It’s reported that LED makers in mainland China are looking to expand market share by underlining more practical applications for the growing line. Many of them are stoking product development to increase LED’s appeal to consumers, while some are designing new LED products aimed at replacing conventional lighting technologies.
Issues on LED heatsink design and illumination efficiency, however, are hampering this search. Current heatsink designs are limiting flux densities, prompting the majority of suppliers to release short-lived high-brightness models or long-life low-flux models with lesser heat to dispel. To address these issues, mainland China makers are now looking for alternative materials that may lengthen the LED’s life cycle. Among the materials being considered to improve heatsink design are aluminum PCB substrates and soft silicone rubber pads. Aluminum PCB substrates provide good heat conductivity and insulation when used in natural convection heatsink architecture. Moreover, aluminum PCBs substrates are a grade higher than regular metal core substrates in terms of performance-to-cost ratio. Soft silicone rubber heat conductive pad, on the other hand, can be used as a replacement for silicone grease, which is commonly used in high-end heatsinks.
Besides, Makers also aim to increase the illumination efficiency of LEDs to at least 100lm/W. At present, cheaper energy saving lamps provide 70lm/W to 80lm/W luminous efficiency compared with the more expensive commercial high-power LEDs, which only have 60lm/W to 80lm flux. Prices of LED lamps are nearly five to 10 times more expensive than traditional lamps.
Meeting safety requirements is top priority for LED makers wishing to gain more market share. Color temperature and rendering also rank high in the R&D list.
Peng Wanhua, secretary general of the optoelectronic component branch of the China Optics & Optoelectronics Manufacturers Association indicated that the potential for LEDs is tremendous, it is now imperative for makers to pursue technology innovation and expand applications, as well as provide cheaper end products.
Acoording to Tang Guoqing, secretary general of the Shanghai Optoelectronics Trade Association, makers should design new models that are targeted at indoor commercial and residential applications. Even when prices of high-power LED remain at high levels, LEDs are gradually becoming better known as lighting alternative. Applications in office and indoor commercial illumination, for instance, have been steadily increasing in the past few years.
It’s forecasted that the overall global market value of high-power LEDs is to reach $9 billion by 2011 at 16.7 percent y-o-y growth.
