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7
8 MARCH 2013
+
LEDsmagazine.com
9 SIL 2013
Conference report
and market
projections P.26 & P.35
Venting luminaires
Equalization boosts
reliability P.43
4
SEPTEMBER 2013
+
LEDsmagazine.com
Conference
report
The LED Show P.27
Thermal
materials
AlN LED packages P.39
ISSUE 63
2013
september Cover Story
A number of LEDtronics lighting products
have enhanced the 97-year-old Santa
Monica Pier and Boardwalk, maintaining
the historical look of landmarks such
as the Looff Hippodrome (shown) while
modernizing in terms of energy efficiency,
cost reductions, and improved safety with
less light pollution for visitors (see page 9).
features
27 CONFERENCE REPORT
columns/departments
Packaged LED discussion provides rousing start
at The LED Show
Maury Wright 4 COMMENTARY Maury Wright
Electronics and lighting
industries try to get in sync
31 CONFERENCE PREVIEW
SIL Europe addresses the development of a
new lighting ecosystem 9 NEWS +ANALYSIS
Iconic Santa Monica Pier
Bob Steele, Strategies Unlimited gets LED facelift
35
Philips adds members to Hue family
STANDARDS
SSL streetlights drop below $100
IES moves to establish LED light-source ray
file standards Seoul supplies China streetlights
Jianzhong Jiao, Osram Opto Semiconductors Packaged LEDs: Seoul, Toshiba,
Osram, Bridgelux, Cree, and Plessey
39 PACKAGING
Cost-reduced AlN delivers thermals needed in 21 FUNDING + PROGRAMS
HB LED packages Gateway demonstration for MSSLC
reveals LED advantages over HPS
Jonathan Harris, CMC Laboratories, Inc.
DOE revises L Prize rules
in sync juliemacshane33@gmail.com
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Caroline Hayes
T
caroline.hayes@ruivamedia.com
ART DIRECTOR Kelli Mylchreest
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Mari Rodriguez
he LED Show is ongoing in Las Vegas as The electronics industry has also brought SENIOR ILLUSTRATOR Christopher Hipp
I write this, and a session entitled The along an overload of new standards that, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Debbie Bouley
psychology of lighting prompted this col- while in theory are both needed and good,
umn. Specifically, Kevin Willmorth, owner have overwhelmed the lighting industry.
of lighting consultancy Lumenique, made Willmorth showed a complicated chart with
some very interesting and humorous obser- a complex stack of optical, electronic, safety, EDITORIAL OFFICES PennWell Corporation,
vations about the solid-state lighting (SSL) form factor, networking, and other stan- LEDs Magazine
98 Spit Brook Road, LL-1
industry. Much of his talk was focused on dards that he calls the SSL Dog Pile 2013 Nashua, NH 03062-5737
the different cultures of the electronics and and said, This is suffocating. Tel: +1 603 891-0123
Fax: +1 603 891-0574
lighting industries and the need for each to He still reserved plenty of criticism for www.ledsmagazine.com
better understand the other. the lighting industry, and especially its
SALES OFFICES
While Willmorth comes from the lighting affinity for the Edison socket and light SALES MANAGER Kelly Barker
industry, he was a very early adopter of LEDs bulb. He said, We should have made the (US EAST COAST) kellybarker@Pennwell.com
Tel. +1 603 891 9186
in lighting applications. He was equally criti- Edison socket illegal rather than the incan- SALES MANAGER Allison OConnor
cal and appreciative of aspects of both of the descent lamp, referring to energy-effi- (US WEST COAST) allison@jagmediasales.com
Tel. +1 480 991 9109
industries. But he said that there remains a ciency regulations on lightbulbs.
SALES MANAGER Jim Ajayi
fundamental disconnect between the 9- to Willmorth described the Edison base as (EUROPE) jima@pennwell.com
18-month development cycle for lighting dangerous and not capable itself of pass- Tel. +44(0)1992656657
SALES MANAGER Manami Konishi
products and what he described as a two- ing UL safety standards, whereas products (JAPAN) konishi-manami@ics-inc.co.jp
month cycle for LEDs. that are installed in the Edison socket are Tel: +81 3 3219 3641
In describing the two mindsets, Will- held to stricter standards. He said Califor- SALES MANAGER Mark Mak
(CHINA & HONG KONG) markm@actintl.com.hk
morth said, The lighting industry makes a nia Title 24 is step in the right direction, Tel: +852 2838 6298
million different things one time. In con- requiring GU10 and GU24 lamps in new SALES MANAGER Diana Wei
(TAIWAN) diana@arco.com.tw
trast, he said the electronics industry wants homes and offices. Tel: 886-2-2396-5128 ext:270
to make a million of one thing. An exagger- The LED component industry has played SALES MANAGER Young Baek
ation for sure, but still his point hits home. a part in the longevity of the Edison socket (KOREA) ymedia@chol.com
Tel: +82 2 2273 4818
The transition to LEDs has clearly been as well. Willmorth roasted the US Depart- CORPORATE OFFICERS
painful for the lighting industry. Early on, ment of Energy L Prize for its part in the CHAIRMAN Frank T. Lauinger
PRESIDENT AND CEO Robert F. Biolchini
the LED manufacturers over-promised process. He said, The real winner is the
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Mark C. Wilmoth
in terms of performance and lifetime and Edison socket surviving another round of
TECHNOLOGY GROUP
under-delivered. Willmorth said, Some- advancing technology. SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Christine A. Shaw
where around 2011 the products started per- But the lighting industry is clinging to & PUBLISHING DIRECTOR
forming as promised. the established technology as well. Will- SUBSCRIPTIONS: For subscription inquiries:
Tel: +1 847 559-7330;
Today, the LED industry regularly over- morth clearly thinks that retrofit lamps are Fax: +1 847 291-4816;
delivers in terms of lumen output and effi- holding back real advancements in energy e-mail: led@omeda.com;
ledsmagazine.com/subscribe
cacy. That would on the surface seem to be savings, lighting design, and better light-
a good thing. But Willmorth says that it ing experiences for people. He concludes, We make portions of our subscriber list available to carefully screened
can be a problem for lighting manufactur- "The incandescent lamp is dead. Lets get companies that offer products and services that may be important for
your work. If you do not want to receive those offers and/or information
ers and designers who work based on a pub- over it already. via direct mail, please let us know by contacting us at List Services
LEDs, 98 Spit Brook Road LL-1, Nashua, NH 03062.
lished spec only to find out that the capa-
Copyright 2013 PennWell Corp (ISSN 2156-633X). All rights
bilities of the light source have changed by reserved. Contents of this publication may not be reproduced in any
form without prior written consent of Publishers.
the time a product ships or an installation Maury Wright, EDITOR
is complete. mauryw@pennwell.com
and market issues and LEDs & the SSL Ecosystem 2013
October 2829, 2013
broaden SSL deployment Boston, MA
ledsmagazine.com/features/10/8/1
Middle East Smart Lighting
& Energy Summit
November 1112, 2013
Global Certifications Abu Dhabi, UAE
for LED Products Strategies in Light Europe
ledsmagazine.com/features/10/7/9 November 1921, 2013
Munich, Germany
ADVERTISERS index
Argie Charmilles Management SA................11 International LED Core Shanxi Guangyu LED Lighting Co. Ltd. .........16
Ask SRL ......................................................34 Technology Seminar .................................50 Shenzhen Crystal River Optoelectronic
Autec Power Systems..................................33 Inventronics (Hangzhou), Inc........................47 Technologies Co., Ltd. ..............................12
Bayer Material Science, LLC ........................25 Lambda Research .......................................14 Shenzhen OKT Electronics &
Cooledge Lighting .......................................17 Ledlink Optics Inc........................................29 Technology Co., Ltd. .................................64
Cree, Inc. ..................................................CV4 Lextar Electronics Corp. ..............................49 Shenzhen Refond
E-Lite OptoTech Co., Ltd. .............................41 Linear Technology .....................................CV3 Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. ..........................26
EBM-Papst Inc. .............................................8 Matrix Lighting Limited, Hong Kong ...........CV2 Shin Etsu Silicones of America ....................61
Edison Opto Corporation .............................23 MBN GmbH.................................................18 Shrewdd Marketing .....................................61
Epistar ..........................................................1 Metal Coaters .............................................15 Sichuan Jiuzhou Electric Group Co., Ltd. ......38
Guangzhou Hongli NMB Technologies Corporation ...................42 Signcomplex Limited ...................................24
Opto-Electronic Co., Ltd ............................32 Optronic Laboratories, Inc. ..........................62 The Bergquist Company ..............................19
Hangzhou Everfine Photo-E-Info Co., Ltd. .......7 Orb Optronix................................................60 The Korean Consulate General ....................36
Helio Optoelectronics Corp. .........................56 SIL Europe ..................................................54 Thomas Research Products ........................58
Henkel ........................................................13 SIL Japan ....................................................63 Underwriters Laboratories ...........................37
HKTDC Hong Kong International Philips Lumileds ............................................2 USHIO America ...........................................32
Lighting Fair (Autumn Edition)....................57 Proto Labs, Inc. ...........................................43 Shenzhen Baikang Optical Co., Ltd. ...............5
Indium Corporation .....................................40 Recom Power Inc. ................................ 53, 55
Instruments Systems GmbH .......................20 Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. ....................30
In order to reach the desired lumen values in a small form factor, active cooling may be required
to effectively dissipate the heat produced by the LED components. Active cooling technology
offers thermal capabilities with inaudible noise that is superior to passive heat sinks and raises
performance while reducing the size of the lighting xture. With an industry-leading German-
engineered compact fan and an American-designed assembly, ebm-papst can provide the most
reliable solution for your LED cooling problems.
To nd out more about custom Active Cooling Solutions, visit info.ebmpapst.us/ActiveCooling The engineers choice
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news views
OUTDOOR LIGHTING
COLOR TUNING
Except as otherwise noted, all marks used are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Henkel and/or its afliates in the U.S. and elsewhere.
= registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Ofce. 2013 Henkel Corporation. All rights reserved. 10799 (06/13)
news+views
PACKAGED LEDS at 60mA of drive current. The touted maxi- Both of the new LED families are avail-
mum efficacy is for a 5000K LED. Maximum able across a range of 2700K to 6500K CCTs
Seoul mid-power LEDs attack current is 160 mA for 0.5W operation. The with a minimum CRI of 80. The 5000K LEDs
efficacy and SSL cost company targets applications including ret- also can be specified in a 70 CRI version.
Seoul Semiconductor has announced rofit lamps and tubes, and panel-based fix- The TL3GA series (3030 package) can be
upgrades to its mid-power LED families tures with the 5630 LED family. operated over a range of 0.60.9W while the
both pushing efficacy up and increasing The company also said that it now offers TL2FK series (3014 package) can be operated
drive current to high-power LED levels. The an LED in the 3030 plastic package that can over a range of 0.20.5W.
company believes that maximizing efficacy be driven at 1W. That would place the LED in Toshiba touted a low forward voltage as
and lumens per dollar (lm/$) are the key ave- competition at the low end of the high-power being important to low-power SSL prod-
nues through which an LED vendor can help LED segment. Seoul said that getting the 3030 ucts. The single-emitter TL2FK products
broaden the deployment of SSL technology. LEDs to that power level could reduce solid- have a typical forward voltage of 2.85V
The new plastic-packaged 5630C LED state lighting (SSL) product costs by 50%. while the dual-emitter TL3GA products
can deliver efficacy up to 180 lm/W. There MORE: ledsmagazine.com/news/10/7/16 have a typical forward voltage of 5.7V.
has been a race of late to new efficacy levels Still, the efficacy of the GaN-on-Si prod-
in the mid-power space. Just before the Mid-power GaN-on-Si LEDs ucts trails the efficacy of sapphire-based
Lightfair International (LFI) show back Toshiba has announced two mid-power mid-power LEDs considerably. For exam-
in April, Samsung announced 160-lm/W white LED families that are being manu- ple, the LEDs substantially trail the mid-
efficacy (ledsmagazine.com/news/10/3/13) factured using gallium-nitride-on-silicon power LEDs that Seoul Semiconductor just
in mid-power LEDs, claiming that as an (GaN-on-Si) technology. The company said announced.
industry high. Then at LFI, LG Innotek that the LEDs offered in 33-mm 3030 and The mid-power product launch marked
announced 170-lm/W efficacy in similar 31.4-mm 3014 packages specifically target the second major announcement of GaN-
products (ledsmagazine.com/news/10/5/4). indoor general lighting applications retro- on-Si LEDs from Toshiba. Late last year the
The Seoul LEDs deliver 180 lm/W efficacy fit lamps and tubes to linear/planar fixtures. company announced the 1W TL1F1 LED
www.metalcoaters.com/led.
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+ funding
programs
Gateway demonstration for MSSLC
DOE revises L Prize
rules for PAR38 lamps
The US Department of Energy (DOE)
has again revised the requirements
for the PAR38 LED lamp competition
within the Bright Tomorrow Lighting
Prize (L Prize) program. Lamps can
now have a slightly wider beam pattern
and the agency reduced some other
burdens on manufacturers.
The PAR38 L Prize competition was
reveals LED advantages over HPS inaugurated in 2008 along-
side the competition
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has a 63W fixture used in place of a 100W HPS for a 60W-equiv-
published a report on a Gateway demon- lamp to a 291W fixture used in place of a
stration of LED streetlights in support of 400W HPS lamp. The measured reduction
the Municipal Solid-State Streetlighting in energy varied from 3151% with a mean
Consortium (MSSLC) that documents tests of of 39%. But the LED lights also emitted 31%
nine LED-based luminaires relative to high- fewer lumens on average.
pressure-sodium (HPS) lights. The Kansas The LEDs delivered a 15% increase in
City, MO trial began in 2011, and reveals that mean efficacy although two of the LED prod-
the LED lights didnt universally best the HPS ucts had lower efficacy than the HPS prod-
incumbents in terms of lumen output or effi- ucts to which they were compared. Applica-
cacy, but the solid-state lighting (SSL) prod- tion efficacy was more revealing, comparing
ucts did generally deliver more lumens to the the lumens delivered to the target area to
roadway surface and less light spill (ledsmag input electrical power. There were still two
azine.com/news/10/8/7). Realize also that the SSL products that trailed the incumbents, alent A-lamp that Phil-
LED products were installed in February 2011 although one of the two was not the same one ips won in 2011 (ledsmaga
and therefore use technology that is relatively that trailed in laboratory measured efficacy. zine.com/news/8/8/7). The PAR38
outdated at this point. But the advantage for the LED lights was competition seeks a replacement for
The project included LED lights installed truly significant in some cases. For exam- halogen incandescent lamps. The DOE
in place of 100W, 150W, 250W, and 400W ple, a 130W LED fixture that replaced a had identified the A-lamp and the
HPS fixtures. The SSL products ranged from 150W HPS fixture had an page 22 PAR38 as among the most broadly used
lamps and therefore focused the L Prize
on those products for sockets where
LEDs could deliver the most energy
savings. The nearby photo of an Acu-
ity Brands PAR38 LED lamp is typical
of the product category.
While the A-lamp drew Philips as
an entrant early on and later GE Light-
ing (ledsmagazine.com/news/8/7/1)
and Lighting Science Group (ledsmaga
zine.com/news/8/3/7) each announced
their intention to enter, the PAR38
competition has yet to draw an entry.
The DOE temporarily suspended the
PAR38 competition (ledsmagazine.
com/news/8/1/6) in mid-2011, and then
relaunched it in March 2012 with the
most significant change page 22
LEDsmagazine.com
conference report | THE LED SHOW
T
he LED Show got off to a quick start cost comes into play.
on August 14, with the first session He said better red LEDs
asking the question, Can LEDs mixed with phosphor-con-
really continue to improve at the rate they verted white LEDs are crit-
are now? Ultimately the speakers from ical to good color rendering
Philips Lumileds, Nichia, and Cree focused at warm CCTs. The white
more on how to meet solid-state lighting LEDs need to be very high
(SSL) system quality and cost goals with dif- in efficacy and can be off
ferent LED technologies. The discussion was the blackbody curve as long
certainly spirited as the competitors clearly as you have good red LEDs,
see different component paths that will lead and Stalker noted that those
to broader SSL deployment. products are available. More-
The 2013 rendition of The LED Show over, he said that you can cre-
topped all previous shows with more than ate cost-effective fixed-CCT
2,600 attendees and an exhibit hall with designs with a simple driver
more than 100 booths. The conference pro- or add complexity for incan-
gram included 35 industry experts and the descent-like dimming.
attendees added to the learning experience Of course, Philips has also
with outstanding comments and questions invested heavily into tunable
following each session. The September issue color with its Hue lamps that
of LEDs Magazine went to press right as the rely on a lime-green LED, and
show ended so we will have limited coverage Stalker said that green LED
here, but the opening session on packaged advancements are critical
LEDs was extremely compelling. for quality and cost-effective
tunable products. When ques-
Efficacy roadmaps tioned about the Lumileds
Chad Stalker, regional marketing manager lime-green LED, Stalker
for the Americas at Lumileds, led off and said the company had made
said up front that future efficacy advance- material advancements to
The LED Show 2013 topped all previous shows with
ments will come more at the system level achieve high-efficiency green,
more than 2,600 attendees and an exhibit hall with
than the component level. He said that LEDs whereas other manufacturers
more than 100 booths.
will continue to improve but at a slower rate. are using phosphor to try and
He added, LED systems will continue to what is driving those curves back up. deliver efficient green LEDs.
drive the improvement. Still, its advancements at the component One other questioner brought to light
Stalker showed the US Department of level outside of efficacy in many cases an issue that exists for documenting and
Energy (DOE) roadmap for SSL and how the that can improve system efficacy and deliver projecting quality in color SSL products. The
agency adjusted the efficacy plateau in 2012, better quality light. Indeed, Stalker said the LM-80 test standard is specific to white LEDs.
extending the potential for more energy sav- industry needs efficacy balanced with func- For now, Stalker said there is no standard way
ings. Stalker said, System integration is tionality and good light quality, and of course to document LED performance for color-
tunable products, but he expects future work High-voltage LEDs modules such as Acrich2 use a combina-
on the problem to focus at the subsystem level Paul Scheidt, product marketing manager tion of technologies to overcome the issues
rather than on LEDs. at Cree, was last up in the LED session, and associated with earlier products. He said,
that provided him some leeway to state a case These advanced AC-LED modules are used
Mid-power LEDs that couldnt be immediately refuted. He also in many applications, such as replacement
Erik Swenson, manager of LED sales at Nichia, began focused on the system-level problem to lamps, downlights, streetlights, and flush-
took the stage next and focused almost exclu- make the point that LEDs are a decreasing mount fixtures.
sively on mid-power LEDs. He said that those cost factor in SSL products relative to other Crees Scheidt also addressed mid-power
components are improving more rapidly than things such as drivers, thermals, and optics. LEDs, saying that in many cases the LEDs
high-power devices in terms of efficacy and will shift in color with
offer better quality and aesthetics that better unacceptable results in
match many application requirements. as little as two years.
Nichia remains the largest LED manu- He said the problem is
facturer in the world. Swenson said that especially significant
the company is making 3 billion packaged as you drive the LEDs
LEDs monthly, and that is three times the harder and try to limit
volume of the nearest competitor. In look- the number of LEDs in
ing at future advancements, Swenson said the system.
that the LED component industry is at the Most of Scheidts com-
maturity level of a college student, indicat- ments on mid-power
ing significant headroom for improvement. devices were directed at
Pushing the mid-power theme, Swenson LEDs in plastic pack-
also said the devices offer an economy-of- ages. Its worth noting
scale advantage that high-power devices can that Nichia has said its
never match. He said that the Nichia 757 LED Chad Stalker of Philips Lumileds, among several presenters 757 LED actually uti-
is used in applications ranging from street- in the opening session at The LED Show, discussed how to lizes a ceramic-com-
lights to retrofit lamps to display backlights address future solid-state lighting quality and cost goals. posite package. The
to automotive applications. That broad appli- c omp a n y h a s not
cability will presumably deliver an increasing To frame a system-level discussion, revealed details of the formulation, but
cost advantage as Nichia manufactures more Scheidt presented a reference case of a 400- Swenson has previously said that the
of the same product. lm, 40W equivalent retrofit lamp with a package delivers lumen and color mainte-
Without question, high volumes are the 3000K CCT and 80 CRI. He went through dif- nance that can match high-power LEDs.
key to low-cost manufacturing in the semi- ferent product design scenarios that might Scheidt concluded that in many appli-
conductor world. But what weve seen in LEDs be used to realize such a lamp. cations, such as retrofit lamps, high-volt-
in recent years are components optimized for The AC-LED approach is one possibility age, high-power LEDs offer the best system-
specific applications, especially from Cree Scheidt considered, because that technol- level approach. He said such components
and Lumileds. Those companies try to max- ogy presumably eliminates the driver part simplify the driver design and also match
imize volumes of the same wafers through of the cost equation. But Scheidt said AC- the application requirements of light dis-
the epitaxial process and then deliver many driven designs require more LEDs because tribution and quality. In fact, Scheidt said
different products, for example, with multi- not all of the LEDs are driven at any point in that SSL products such as streetlights and
ple emitters or specialized optics, in the back time. He said even the latest AC technology ceiling troffers, which use large numbers
end of the manufacturing process. only achieves 70% LED utilization. of single-emitter LEDs, have always been
Swenson said mid-power LEDs also offer a Moreover, Scheidt said AC systems have high-voltage designs at the driver level.
yield advantage in manufacturing. His rea- flicker problems that simply cant be solved And those products are broadly success-
soning was that if you have the same num- because all of the LEDs are turned off at ful and feature SSL-industry-leading sys-
ber of bad die on mid-power and high-power times. Switching them on and off a lot cre- tem efficacy.
wafers, with far more mid-power LEDs per ates the worst flicker possible, said Scheidt; Clearly the session provided food for
wafer, then the mid-power yield is bet- he added that the designs cant pass Energy thought and left questions unanswered,
ter. That argument rang hollow, however, Star certification requirements. He further although its also obvious that the compo-
because a bad area of a wafer could easily said that EMI problems require extra cir- nents will continue to improve and product
impact multiple mid-power die. Still, the cuitry or essentially a driver IC. developers face a complex set of choices. The
fact that Nichia focuses on making higher Seoul Semiconductor was exhibiting at remainder of the conference offered many
volumes of a single product would improve the show and asked to respond to Scheidts more insights and we will provide more cov-
yield throughout the manufacturing process comments. Seoul director of marketing erage in the fall edition of our Illumination
including packaging. Theron Makley said that the latest AC-LED in Focus publication.
S
ponsored by PennWell Corporation
and organized by its subsidiary
Strategies Unlimited, the 4th annual
Strategies in Light (SIL) Europe confer-
ence will be held in Munich, Germany from
November 1921, 2013. Set to a theme of
Developing the new ecosystem of lighting,
the conference program will feature presen-
tations on the challenges and opportunities
facing the European lighting industry as it
makes the transition to solid-state lighting
(SSL). Conference presentations will be made
by representatives from all segments of the
LED vertical supply chain, from component At SIL Europe, representatives from the LED vertical supply chain as well as market
suppliers to lighting designers and retailers. analysts will focus on the challenges and opportunities facing the lighting industry.
Although still in the early stages of market
penetration, the adoption of LEDs in a vari- Cree, and Solid-state lighting measure- presentations will range from new product
ety of lighting applications is on a dramatic ments From basics to recent develop- introductions by manufacturers to sem-
growth path that is apparently irreversible ments, presented by Instrument Systems. inars on the latest developments in stan-
(ledsmagazine.com/features/9/12/6). Still, The SSL Investor Forum, sponsored by dards, programs, and supporting activities
there are many challenges, both techni- Berenberg, is being expanded to a full day for the European SSL industry.
cal and market related, that must be over- to provide presentations by exciting new SIL Europe 2013 will feature high-level
come before LED lighting achieves adop- SSL startups as well as large, publicly-traded speakers from well-known European light-
tion on a large scale. SIL Europe will address lighting companies. ing companies. Keynote speakers will
these challenges from multiple perspectives. The second day begins with the Keynote include Peter Laier, chief technology offi-
Existing and new market opportunities will and Plenary Sessions, discussed in more cer, Osram GmbH, and Jeffrey Cassis, SVP
also be explored, with a focus on the driv- detail further on. For 1-1/2 days following and general manager, Global Lighting Sys-
ing factors of the applications for which LED the Keynote and Plenary Sessions, the con- tems, Philips Lighting. Continuing the tra-
lighting is best suited. ference will be divided into two parallel dition established at the inaugural event
tracks: Market and Technology. The Mar- in 2010, Strategies Unlimited will provide
SSL strategies and speakers ket Track is discussed in this article, while its most recent market review and fore-
SIL Europe 2013 will offer three full days of the Technology Track will be addressed cast of the global LED lighting market.
conference activities. The first day is devoted in a subsequent article. For the first time, Plenary speakers will include Klaus Vam-
to workshops and the SSL Investor Forum. several of the conference sessions will fea- berszky, EVP technology, Zumtobel Group,
This years workshops will address two top- ture panel discussions that allow speakers and Zoltan Koltai, EMEA technology direc-
ics of key interest to the LED lighting com- to communicate with delegates in a more tor, GE Lighting. In addition, Marc Led-
munity: Beyond photonics Quality met- interactive manner. better, manager of advanced lighting at
rics for solid-state lighting, presented by Another first at the 2013 event is the the Pacific Northwest National Laborato-
introduction of various free presentations ries, will give a plenary address on the US
BOB STEELE is a Consultant, LED Practice offered on the exhibit floor. Tailored to Department of Energys role in the devel-
with Strategies Unlimited. the interests of exhibit-only visitors, these opment of SSL in America.
SIL Europe 2013 will feature high-level speakers from well-known European lighting companies.
Market track: Drivers, will discuss the companys transition into major EU initiatives for SSL, including
development, and design one of the leading worldwide retailers for the Ecolabel program and Green Public
The market track will begin with a session LED lighting products. Brad Koerner of Procurement criteria.
that addresses some of the key issues asso- Philips Lighting will address the paradox Following a successful workshop address-
ciated with pushing LED lighting into the of standardization LED light engines ing the biological effects of lighting in 2012,
marketplace. Anna Weiner Jiffer, business and mass customization. Kasper Kofod SIL Europe will offer an entire session on
area manager for global lighting at IKEA, of Energy Plano will review some of the this topic for the first time. The featured
more at the component level, Matteo del Lago of the University of US ENGINEERING
Padova will provide insight on the characterization and reliability SUPPORT
of high-power LEDs for indoor lighting.
More information on Strategies in Light Europe 2013 can be found AUTEC.COM
on the conference website at sileurope.com.
C
omputer-aided design (CAD) technol- differently. Each tool has its own unique, if near-field information is needed in conduct-
ogy has been applied in many tech- proprietary ray-tracing algorithm and CAD ing non-imaging optics design and simulation.
nology segments and is increasingly interface, and places different emphases Currently all non-imaging optics design
important in the optical space. Optical sim- on different types of applications. The and simulation software requires a unique
ulation can speed product development and implementation of non-imaging design, light-source ray file format as input. For LED
ensure that new products provide optimal analysis, and simulation software was a huge light sources, the LED manufacturers must
illumination. However, the available opti- step in driving improvements to lighting provide users with multiple proprietary for-
cal CAD software tools are largely proprie- design lead-time reduction, accuracy, and user mats of ray files for each LED package, gener-
tary, including the file formats used to store interface friendliness.
light-source ray files. An ongoing Illuminating
Engineering Society (IES) effort is seeking to Ray-tracing approach
standardize ray files to ease the burden on In order to bring the light-source charac-
light-source suppliers, including LED manu- teristics into optical system design simu-
facturers, and make optical CAD tools more lations, these powerful software tools all
broadly applicable. employ ray-tracing based approaches to
In the past few decades, especially since the simulation, and use ray files as the light-
early 1990s, computer technologies improved source models. The ray files are electronic
rapidly in both storage capacity and processing datasets generated by the light-source
speed. The optical design of illumination manufacturers, either by simulation or by
systems, namely non-imaging optics, has using near-field goniometer measurements. A ray-trace simulation from Radiant
benefited greatly from these advances. Both The various ray-tracing methods provide Zemax's optical software.
proprietary and commercially distributed users with optical analyses for a range of illu-
optical design and analysis software were mination characteristics including luminous ated to fit into the particular format required
quickly developed and adopted by the optical intensity distribution, zonal lumen calcula- by the different optics software tools. If an
design community, beginning initially with tion, illuminance and its uniformity, tool- LED manufacturer produces many types of
automotive lighting applications and later ing error induced tolerances, iso-candela on- LEDs, then all of the LEDs need to have cor-
extending to general lighting applications. For screen simulations, road simulations (both responding ray files for each supported tool.
an example of the use of optical software, see steady and dynamic), glare analyses, and The lighting community is using several
ledsmagazine.com/features/9/12/8. many others. In todays practice, for LEDs or types of non-imaging optics software, even
All of these non-imaging optics software any other light sources, ray files are the only within one design team, so ray files for each
tools have been developed and designed viable way to model a light source accurately type of software must be available for every
LED used in the design. Of course, generating
vast quantities of ray files is time consuming,
DR. JIANZHONG JIAO, Director of Regulations and Emerging Technologies at Osram Opto
increases risk of error, and is inefficient as an
Semiconductors, Inc., is an internationally recognized lighting expert. He has been actively
ongoing practice and most of the burden lies
involved in LED and SSL standard development activities. He serves as the past Chairman of the
on the shoulders of the LED manufacturers.
SAE Lighting Committee, past Chairman of NGLIA, past Chairman of the NEMA SSL Technical
Committee, active member of IESNA Testing Procedure Committee, Roadway Lighting Committee,
The standard effort
and Computer Committee, ANSI SSL Working Groups, Standard Technical Panel of UL8750,
With the rapid development and adoption
standard committees in IEEE, CIE USA, SEMI, JEDEC and other organizations. He can be reached
of LEDs for general lighting, an increasingly
at jianzhong.jiao@osram.com.
broader variety of LED packages are produced for use in many dif- An initial complication is the sheer size of each file. A ray file for a
ferent specific applications. While the far-field illumination char- light source that characterizes an LED can contain millions of rays
acteristics (such as luminous intensity distribution) of light sources and can total more than 250 MBytes of data. Furthermore, the new
have been standardized by IES, the light-source designated ray file standardized ray file format must not only be suitable for new ray
format used in non-imaging optics software has wide variation that files but also allow simple conversion of all existing ray files.
can create inconvenience, inconsistency, and inefficiency for LED
manufacturers and LED users alike. IES TM-25
The first effort to regulate and standardize ray file formats began With dedicated experts and diligent efforts, this new standard,
in late 2011 during the SPIE Optics + Photonics Conference. With named IES TM-25, was drafted within a year, and it went through
extended discussions between LED manufacturers, non-imaging the IES Computer Committee ballot. The scope and task of TM-25
optics software developers, near-field photometry measurement is described as recommendations for a standard ray file format to
equipment vendors, and lighting optical design engineers, the con- describe the emission properties of light sources. The ray file format
sensus became clear: the most effective approach would be to estab- will contain information necessary to interface between ray tracing
lish a single standardized ray file format. The participants believed or other optical design, simulation, analysis and metrology software
that a standard ray file format could be adopted for both general- used in lighting applications.
and automotive-lighting applications. By early 2012, the IES Com- In addition to providing more inclusive definitions, the TM-25
puter Committee had agreed to take on this project, and a subcom- standard first provides high-level ray file format information such
mittee of ray file format experts was formed in the Spring of 2012. as file type and extension, overall file structure, ray order and sam-
Again, ray files describe light-source emission characteristics by pling, units and data type used in the file, as well as section or block
a large number of rays with individual start location, direction, flux, breakdown. This gives the ray file generators the basis for how to
and optional spectral and/or polarization data. Because all ray files construct the general layout of the ray file.
store essentially the same data, the concept of standardization is to Next, the document provides detailed descriptions of the require-
have the ray file format be the same so that it can be accepted by ments for the header section and ray file section. The header provides
all ray-tracing software which is easier said than done. software users, such as optical engineers, with descriptive informa-
tion about the light source used for the ray-tracing process. Besides the
overall physical characteristics including luminous flux, radiant flux,
spectrum data, etc., it also provides background information such as
the method of ray file creation and the number of rays to be used.
The ray file section provides the geographic and mathematical
descriptions of the rays including each rays position and direction,
and the strength or energy carried by each ray. While we all know that
light is an electromagnetic wave, its non-imaging optics behavior can
be simulated by assuming the light is a ray and each ray carries a cer-
tain amount of energy. Because color or chromaticity behavior has
become more important in general lighting design, TM-25 also pro-
vides spectrum-related specifications in the ray file section.
This standard is extremely technical and tedious and is not meant
for lighting designers or specifiers but for light-source manufactur-
ers, software developers, near-field photometry measurement equip-
ment manufacturers, and lighting optical design engineers. The devel-
opment of TM-25 is an excellent example of successful cross-industry
collaboration. In developing this standard, I have personally experi-
enced the mutual willingness and dedication among the participants.
The TM-25 working group members came from each of the afore-
mentioned sectors. The uniqueness or differentiation in each soft-
ware model is very important for the purpose of competition, and as
such, to find common ground and to standardize some part of the
software can be challenging. From starting the draft to the commit-
tee ballot, TM-25 took less than one year to develop, faster than many
of the other IES standards that have been developed. That should
give us some confidence that cross-industry standardization is not
only feasible but can be achieved in a timely fashion. The solid-state
lighting (SSL) industry encompasses many disciplines, intersecting
different talents and areas of expertise such that the technological
diversity is beyond any of traditional lighting practices.
Discover more at
ul.com/lighting
packaging | AlN CERAMICS
E
xcess heat leads to a whole range of z-direction thermal conduction
Silicone lens
performance and reliability issues happens directly from the diode
for high-power semiconductor appli- junction heat source toward
cations such as high-brightness LEDs (HB the heat sink. The x,y-direction
LEDs). The need for maximum heat extrac- conduction, or heat spreading,
tion from the LED junctions has led to the moves the heat horizontally away
use of aluminum nitride (AlN) ceramic pack- from the junction. The closer to Cathode
LED chip
ages in most high-power LEDs, whereas mid- the semiconductor junction, the Bond layer
power LEDs can utilize lower-cost alumina more critical a role a material Ceramic Metal interconnect layer
or even plastic packages. A cost-reduced plays in thermal management. substrate Thermal pad (electrically isolated)
approach to AlN, however, can deliver the Thus, in order of importance,
thermal performance needed in HB LEDs we can roughly rank device and FIG. 2. The most direct thermal path through a
while also delivering package costs more packaging material thermal con- packaged LED is from the diode junction through the
in line with mid-power devices. A reduction ductivity requirements: package substrate on the z axis.
in HB LED package cost could help spur 1. Semiconductor material
broader deployment of LEDs into solid-state below the junction (for non- heat spreading)
lighting (SSL) applications. flip-chip applications) 6. TIM or solder between board and heat
The thermal management challenges in 2. Die attach material sink
HB LEDs are simple to describe and hard to 3. First level of packaging (conduction and 7. Heat sink or heat spreader
overcome. HB LED light output is sensitive heat spreading) the substrate upon This simple discussion makes it very clear
to heat. As an LED gets too hot, more input which the die is attached in the LED how critical the first level of packaging is to
energy is converted to heat instead of light, package thermal management of high-power devices,
which further increases the LED tempera- 4. TIM (thermal interface material) or sol- which helps to explain the significant use of
ture, leading to potential catastrophic fail- der between first level of packaging and ceramic materials as a first-level packaging
ure. Fig. 1 shows the degradation of light board level material for HB LEDs. Fig. 2 shows the basic
output as a function of HB LED junction 5. Board-level packaging (conduction and packaging configuration for HB LEDs with a
temperature. L70 refers to the point where the ceramic material as the first-level
Time (hr)
current light output of the LED is 70% of the package. Fig. 3 shows a schematic
original light output; at L50 the light output 300,000 of the packaged HB LED bonded to
falls to 50%. This example illustrates clearly a metal-core printed circuit board
250,000
the critical importance of pulling heat away (MCPCB) and heat sink, which
from the HB LED in order to ensure a low 200,000 illustrates the entire thermal path
junction temperature and stable light output. starting with the HB LED junction.
150,000 L 70 L 50
applications, which is made through the than lower-temperature alumina sintering tan color conventionally associated with
carbo-thermal reduction of aluminum oxide. furnaces, from a cost and throughput stand- AlN. This white color can be an advantage
point, the equipment and process required to for optical applications, such as HB LEDs,
Processing complexity produce HB-LED AlN is less expensive and because the reflection of visible light is much
In addition, HB-LED AlN is processed at 1700 simpler than conventional AlN processing in higher. This reflection data across the visible
1725C. In this temperature range, continuous high-temperature refractory metal or graph- spectrum is shown in Fig. 4.
furnaces are available that use alumina heat ite batch furnaces. This figure shows reflectance factor plot-
shields and molybdenum (Mo) heating ele- This new material has the added benefit ted relative to wavelength for tan and grey
ments. Though more complex and expensive of being white in color compared with the conventional AlN ceramic samples and
white HB-LED AlN. Note the HB-LED AlN includes undoped silicon for reference. The fig- Thermal conductivity (W/m-K)
reflects 7080% through the visible spec- ures were obtained using laser flash analysis. 200
trum, compared to about 30% for conven- 150
tional material. What is next?
Table 2 contains more details about the CMC has applied for a patent to cover the 100
properties of HB-LED AlN. The mechanical technology described in this article and is 50
and electrical properties of HB-LED AlN are now actively licensing this technology to
0
very similar to conventional higher-cost AlN interested manufacturers. CMC specializes Alumina (96) Si3N4 AlN HB LED AlN Silicon
ceramics, including flexural tensile strength in developing new materials for electronic
measured in megapascals and indications interconnect and packaging applications. FIG. 5. The new AIN formulation is a
of resistance to fracture, therefore directly The new AlN ceramic results in a material good choice among the other options for
impacting reliability. that from a cost/performance standpoint thermal substrates.
Fig. 5 details the thermal performance bridges the current wide gap between high-
of HB-LED AlN relative to other available thermal-conductivity, high-cost AlN and minum oxide. For the focused application of
ceramic packaging materials. The chart also lower-thermal-performance, lower-cost alu- this technology, specifically in HB LED tiles,
the 100W/m-K thermal performance is more
TABLE 2. Properties of HB-LED AlN. than adequate. Due to the cost-competitive
Property Value Comments nature of these applications and the current
Thermal conductivity (W/m-K) 100 (typical) Measured by laser flash high packaging costs for HB LED devices,
Electrical resistivity (Ohm-cm) >1012 (1014 is typical) there is a strong fit for a new material with
a lower cost structure. As this material is
Flexural strength (Mpa) 300 (typical) Four-point bend test
adapted more widely, it is expected that it
Density (%) >97% (typical) will compete for many applications that are
Visible light reflectivity (%) 7080% now served exclusively by Al2O3.
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applications | AUTOMOTIVE
Audi Matrix
Particular urgency is sensed
for Audi with the Matrix
beam planned for its high-
end A8 sedan, unveiled with
the Coupe Concept at the
Paris Motor Show in 2012.
It groups five clusters of
five LEDs within a reflector
(Fig. 4). It uses small cam-
eras to sense other vehi-
FIG. 4. The Audi Matrix headlamp integrates cles and a control system to
five clusters, each comprising five LEDs all dim or turn off individual
of which can be individually controlled. LED bulbs. It can illuminate
around corners or adjust to
Headlamp affinity and legislation fast-growing market is bound to excite com- road conditions, with some beams on and
Highlighting a divide between Europe and panies, but it seems that a US law has also some beams off (Fig. 5).
North America and Japan, Adzan, who is agitated many. Legates reasoned that this is a sensible
based in Germany, praised LED headlights Audi, together with fellow German car feature in European cars, which may have to
for their reactivity. LED headlights will manufacturers BMW and Mercedes-Benz negotiate curving mountainous roads, but it
provide added driver safety by adapting the as well as Americas General Motors, is is superfluous on Americas straight highways.
beam brightness based on the proximity of challenging the 1968 US law mandating that Another drawback he mentioned is the
other vehicles. In other words, an oncoming headlights must switch between high and low introduction of microcontrollers and cameras
driver should not be blinded if
your high beams are on. Cars
with this capability will sense
this happening and adjust
the beam angle and intensity
around the oncoming car.
The intelligent dimming of
headlights is hotly contested,
with European car manufac-
turers advocating the bene-
fits for safe driving, whereas
North American, Japanese,
and Korean car manufacturers
remain largely unimpressed.
In the US, it is a legal require-
ment that a vehicles beams have
to be able to switch from high to
low. The introduction of auto-
mated headlights, pioneered
by Audis recently announced
Matrix headlamp (ledsmaga
zine.com/news/10/7/2), could
be stopped in its tracks. FIG. 5. A forward-facing camera allows
The LED headlamp market the Matrix headlamp to dynamically
was estimated to be worth $1 adjust its beam, thus eliminating glare
billion in 2012 and set to dou- for oncoming drivers.
ble to $2 billion by 2014. Such a
that increase complexity and reduce reliability produce a glare-free high beam and a low Swarm, where OLEDs coat the back of a vehi-
by introducing more components and a beam that adapts to the speed of the vehicle. cle, acting in a graceful arc as brake lights or
software element. It also adds considerable In slow-moving city traffic, a wider light can indicators. They can also light up when the car
cost around $2,000 per vehicle. illuminate the margins of the road to show approaches another in the dark or to illumi-
nate handles and other features in darkness.
LED headlights will provide added driver Today, OLEDs are commonly used in
phones and tablets but are finding their way
safety by adapting the beam brightness into vehicles in headrest screens or dash-
board consoles. Tesla has used a 17-inch
based on the proximity of other vehicles. display as its central console, replacing
dials and knobs with a sleek screen. Vital
Despite this, European manufacturers pedestrians and potential hazards, whereas for an electric vehicle, this reduces the
are undeterred in the pursuit of intelligent when the vehicle is moving fast, the range of energy budget, which is sourced from the
vehicle lighting. Osram Opto Semiconduc- light is automatically increased. engine battery.
tors is coordinating an integrated micro- The common goal of car manufacturers is
photonics project, sponsored by the Ger- The future of OLEDs to reduce weight, energy consumption, and
man FMER (Federal Ministry of Education OLEDs in vehicle lighting are still at the con- bill of materials cost, and this has been pre-
and Research) to create adaptive forward ceptual phase, confirms Shai Dewan, Philips served in the pursuit of LEDs used in vehi-
lighting, or glare-free camera-controlled Lighting. Philips, Audi, and Merck are cles. The industry-leading technology will
headlamps that react to conditions. working on a project with the University of become economically viable lower down the
The project, which began in 2013 and Cologne, Germany, where OLED panels can range in time, and small improvements, such
is scheduled to run until January 31, 2016, be used in the curve of the car exterior for as adjustable interior light colors to match a
aims to develop the technical framework seamless lighting design. mood or paintwork, can continue to advance
for energy-efficient LED headlamps that Audi has also shown an OLED concept, the the driving experience.
T
here is an old philosophical say- Thermal design Driver design Chemical process
ing that you know quality when you Melted lens onto LEDs Damaged LED Damaged LED
see it, but at times it can be hard to
describe. When it comes to describing the
performance of a solid-state lighting (SSL)
product, the design elements that impact
quality are generally invisible. The LEDs that
generate light are a small part of the overall
system and only partially responsible for the Driver design
quality of the system. It takes a systematic Damaged LED and driver components
approach to a complete evaluation of an SSL
product that will accurately project how a
product might perform in the field at instal-
lation, and equally important over the prod-
uct lifetime. Lets consider some examples
of problematic design elements to set SSL
developers on a course for success. FIG. 1. Compromised quality in SSL products can result from thermal, chemical, or
LED technology is rapidly evolving and driver issues.
many LED luminaire manufacturers in the
marketplace make unsubstantiated claims predict long-term reliability for the SSL relevant data necessary to confirm the
regarding the color quality, lumens, efficacy, product. It is not the LED alone but the performance of the LED lighting product.
durability, and general quality of their SSL total SSL system that has to be of qual- The list in the sidebar on page 52 details
products. Poor quality SSL with inadequate ity. Cree has implemented a systematic the tests applied in the TEMPO program.
thermal designs or poor circuit designs can testing process of a luminaires Thermal, In addition, the measured results from this
create electrical over-stress conditions. Electrical, Mechanical, Photometric, and testing are applied to the IES (Illuminating
These conditions, along with a chemical Optical (TEMPO) parameters to assess the Engineering Society) approved TM-21
compatibility issue in the manufacturing quality of an SSL product. The focus for standard to project LED lifetime.
process, can all result in LED quality degra- TEMPO, under the Cree Services program, Measuring and evaluating an LED lumi-
dation or even complete luminaire failure. is to help remove technical barriers faced naire is challenging, particularly to lighting
Fig. 1 shows a collection of SSL design or pro- by LED customers. The program can help manufacturers that are new to designing
cess issues resulting in degradation or fail- product developers rapidly overcome sys- with LEDs. A solid-state luminaire com-
ure to the luminaires LEDs. tem design challenges, save on development prises many different subassemblies includ-
costs, and improve time to market for new ing the LEDs, circuit board, optics, diffuser,
Systematic evaluation SSL products. current driver, power supply, heat sink, and
To ensure the quality of an SSL prod- The proper procedure for system mechanical enclosure. Any of these compo-
uct, it is critical to perform a broad spec- evaluation of a lighting product is a thorough nents can affect the performance, quality, or
trum of tests on the luminaire system to multi-point testing and analysis process. lifetime of the SSL product.
accurately determine design margins and Engineering personnel must perform a The luminaires system performance
battery of thermal, electrical, mechanical, needs evaluation including mechanical con-
RICHIE RICHARDS is manager of applications optical, and photometric tests and provide struction and long-term reliability. Addi-
engineering at Cree. a comprehensive report that includes all tionally, reports of measured results on the
Summary of test
LED luminaires need to be based on the validating the junction temperature
measurements
LM-79-08 standard. The evaluation should of the LEDs in an SSL fixture. TEMPO Thermal:
also offer a comparison of measured results testing, for example, provides a mea- Solder point temperature measurement
to regulatory or safety requirements such sured solder point temperature and Thermal imaging with IR camera
as Energy Star, DesignLights Consortium an infrared thermal image of the lumi-
(DLC), and UL criteria. naire at steady state, as well as a calcu- Electrical:
lation of the junction temperature from Driver efficiency
Thermal and mechanical testing these measurements. Temperature mea- Transient analysis
The majority of LED failures are temper- surement tests and gradient infrared
Power analysis (PF, THD)
ature related; an LEDs performance and images, as shown in Fig. 2, help to mea-
Dimmer compatibility test
projected lifetime correlate tightly to ther- sure and illustrate the thermal perfor-
Dielectric withstand (hi-pot)
mal management and the resulting junc- mance of LED-based luminaires.
Vf/Current balancing (parallel arrays only)
tion temperature of the LED semiconductor Notice the difference in the ther-
chip. Elevated junction temperatures cause mal performance of the two identical
a reduction in light output and accelerated printed circuit boards (PCBs) in the Mechanical:
LED lifetime degradation. Proper ther- infrared photograph at the right of Fig. Qualitative construction analysis
mal management of an LED luminaire and 2. The PCB on the left is cooler in tem- Chemical compatibility analysis
mechanical construction are vital for per- perature, shown as a yellow color, while X-ray of printed circuit board
formance. To assess the mechanical con- the PCB on the right is bright red and
struction, an evaluation should include the LEDs are white hot, indicating a Photometric and optical:
techniques such as x-ray photographs of thermal interface issue with the PCB Luminous flux (lumens)
LED soldering. Measuring actual thermal mounted on the right. Radiant flux (watts)
performance to validate thermal design The quality of the mechanical inter- Chromaticity (CRI, CCT, x-y, u-v, u'-v', duv)
assumptions is necessary to ensure qual- face between the LEDs and the PCB, Spectral power distribution (visible range)
ity and reliability of SSL products. which is a major influence on the SSL Illuminance (ft-cd or lux)
However, thermal measurements of SSL system thermal performance, is evalu- Luminous intensity (candela)
can be challenging. Positioning the ther- ated using x-ray photography. The x-ray Fixture efficacy (lm/W)
mal couple at the wrong point or having analysis of a PCB is useful to verify the Optical efficiency
large amounts of photonic energy illumi- quality of the soldering process and Component re-binning and color point
nate the thermal couple will result in an can determine whether there is void- evaluation
incorrect temperature measurement. Such ing or excessive solder present. For the Visual flicker
errors could result in design issues that x-ray images, the camera head posi- TM-21 Lifetime estimate
may compromise LED lifetime for the fin- tioned above the LED dome with the Review data against Energy Star and DLC
ished product. focal plane at the solder pad boundary
criteria
Proper testing should accurately mea- provides a clear indication of a quality
sure the LEDs solder-point temperatures solder interface. A large amount of sol-
FIG. 2. Thermal and mechanical testing of an SSL product can spot design or manufacturing flaws.
FIG. 3. Electrical testing should comprise transient analysis that might lead to
product failure and dimmer compatibility tests that ensure the product will meet
customer expectations.
der voiding and excessive solder particles calculated by dividing the total luminous
between the pads of the PCB is one exam- flux measured in lumens by the total input
ple of a poorly soldered LED. power (lm/W). Efficacy is a good figure of
merit for system performance since it is
Electrical testing influenced by electrical, photometric, opti-
Important electrical parameters to consider cal, and thermal performance. You can have
when evaluating SSL design are efficiency, a great light engine that produces a high
power factor, driver current transient anal- lm/W output, but the total system may have
ysis, dimmer compatibility, and the overall an overall low efficacy due to high optical
luminaire efficacy. Fig. 3 shows examples of loss of an external lens or poor power effi-
some of this electrical testing. ciency of the current driver circuit provid-
Driver efficiency, calculated by dividing ing drive current to the LEDs.
the electrical output power supplied to the Power factor is another electrical metric
LEDs by the measured input power to the for LED driver performance and often a key
fixture, is a good performance metric of just parameter for streetlighting due to the large
the current driver of the SSL system. In this number of these luminaires connected to
test, the output power to the LEDs is the the power grid. Meeting DesignLights Con-
sum of the product of the forward voltage sortium (DLC) requirements for streetlight-
and current for each LED. ing requires that luminaires have a power
Luminaire efficacy, sometimes referred to factor greater than a specified value, typi-
as wall plug efficacy, is a metric of how well cally 0.9. In general, the closer the value is
the total fixture converts electrical energy to one, the better the performance.
into photons. The efficacy at steady state is A power factor of one indicates perfor-
Type C goniophotometer
FIG. 4. A 2-m integrating sphere and Type C goniophotometer are required for
comprehensive photometric testing.
Peter Laier
Zoltan Koltai
REGISTER AT WWW.SILEUROPE.COM
testing | SSL QUALITY
mance in which the voltage sourced by the with a NEMA specified dimmer circuit.
utilities is in exact phase with the current Examples of dimmer test results generated
consumed. On wide input voltage systems from using a NEMA specified dimmer cir-
(as an example, 120 to 277 VAC), the power cuit are summarized in the table.
Tra nsient over-cu r rent
Luminous fux (lm)
events are also a significant
35,000 degradation mechanism for
LEDs. These transients are
34,000
events that subject the LEDs to
current that is higher than the
33,000
maximum rated current on the
32,000
LED data sheet. These tran-
sient over-current events, typ-
31,000 ically occurring for just frac-
tions of a millisecond, result
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 from hot plugging and turn on
Elapsed time (minutes) transient response from the
FIG. 5. Luminous flux measured over one minute current driver. These events
intervals shows that SSL products require time to are often a source of poten-
reach a stable state. tial electrical overstress seen
with LED drivers. High-speed,
factor should be measured at all the nomi- clamp-on current probes with digital stor-
nal voltages across the input range (in this age oscilloscopes characterize and docu-
example, 120, 220, and 277 VAC). The worst- ment the transient response. These electri-
case measured power factor, typically at cal characteristics all need testing to help
the highest nominal voltage, would then be ensure the system quality of an SSL product.
reported in a DLC submittal.
Photometric and optical testing
Dimmer compatibility Photometric testing includes measure-
Compatibility with dimmers can also be ments of total radiant f lux, luminous
a critical quality factor, and while LEDs flux, chromaticity, correlated color tem-
are easily dimmed, the SSL system and perature (CCT), and color rendering index
driver arent easily designed
for use with legacy phase-con- CCy
trol led d im mers intended 0.42
for incandescent loads. Dimmer 7B3
7B2
0.41 6C3
compatibility testing often 6C2 7B4
6B3 7B1
involves connecting the SSL prod- 0.40 6C4
6B2 6C1 7D2
7A3
uct to a set of commonly used 6B4 7A2
6D3 7D4
0.39 6B1 7D1
6D2 7A4
dimmers and observing qualita- 6A3
6D4
7A1
6A2 6D1
tively any of the following charac- 0.38 6A4
6A1
teristics: visible flicker, smooth-
0.37
ness, dead travel, pop-on, audible
noise, and dropout. 0.38 0.39 0.40 0.41 0.42 0.43
A recent standards publication CCx
from the National Electrical Man- FIG. 6. Characterization of LEDs removed
ufacturers Association (NEMA) from a luminaire can reveal whether the
entitled Phase cut dimming for components suffer degradation in the SSL system
solid state lighting: Basic com- manufacturing process.
patibility (SSL 7A-201X) defines
dimmer circuits for maximum and mini- (CRI). Radiant flux, expressed in watts, is
mum on-state conduction angle testing. a measurement of the total power of elec-
The NEMA dimmer testing measurements tromagnetic radiation (light) emitted
include maximum light output (MLO) and from the luminaire or lamp. Luminous
reference minimum light output (RMLO) f lux is a weighted measurement based
The Standard!
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2013
design forum | IR TOUCHSCREENS
Y
ou can swipe, you can press, you can
pinch, and you can expand touch-
screens are the input media of the
future. Users appreciate the fact that they are
so convenient and easy to use. And industry is
making increasing use of intuitive and robust
touchscreens for various devices and control-
lers. From the small display on a smartphone
to huge screens suitable for several people to
operate, there are many different technolo-
gies involved in this wide range of products.
Up until now, optical-based touch-sensing
solutions have been preferred for large dis-
plays. With the development of high-effi-
ciency infrared (IR) LEDs (sometimes called
IREDs), this technology has become attrac-
tive even for small touch panels, such as those
on notebooks and tablets (Fig. 1).
The launch of Windows 8 in October 2012
gave the already popular touchscreens a fur-
ther boost. The operating system has been
designed specifically for this type of input FIG. 1. Low-profile IR LEDs such as the Chipled SFH 4053 enable thin optical
and is a driving force behind the develop- touchscreens and can even serve in smartphones.
ment of suitably equipped all-in-one com-
puters and notebooks. Initial feedback from allowing current to flow. Electrical resistance they do not need any special coatings that
users indicates that they appreciate being is then used to calculate the point of contact. absorb a certain percentage of the backlight-
able to use fully featured computer pro- Capacitive solutions are also widespread. ing. They can detect any type of pointer or
grams by touching the screen, particularly These produce an electrical field in a special stylus and even fingers in gloves because
when working with photos and graphics. surface layer. Contact between this layer and they are not reliant on the conductivity of
There are different ways in which the a conductive object, such as a finger, causes these objects. Optical designs are also not
position of a finger or stylus on the screen a change in the electrical field. Optical at all sensitive to scratches and, depending
can be detected. Resistive displays have touchscreens may be realized by creating a on the power of the emitters, can be used for
traditionally been used. Such displays light grid over the display using IR LEDs, in any size of screen. In most cases the opti-
are equipped with two conductive films which an object touching the display either cal components are mounted in a frame
separated by an air gap and coated on a glass casts a shadow or causes light to be reflected, around the display, so this technology can
display. Pressing down with your finger depending on the design (Fig. 2 and 3). be used to upgrade existing displays without
closes the gap between the two layers of film, major difficulty. Optical touchscreens used
Optical touchscreens to be considered too expensive, too large,
HARRY FELTGES is marketing manager Optical solutions are now on the march, and too sensitive to ambient light. New,
of infrared devices at Osram Opto particularly for large displays. Their benefit compact, and powerful IR LEDs now pro-
Semiconductors (www.osram-os.com). lies in the excellent image quality because vide the basis for cost-effective, low-profile
IRED (emitter)
Refection
IRED (emitter)
Detector
Stylus
Stylus
Shadow
Detector
FIG. 2. Pairs of emitters and detectors create a light grid in FIG. 3. On camera-based touchscreens the display is flooded
an infrared matrix touchscreen. Fingers or a stylus create a with infrared light from the corners.
shadow over the detector.
touchscreens, thereby countering the first be overcome by appropriate display design cal touchscreens are presented here. They
two of these arguments. The third point, techniques that we will cover. all benefit from highly efficient thin-film
namely the sensitivity to ambient light, can The commonly used technologies for opti- chip technology, which provides the basis
for compact IR LEDs with high optical out-
put. There is a wide range of packages for all
design options from narrow-angle emitters
for light grids to high-power emitters for illu-
minating large displays (Fig. 4). With a wave-
length of 850 nm, IR LEDs perfectly meet the
requirements for touchscreens. Their light is
barely visible to the naked eye but is easily
registered by the detectors. For exceptional
cases in which the residual visible light from
the 850-nm emitter is unwelcome, there are
940-nm chips available.
Light grids
The simplest solution for optical touch-
screens is a light grid created by rows of
infrared emitters and detectors placed
opposite one another (Fig. 2). The compo-
nents are mounted in a low-profile frame
around the screen, just a few millimeters
deep, known as a bezel. A finger or stylus
blocks the light beams, causing the detec-
tor signal to attenuate at the appropriate
point. This design can be used as a multi-
touch version, if the emitters and detectors
are switched sequentially and the signals
are evaluated appropriately.
Important factors for selecting an emit-
ter are the size of the component, its opti-
cal output, and its radiant intensity in
other words, the distribution of the light.
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FEATURED SPEAKERS
design forum | IR TOUCHSCREENS
has published an application note that pro- give designers greater flexibility. Projec-
vides more information on the design of the tion solutions generally need IR LEDs with
light guide solution. One approach that is cov- extremely high output, such as the Dragon,
ered frees the touch signal from ambient light Oslon, or Ostar LEDs from Osram. In FTIR
influences by first measuring the light level systems, the design must ensure a high num-
without infrared illumination and then mea- ber of internal reflections. The application
note describes the relevant
Screen
Stylus requirements and lists appro-
priate emitters. Depending
on the setup, suitable com-
ponents may, for example, be
Refection
narrow-angle Midleds that
achieve very high optical out-
put, or Oslon IR LEDs, cur-
rently the smallest IR LEDs in
IRED the 1W class.
(emitter)
Projector IR camera
In-cell sensors
FIG. 5. Projection touchscreens are backlit with In-cell technology is a rel-
infrared light. atively new development.
These touchpanels have a
suring with infrared illumination and calcu- photo transistor integrated in each pixel of
lating the difference between the two signals. the LCD. In bright surroundings, a finger
or stylus casts a shadow over the detectors;
Projection for large displays in dark surroundings, they reflect the LCD
Large projection panels present another set backlighting. In dark surroundings and with
of challenges yet can be implemented with a dark display, however, the photo transistor
optical touchscreen technology. A system signal is very weak. This is remedied by addi-
can project the infrared light from the rear tional infrared illumination from the side
just as the image is projected from the rear. for example, with super-small Smartled
A finger or stylus on the display reflects the components.
light to one or more IR cameras (Fig. 5). In summary, high-power IR LEDs pro-
Such a projection design does emit infra- vide the basis for optical touchscreens with
red light on the surface. If
Screen Stylus
the display is recorded by FTIR g
cameras for example, in
a TV studio the light can
c
interfere with the camera
IRED
signal. One possible solu- (emitter) IRED
(emitter)
"!
tion is to use 940-nm emit- Total internal Scattered light
ters. Alternatively, a design refection
! in which the infrared light
FIG. 6. A projection touchscreen can use FTIR
is injected into the glass
(frustrated total internal reflection) technology in which
plane of the display can be
an object touching the panel allows light to escape and
used (Fig. 6). The IR LEDs,
for instance, emit light
reach the camera.
into the glass so the beams
are totally reflected at the top and bottom large image diagonals. The process of trans-
surfaces. Only when an object touches the ferring these chip technologies to compact
surface can the light escape and be scat- IR LEDs has also led to cost-effective solu-
tered, allowing the detectors to capture the tions for small- and medium-size touchpads.
change. The technique is known as frus- The evolution of low-profile, high-output IR
trated total internal reflection (FTIR). LEDs enables a variety of design approaches
These two versions of optical touch- with minimum bezel heights to meet the
screens do not require a bezel and therefore demands of discerning consumers.
VIN
Input TG1 RLED
Current
Monitor
Output BG1
Current
Monitor
RSENSE
LT3791
SHORTLED
BG2
OPENLED
Analog TG2
Dimming
PWM Dimming PWMOUT
GND
4.7VIN to 60VIN, Short Circuit Proof with LED Protection & Diagnostics
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brightness LEDs. The LT 3791s 4-switch buck-boost controller topology operates from input voltages above, below or equal to
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VIN Range (V) Topology Comments
Number 1-800-4-LINEAR
Synchronous
LT3741 6 to 36 LED Current up to 20A
Step-Down