, Osram Opto Semiconductors and Seoul Semiconductor.
Electronics Weekly has interviewed David Somo, v-p of corporate marketing at ON Semiconductor, and he tells us that energy efficient products and LED lighting are two of the most important market opportunities for chip suppliers at present.

What is the biggest opportunity in terms of technology and/or markets in 2011?

David Somo: We see great opportunities for our energy efficient silicon solutions across several market segments. For automotive, there are opportunities in powertrain and body applications driven by government mandated fuel economy, emissions reduction and safety regulations; as well as infotainment systems.
LED heatsinkCheck out the latest in the Electronics Weekly's 'big guides' to LED technology - specifically, to LED heatsinking.

Steve Bush, our Technology Editor, begins:
In the early days of power LEDs, many lighting firms rushed out solid-state luminaries only to find them failing in service.

The problem was heatsinking. Manufacturers were used to filament bulbs that run hot and are cooled by radiation, and fluorescent tubes that have a huge surface area from which heat convects.

Conductive cooling, the mainstay of electronics, was a black art.

LED Lighting guides

See also Electronics Weekly's roundup of content related to LEDs, with a special focus on both white LEDs and coloured LEDs, and Lighting LEDs.

* White LEDs

* Coloured LEDs

* LED Lighting (1)

* LED Lighting (2)

* LEDs General

* LED optics

* OLEDs

* 50 year history of the LED








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Author Profiles

Paul Ward
As Opto Product Manager at Farnell, Paul is overseeing the company's involvement in the rapidly evolving and high profile LED lighting market sector.

As well as ensuring that Farnell offers the latest technologies and products related to solid state lighting, Paul is also responsible for ensuring that the resources are in place to make it easier for design engineers to specify and design-in LED solutions for their applications.

Educated in Production Engineering and Design at Sheffield Hallam University, Paul has worked in various engineering, training and marketing roles for companies including C&K switches, ITT Cannon, Cherry and LED specialist Chicago Miniature Lighting.

Away from the world of LEDs, Paul is a Founder of the charity RTTW, Photographer and Harley Davidson rider; he has ridden and snapped across Europe, New Zealand and the USA on his chrome hog!

Gordon Routledge
Gordon Routledge is one of the original pioneers in LED illumination having worked with LEDs in illumination applications since 1996. Currently VP of Illumination at Dialight, Gordon founded Lumidrives in 2001, having previously been managing director at ACDC Lighting Systems. Gordon has a degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from university of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.

Ian Bryant
ian bryant.jpgIan Bryant is Business Development Manager LED Division at Carclo Technical Plastics. He has worked on and off at Carclo (Formerly Combined Optical Industrial) since leaving school. He has worked through the company from Toolmaking to starting the company on the road of LED optics business some 6-7 years ago, starting with a standard range and more in line with the business of custom optics. In between all this he has worked in engineering and as a works Director for a hydraulics company but kept getting pulled back to the optics industrial. We are able to offer the full solution from idea to parts so have a very good understanding on what is needed. You will see some posts from our design team also under my name.

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