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Advantages of high-powered LED lamps

High-powered LED lamps are rather important solutions to achieve high output luminance, which has various advantages and merits. However, how to use them reasonably and how to optimize their working conditions two key points to the high-powered LED lighting industry. In the mean time, this article will also take some comparisons between high-powered LED lamps and traditional light sources and also discuss about corresponding LED lighting applications with high luminous flux.

Within the past 20 years, the development of LED technology followed the laws of “Haitz”. The output luminance (brightness) increased by 30 times but the price dropped by 10 times in every 10 years. The output luminance of general white-ray LEDs has reached up to 100lm/W (lab data), and high-powered white-ray LEDs (50lm/W) finished the commercialization. In the aspect of monochromatic light, the luminous efficiency record of red/yellow/blue/green rays were continuously refreshed. As new light source, G24 LED has been widely used in multiple areas, and gradually attracted more attention and expectations from consumers.

The current distribution of LED applications was diversified in various industries, including indicators, display, backlight, general lighting and so on. Among them, general lighting is the most promising market. With the constant increase of LED luminous efficiency and decline of the production cost, LED will continue its occupation in the market. China set up a National a semiconductor lighting project group in 2003, aiming to consolidate resources and rapidly advance the LED lighting market. According to the forecast of Lianghui Chen, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, from 2005-2015, the semiconductor lighting save approximately 400 billion kWh (totally 260 billion yuan in electricity charges) for users, creating a production value of 150 billion yuan.

In the lighting industry, compared high-powered LED lamps with traditional light sources, certain features of the former have incomparable advantages: a. high energy efficiency: LED with luminous efficiency of 75lm/W can save around 80% electricity compared with incandescent lights with the same brightness; b. long service life: the average lifetime of LED products is 50,000 hours, which enable them to be continuously used for 7 years; c. flexible in brightness control and color adjustment: can realize the constant adjustment in brightness and color, high purity, no distortion and digital control; d. flexible dimensions: can realize the organic integration with buildings. e. environmental friendly: no harmful metal mercury, infrared and ultraviolet radiation.

LED light source in Nanchang landscape lighting applications

According to relevant officials of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the government intended to take the opportunity of 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 Shanghai World Expo to promote semiconductor landscape lighting applications from 2012. The semiconductor lighting industry has significant social benefits. Nanchang is a midland city of China which has been widely developed in recent years. “As lighting management department, in the process of city transformation, we need to be in line with the base construction of national semiconductor industry, actively promote and develop LED light source in city landscape lighting projects and applications. ” Said Mr. Xiaowen Ma, vice chairman of Nanchang lighting association.

After 20 years development, Nanchang made huge progress in researches and industrialization of semiconductor light-emitting materials. Nanchang LED lighting industry has certain advantages in researches, patents and applications, basically realizing industrialization in upstream (materials), midstream (chip manufacturing) and downstream (packaging and application). Take midstream chip manufacturing industry for example, products include multi-color LED light source, like infrared, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, white, having fundamentals of further development of large-scale production. Besides, the Nanchang University is also in the leading position in the domestic semiconductor light-emitting material researches. In accordance with a recent survey taken by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Jiangxi Province is one of the four largest industrial areas for semiconductor light-emitting materials and devices.

The current price of LED chips is generally higher than incandescent lamps and fluorescent lamps. The biggest problem for high-powered LED devices is their luminous efficiency. Obtaining high lumen output per watt mainly depends on the design of G24 LED packaging structure. This problem can be solved through cost reduction via volume production and technological innovations. Currently, all bottlenecks of semiconductor lighting technology all focused on LED chip manufacturing and chip packaging. In the long term, the development of new materials has significant meanings for the entire LED lighting industry. The popularization of LED light source is not a long long story. Our recent development goal should be special lighting area, like landscape lighting, decorative lighting and other fields. Hope LED light source can take place of high-powered HPS, high-pressure mercury lamps, metal halide lights as soon as possible to become the main stream of city landscape lighting area.

Typical LED driver solutions for LED area lighting power structure

LED drivers used for LED area lighting need to meet the some standards for power factor (PF) and harmonic content, like IEC61000-3-2 of EU International Electrical Union (IEC) standard has explicit specification for harmonic content of lighting applications with power consumption more than 25W – the total harmonic distortion (THD) should be less than 35%. However, production satisfied IEC61000-3-2 does not mean that they have a power factor that more than 0.9. According to relevant regulations of the United State, lighting devices or other electrical appliances should have a power factor no less than 0.9 and THD more than 20%.

Most of area lighting applications are used outdoors. They may probably be subjected to all sorts of harsh environment, the overall service life will be definitely affected. These problems can be solved by improving the overall structure design, reducing the heat generation and increasing the power efficiency of LED drivers. Reducing heat dissipation can be realized by insolating LED heat resources and G24 LED drivers to enhance the stability of the entire system.

LED lighting products can be intelligently controlled. Traditional road lighting applications can realize automate control via timer and optical sensors. This kind of intelligent control is relatively complex and more likely failure. Intelligent controls for LED area lighting applications are mainly depended on PLC and wireless control technologies, which is more stable and flexible, such like time-based centralized control for brightness; brightness control based on traffic flow sensors; brightness control based on sensors used to detect people and vehicles. LED intelligent control technology is able to save more energy, having much less impacts on security. Double brightness control is a typical LED intelligent lighting control applications in LED area lighting industry. These lamps can automatically adjust self-brightness (two or more levels) in accordance with surrounding light conditions. This solution can be used in many places, like parks, gas stations, parking lots, stares, freezers. LEDs can be instantly turned on and off or adjusted according to actions or activities. Once detecting actions or activities, LED lamps with double brightness control systems can provide 100% brightness. The brightness will drop to only 20%-40% when no actions or activities are detected. Intelligent control makes energy-efficient LED lighting fixtures save more power.

High-powered LED area lighting applications for street and parking lots

With the enhancement of energy saving and environmental protection awareness, people are increasingly concerned about the energy consuming effects on the environment. According to statistics, among all electricity consumptions, around 20%-22% electricity was consumed by lighting applications. Improving energy efficiency of lighting products can contribute to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, energy-efficient lighting is becoming a focal point.

From the view of application field, lighting includes multiple areas, house lighting, road lighting, residential lighting, industrial lighting, etc.. Sorted by power, LED lighting applications can be divided into low-powered indoor lighting applications and high-powered LED area lighting applications, such like LED wall wash lights, LED tunnel lights, LED street lights, LED parking lights, LED flood lights, etc..

High-powered LED area lighting applications have many challenges: lighting fixtures are not easily accessible, risks brought about by the fault of light sources, harsh outdoor climates and so on. Existing light sources used in high-powered area lighting applications are metal halide, high pressure sodium lamps (HPS), linear fluorescent and compact fluorescent lamps. There are a lot of limitations. For example, the CRI of HPS is very low (only 22). Objects under such light will completely loss their original color, which we also called color distortion. Traditional metal halide lamps have high energy loss (about 40%). Furthermore, the run-up time (from start to full brightness) is as long as 10 minute. Linear fluorescent lights have very weak cold temperature performances. Compact fluorescent lamps also have a long start time.

On the other hand, with the constant improvement of high-brightness white-ray LEDs in performance and cost, this kind of G24 LED chips have been widely used in high-powered LED area lighting applications and provide advantages that traditional technologies do not have. For example, consuming less power per lumen light, which is also known as luminous efficiency; better direction control; better color and quality, environmental protection, intelligent control on switching on/off, automatically adjust brightness according to the ambient light. In addition, LEDs are more reliable, reducing product cost and maintenance cost.

The main function of LED drivers is limiting the current flow in a variety of conditions, keeping LEDs away from current surges and other fault conditions. LED drivers also provide a certain level of protection, avoiding fire caused by electrical or mechanical shocks. For area lighting applications, the harsh climate brings temperature controlling difficulties to LED drivers. Also, drivers used in area lighting applications need to withstand 277VAC, 347VAC or even 480VAC in some conditions.

Shortage of high voltage MOS caused the promotion surge of integrated LED drivers

The semiconductor industry is racing to develop highly integrated divers for LED lighting applications. In the condition of capacity reduction in high voltage MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor), LED application firms are facing problems of shipping delays. Thus chip manufacturers are speeding up the development of integrated LED drivers to relieve the pressure.

Many sections in LED lighting fixtures need MOSFET, such as dimmable LED drivers, non-dimmable G24 LED drivers and resonant controllers. To avoid negative influences on the progress of market expansion due to the lack of high voltage MOSFET, a number of manufacturers promoted plans for integrated LED drivers, such like NXP, STMicoelectronics semiconductor (ST), Bourgh Intel (BI), etc.

Mr. Zhang Chao, the marketing manager of NXP lighting (China and Asia area) indicated that production lines equipped with high-voltage process devices can make integrated driver circuits for LED lighting applications. But, since the threshold of this technology is too high, many small and medium sized companies were blocked outside of this area. Lacking of capabilities and funds made them vulnerable in the intensely competitive market, hard to survive. It is expected that in the wave of this shortage, the state of LED lighting driver suppliers will have growths and declines. According to Mr. Zhang Chao, NXP has replaced the old SOI-HV high voltage manufacturing process with ABCD3 manufacturing process which is more suitable for LED lighting applications. This plan will be realize in the summer of 2013. ABCD3 manufacturing process is not only suitable for integrating high-voltage MOSFET, but also can reduce the leakage current, improving power efficiency of LED lamps. Integrated LED drivers is no doubt a more advanced technology that with higher cost-effective.

Despite that the enhanced high-voltage manufacturing technology was created, currently, only a few large high-voltage MOSFET makers provide related products, like STMicroelectronics, Toshiba and Infineon. The demand for such products has far exceeded supply in the market. LED lighting application producers may have good lamp fixture designs but cannot be realized, since it is very hard for them to purchase critical electronic components: high-voltage MOSFETs.

NXP is expected to expand their market size in the second half of 2012. As preparations, they placed large quantity orders in advance to high-voltage MOSFET manufacturers, making sure that all stocks can maintain at least 4-6 weeks.

Domestic LED SMEs: explore the road of growing

As one of new industries, LED lighting business received a lot of attention worldwide, both from investors and customers. Capital swarmed into this area crazily. In 2010, domestic LED lighting industry investment was up to 217.9 billion yuan, far excess people’s expectations. Due to some characteristics of this area, many investors actually chose to start from LED downstream applications: low upfront investment, small size. That is the main reason why domestic LED SMEs dominated the LED downstream business in our country.

Presently, SMEs faced tremendous pressure, and even predicament. Compared with large G24 LED enterprises, who were continuously under support of government (subsidies and large lighting projects), most of domestic LED SMEs were kept out of government tenders and biddings. They also had to face up the matter of lacking technologies and capitals. How domestic LED SMEs to explore the road of growing?

In fact, the development of things has two sides. The current developing stage is a good time for distinguishing performance diversity, improving management and controlling costs. To some extent, small businesses usually have more adaptability than large companies in the face of new economic environments. They are more likely to survive. If entrepreneurs with self-motivation and crisis awareness can find right positions and directions during industry consolidations or shuffles, they could seize opportunities even with limited resources.

Because of lacking of market resources, SMEs should invest attentively and professionally. Blind investment to some unfamiliar area is really dangerous for them. Large enterprises have enough confidence and capital to involve into multiple areas. Emerging markets with full potentials were usually their targets. But SMEs should at first keep their core technologies or core economic strategies. How to survive is more important for them. They must minimize the risk at each step.

Meanwhile, they should take the path of specialization and diversification, including increasing product cost-effective, improving product qualities, increase added-values, developing new products to meet the demand of market. Diversification or differentiation is another import factor. In order to survive, small companies need to form their own characteristics in a particular area, developing their own products or technologies: companies concentrate on green-ray LED chips, companies focus on special lighting applications, like plants and agricultural lighting, freezer lighting and so on.

Domestic LED patent environment need of purification

Under strong government supports, the intellectual property environment of LED industry has been greatly improved. The number of patent applications was growing sharply, as well as the quality of patents. However, due to a late start, the domestic LED patent environment is far behind Europe, North America and Japan, even worse than Taiwan. In America and Japan, the LED industry chain started to take shape as early as 1980s. During that period, fundamental technologies of GaN-based LED epitaxial chips on sapphire and Sic substrates were basically completed. However, China’s research institutes and manufacturers started related studies quite recently.

The harsh domestic LED patent environment manifested chiefly by the frequent infringement, the cost of plagiarism is too low, leading to the fact that companies had great investment on technological innovations will not get benefits and advantages at last. Placing a higher value on innovations and intellectual property rights became a formality. Firms committing infringement survived finally. “Copy” is the most common thing in the domestic LED lighting industry. It is very hard for technological innovation seeding thrive under such harsh circumstance.

The marketing promotion of LED lighting applications, like G24 LED bulbs, LED flood lights is carrying out comprehensively. Earlier companies, like Nichia, Cree, Philips has been fully prepared. They intended to get profits from products and market, and also from the patent net that set up earlier. From the more than 100 LED patent related lawsuits and their project progress in the LED lighting industry, we can see that these large enterprises all aimed at the international LED market. Since 2008, Philips started the advancing in LED applications, especially in LED bulbs and LED flood lights, obtaining smooth progress. According to related reports, there are more than 230 companies signed license agreements with them. These companies could use technologies from Philips, and in the meanwhile, paid Philips about 3%-5% of their sales value. This is a very handsome income in the long term.

How about the domestic LED patent environment? It seems that after nearly 20 years development, infringement rarely happened in China. The possible reasons for this situation are: a. China is indeed a special case. Relevant market laws are far from perfect compared with developed countries. b. domestic LED companies are too small to squeeze. c. products from these companies were not a significant danger to international giants.

Analysis of LED lighting export in 2012 (January to August)

Along with Russia’s accession to the WTO, import tariffs will further decline, plus that LED products exported to Thailand can enjoy a zero tariffs, plus a series of other LED lighting export preferential policies, our domestic LED industry face up opportunities as well as challenges.

In February this year, the Ministry of Finance and other ministries jointly issued a notice “Financial Subsidies for Semiconductor Lighting Products and Related Lighting Projects in 2012”. This notice was officially launched on 11^th of July. Local governments positively responded this LED promoting plan. There has been news came out in September of this year, the China Government planned to phase out incandescent lamps in 5 steps. Since 1^st of October, incandescent bulbs with power consumption higher than 100W were forbidden to produce, import/export and use. 60W and 15W incandescent bulbs will be banned in China in the next year. In addition, the European Commission also set rules that incandescent lights should be completely banned before the end of 2012 in member states. The United States planned to phase out 100W incandescent lights before the end of 2013, and 40W incandescent bulbs before 2014.

Obviously, 2012 is the crucial year for other lighting technologies that could take place of incandescent lamps, especially for LED lighting products. High-end demands may directly be replaced by LED bulbs, LED down lights. With the birth of a series of LED lighting export preferential policies, LED lighting market has huge potentials. Followed is the Analysis of LED lighting export of China in 2012 (January to August):

From January to August of 2012, the total export amount of LED lighting products is approximately 2.335 billion USDs, around 192,700 tons, dropped by 65.2% compared with 2011. G24 LED lamp exports showed a downward trend in the past 8 months, the situation is not optimistic. Within this period of time, remove the Spring Festival in February, LED lighting export value was lowest in January (about 239 million USDs), declined 49.56% from a year earlier. This value reached its peak in August 388 million USDs, declined 33.18% from a year earlier.

From January to August, the top 10 LED production bases in China are concentrated in the Guangdong Province: Shenzhen, Dongguan, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Zhongshan, Xiamen, Kunshan, Foshan and Quanzhou. Among them Shenzhen is the largest regions for LED lighting export in China, with a ratio of 24.75%.

Five major trends of LED industry in 2013(2)

2, LED device price stabilization in power header

The mainland LED devices price encounter market rapid decline in 2012, with the market gets warmer and inventory gradually return to normal water levels stabilized, down about 6% quarterly decline, the price of LED devices at a lower water level 2013 LED devices prices on a quarterly basis, taking into account the price of LED chip space due to price war also fell, but other raw material prices are relatively stable, and labor and operating costs, there is an upward trend, Topology estimated decline further in 3 % or less.

In the case of space has become more and more small decline in the price of LED devices, LED Flood Light manufacturers tend to gradually replace the traditional low-power devices (0.06 ~ 0.1W), power devices (0.2 to 0.5 W), which used in indoor lighting.

For example, a 16W LED lamp in the LED industry, if it adopted 0.06W 3528 white devices, it needs 270 pieces, the total cost will be 32.9 yuan (about NT $ 158 yuan), and Luminous flux only 7lm. If it instead to use 0.4W 5050 white devices, it needs only 40, with a total cost of 14.3 yuan (about NT $ 69 yuan), and the luminous flux will be up to 38lm; the visible power chip encapsulation will be the future development trend.

3, 4-inch substrate and then speed up graphical substrate layout

Although the mainland sapphire substrate prices rose slightly in 2012 compared with the minimum of USD8 in 2011. Yet the overall market have an adequate supply, the price is always hovering within $ 9.5. In order to improve the product performance and gross margin, Sintek, East Jing Bo Lanter Suzhou sea platinum, crystal, Hefei Crystal Bridge, Ke Ruisi photoelectric, overweight invested graphical substrate (Pattern Sapphire Substrate; PSS) development, large-scale procurement lithography (Lithography) etching machine (Etching), and to improve the graphical capacity of the substrate. It is estimated that 2012 Continental graphical substrate penetration will exceed 30% in LED industry. And in 2013, it is expected to reach nearly 50%, and then pull the average selling price of the continent sapphire substrate market to inject new sapphire substrate industry vitality. Topology forecast 2013 average selling price of the sapphire substrate will fall about $ 15.

Five major trends of LED industry in 2013(1)

Looking ahead to 2013, the government of mainland development of LED remains firm attitude. To sift out incandescent road map will full implement, coupled with the positive promotion of the industry in the path end, all will contribute to the mainland LED industry stable growth; but on the growth behind, it is inevitably competed for the market between vendors, to expand more intense price path and the war for talent.

LED industry has bid farewell to high profit era on the mainland manufacturers, how to maintain and expand its own profit is a manufacturer of immediate problems. Overall, “competition and cooperation, price and enhance corporate profits will be the thematic in 2013 mainland LED industry; industry chain trend, it will surround the epitaxial wafer, power devices, graphical substrate, pathway, LED back light applications such as the five major issues to develop.

1, epitaxial wafer increasing, price war detonate

The riders pick up in the first half of 2012 bring confidence in the mainland LED epitaxial wafer fab equipment purchase orders to be shelved, which led to re-put on the agenda. Those un-installed equipment have also entered the operation. As of the end of October 2012, the number of mainland MOCVD machine is 823 units. On capacity, the total capacity of the mainland LED wafer production line 2-inch epitaxial wafers, has reached 4,022 ten thousand / year. Capacity utilization in the part of the equipment is not yet complete assembly. But it is still lack of talent with weak market demand and other factors, the average remained at 65%.

Although each district launched LED epitaxial wafer project has resulted in the mainland chip pile up in excess of requirement, but optimistic about the future of the size of the market, still have the manufacturers continue in 2012 in mainland investment LED Factory epitaxial wafer project. The larger Guangzhou Jingxin ( plans to introduce 60 MOCVD ), Foshan Qili photoelectric ( plans to introduce 20 MOCVD production lines and supporting the wafer production equipment ) and Foshan country star photoelectric LED epitaxial wafer project ( plans to introduce 50 MOCVD ).

It is not difficult to predict the 2013 mainland manufacturers in the market release more LED chip, coupled with the mainland manufacturers chips are mostly concentrated in the low-level, so for mainland firms specializing in price war is bound to set off a new competition.

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