Latest COB LEDs deliver high luminous efficacy, lumen maintenance, and color rendering
Manufacturers Lumileds, Bridgelux, and Luminus have added to their chip-on-board LED lineups, pushing advances in luminous efficacy, operating temperature tolerance, and color fidelity for demanding architectural solid-state lighting applications.
Lumileds Luxeon COB Core Pro
Lumileds (San Jose, CA) has launched the Luxeon COB Core Pro to address lighting needs in retail and hospitality recessed and track lighting scenarios. Senior product manager Keen Oun Yap said the LED’s typical 92 CRI and R9>50 produce “the hallmarks of a good retail lamp — sparkle and great color reproduction.” According to the product release, the Core Pro features a color point below the black body locus, closer to that of conventional ceramic discharge metal-halide (CDM) lamps.
A 3000K, 90-CRI, 15-mm light-emitting surface (LES) version with Tj=85°C achieves around 152-lm/W efficacy. Yap added, “No mercury, no startup lag, no heat, and no color drift, just excellent color consistency over time and lower energy consumption.” Lumileds offers LES from 9 to 19 mm and luminous flux ranges from 700 lm to more than 5000 lm.
Bridgelux F90 COBs
Bridgelux (Fremont, CA) has brought F90 COB LEDs to market, joining the company’s previous SMD and Filament families. The 90-CRI LEDs with LES from 8 to 22 mm can reach up to 190-lm/W efficacy — 20% greater than the Gen8 90-CRI COBs and 5% improvement over Gen8 80-CRI devices. Bridgelux says the F90 COB LEDs can operate in up to 85°C case temperatures at maximum drive currents, making them suitable for recessed can downlights in particular.
Nearly a year ago, the LED manufacturer launched its F90 SMD white LEDs utilizing phosphor technology licensed from GE Current (referred to as Current Lighting Solutions, LLC), which is claimed to produce a narrow emission band that reduces wasted energy outside the human visual range. LEDs Magazine has confirmed with Bridgelux CEO Yi-Qun Li that the new COB offerings leverage the potassium fluorosilicate phosphor (also called red-line emission phosphor) to deliver high CRI.
Luminus Gen4 COBs
Last November, Luminus Devices (Sunnyvale, CA) debuted its Robusto technology with the high-lumen-output CVM-45 COB array for studio and stage lighting applications. The LED supplier claims the Robusto technology enables higher drive current while delivering L90 greater than 55,000 hours, with operating temperatures up to 120°C.
High center-beam candle power applications such as retail, hospitality, architectural, and specialty lighting benefit from the higher lumen density with narrow beam distribution. Back in 2016, Luminus authors noted in a contributed article that the CMD lamps favored for retail lighting would fall by the wayside as CBCP of LED lamps was improved for directional lighting scenarios.
“With Robusto technology, Luminus’ high-density COBs are able to provide customers with higher levels of CBCP, consistent color and flux over the life of the luminaire,” said David Davito, COB product line director – illumination at Luminus.
CARRIE MEADOWS is managing editor of LEDs Magazine, with 20 years’ experience in business-to-business publishing across technology markets including solid-state technology manufacturing, fiberoptic communications, machine vision, lasers and photonics, and LEDs and lighting.For up-to-the-minute LED and SSL updates, follow us on Twitter. You’ll find curated content and commentary, as well as information on industry events, webcasts, and surveys on our LinkedIn page and our Facebook page.
Carrie Meadows | Editor-in-Chief, LEDs Magazine
Carrie Meadows has more than 20 years of experience in the publishing and media industry. She worked with the PennWell Technology Group for more than 17 years, having been part of the editorial staff at Solid State Technology, Microlithography World, Lightwave, Portable Design, CleanRooms, Laser Focus World, and Vision Systems Design before the group was acquired by current parent company Endeavor Business Media.
Meadows has received finalist recognition for LEDs Magazine in the FOLIO Eddie Awards, and has volunteered as a judge on several B2B editorial awards committees. She received a BA in English literature from Saint Anselm College, and earned thesis honors in the college's Geisel Library. Without the patience to sit down and write a book of her own, she has gladly undertaken the role of editor for the writings of friends and family.
Meadows enjoys living in the beautiful but sometimes unpredictable four seasons of the New England region, volunteering with an animal shelter, reading (of course), and walking with friends and extended "dog family" in her spare time.
