Lumileds has announced a higher-performing version of its Luxeon 5050 LED with a round LES (light-emitting surface) that has previously found wide usage in outdoor area lighting and in industrial high-bay lighting. The solid-state lighting (SSL) components combine high-power LED performance with a more cost-effective plastic package engineered to meet the reliability requirements of the intended applications.
As the model number implies, the packaged LEDs measure 5×5 mm and Lumileds offers versions with both round and square LES — it’s the round version that has been the subject of a performance upgrade. The family was originally launched in 2018. The upgrade is in the range of 2–3% improvement in flux output. Improvements in both the LED chips and in the phosphor formulation yielded the upgrade.
“Luxeon 5050 LEDs are already installed in millions of fixtures worldwide and this performance enhancement extends the energy efficiency and long life benefits that cities and businesses require,” said Mei Yi, product marketing manager at Lumileds. “Our manufacturing capabilities allow us to offer even higher typical performance — 684 lumens with our two lowest forward voltage bins — for customers that require extraordinary light output.”
At a point in time a few years back, LEDs in plastic packages were not reliable in either high-output applications or in harsh environments such as outdoors. Lumileds was among the first LED manufacturers to use more advanced package formulations allowing reliable operation in mid-power LEDs. The company also led the industry in testing and binning its plastic-packaged LEDs at typical operating temperatures of 85° — sometimes called hot binning or hot color tested. And ultimately Lumileds and others have added some plastic-packaged components to their high-power offerings.
Lumileds targets the 5050 family at some of the most demanding SSL applications, indeed adding sports venue lighting to that list. For the most part, high-power LEDs on ceramic substrates featuring a domed primary optic serve in such applications. But the technology advance marches forward with elements developed in the mid-power space. And as we covered recently, optics manufacturer LEDiL now offers a secondary optic called the Sport-2×2 that is designed for use with 5×5-mm LEDs with a flat LES.
Back to details of the 5050 LED family, Lumileds offers the products in 70-, 80-, and 90-CRI options and over the range of 2200K–6500K CCT. Typical efficacy of the light source is 172 lm/W. The newest and highest-performance products are drop-in replacements for earlier 5050 LEDs.
Lumileds also offers an option in terms of forward voltage. These 5050 LEDs are multi-emitter devices despite being in what would appear to be a discrete package. The round-LES components have eight emitters connected in series yielding a 24V forward voltage. Such a higher forward voltage can prove advantageous at the SSL system level in terms of efficacy because the driver circuit can operate more efficiently with less of a gap between AC line voltage level and the LED drive voltage. Lumileds also offers a 6V version with four strings of two emitters connected in parallel.
While this article is primarily about the new round-LES version of the family, there is one other specific feature of the square-LED components that we should mention. The design of the square components have additional protection that provides sulfur resistance which is a common requirement in outdoor applications.
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Maury Wright | Editor in Chief
Maury Wright is an electronics engineer turned technology journalist, who has focused specifically on the LED & Lighting industry for the past decade. Wright first wrote for LEDs Magazine as a contractor in 2010, and took over as Editor-in-Chief in 2012. He has broad experience in technology areas ranging from microprocessors to digital media to wireless networks that he gained over 30 years in the trade press. Wright has experience running global editorial operations, such as during his tenure as worldwide editorial director of EDN Magazine, and has been instrumental in launching publication websites going back to the earliest days of the Internet. Wright has won numerous industry awards, including multiple ASBPE national awards for B2B journalism excellence, and has received finalist recognition for LEDs Magazine in the FOLIO Eddie Awards. He received a BS in electrical engineering from Auburn University.
