Mid-power LEDs have become a mainstream product in the LED package sector, showing strong growth in the market over the past few years. The global lighting market scale is estimated to reach US $3.74 billion by 2020, and it is projected mid-power LEDs will comprise the majority stake in the market due to its high reliability and performance, estimated LEDinside. Taiwanese LED package manufacturers have released mid-power LED products including 3030 LED, 5630 LED, and other major LED package products, EVERLIGHT for instance has been shipping large volumes of these products.  In an exclusive interview with LEDinside, Ewing Liu, Technical Marketing Manager at EVERLIGHT, talked about the company’s outlook for mid-power LED market and latest market trend developments.

There were few innovative breakthrough technologies at this year’s Light+Building show organized by Messe Frankfurt that concluded last Friday in Frankfurt, Germany, manufacturers were more focused on optimizing existing technology. Still LEDinside observed several trends that stood out:

Today Lumileds launches LUXEON 3535L HE Plus, the instant upgrade to the highest efficacy, in a familiar 3535 form factor. This mid power part satisfies the need for efficacy approaching 200 lm/W at the LED level and 160 lm/W or greater at the luminaire level. “In one of the industry’s most popular formats, customers are requiring the highest efficiency with all of the fantastic features delivered by our LUXEON 3535L Line,” said Matthew Everett, Senior Director of LUXEON Mid Power Products.

Samsung Electronics has introduced the LM302A, a new 1W-level, high-luminance, mid-power LED package.

The LUXEON 3535 2D has increased its typical flux output by 10%, delivering optimized performance in combination with the Quality of Light needed for distributed light source applications. Specifically, for LUXEON 3535 2D 2700K 90 CRI parts, typical flux levels have increased from 55 lumens to 61 lumens. Simultaneously, typical voltage has been lowered—resulting in an efficacy increase of more than 10%. This increase in performance will drive the adoption of LED lighting for consumer bulbs, by providing the color quality to which consumers are accustomed with their lamps. 

The new LUXEON 3030 2D LED for high flux luminaires is being delivered with hot color targeting to ensure ANSI compliance at application conditions.

Today Philips Lumileds is introducing the LUXEON 3014 low-power emitter for linear and omnidirectional lighting applications such as under cabinet lighting, refrigerator display lighting, troffers, TLEDs and retrofit bulbs. Delivered in a rectangular 3.0x1.4x0.7 mm footprint, the LUXEON 3014 will be the industry’s first low-power LED offered with the advantages of hot color targeting and a 1/9th micro binning structure.

Strong demands for mid-power LED products have increased shipments of Epoxy Molding Compound (EMC) lead frames. Taiwanese and Chinese LED package manufacturers have jumped into EMC lead frame technology. Taiwanese LED package manufacturers Everlight, Lite-On Technology (Lite-On), Unity Opto, and Advanced Optoelectronic Technology (AOT) are producing EMC package components. Chinese manufacturers including Lighting Optoelectonic Technology (LOT) and Refond possess EMC package component production capacity. Market research shows EMC lead frame prices are falling quickly, which is why most manufacturers are trying to improve price/performance ratio by applying EMC lead frames in 2-3W mid / high power LEDs, according to LEDinside. In the past, most EMC lead frame applications were for 1-2W LED.

A pioneer in LED R&D, chip manufacturer Philips Lumileds is now extending its presence in sectors that have recently entered the LED chip market lime light—the mid-power multi-chip package and mid-power LED chip market. Having achieved success in high-power LEDs, the company hopes entry into these sectors can make their lighting and commercial lighting product lines more comprehensive. LEDinside was honored to interview Lumileds CEO Pierre-Yves Lesaicherre about the company’s technological developments and future market strategy. The company’s experience in LED market and technology can enlighten the LED industry.