Cree introduces a surface-mount LED to compete with COB flux output (UPDATED)
High-lumen applications including high-bay fixtures, downlights, and outdoor luminaires can use the XLamp MHD family to deliver the required performance while leveraging automated assembly.
Cree has announced the XLamp MHD family of LEDs based on the company's SC5 (Silicon Carbide 5) technology platform. The new components measure 7×7 mm and deliver as much as 2500 lm. Cree says that the new surface-mount LED family offers solid-state lighting (SSL) product developers the lumen density of chip-on-board (COB) LEDs while also offering the automated printed-circuit board (PCB) assembly techniques associated with mid-power LEDs.
The new MHD product family is the second in the SC5 portfolio that is the latest generation of the company's LED manufacturing technology platform. Cree announced the SC5 platform back in November 2014 with the assertion that LEDs based on the platform would offer double the lumen output of prior LEDs and deliver 40% at the system level in cost savings for SSL manufacturers. Subsequently in early January, the company announced traditional high-power LEDs in the SC5 portfolio.
The latest announcement covers the MHD-E and MHD-G LEDs that look more like mid-power surface-mount devices (SMDs) intended for automated pick-and-place assembly. Indeed, the new LEDs expand the SMD-compatible line beyond the 5×5-mm products in the MH-B family announced in September 2014.
The MHD-E tops out at 1800 lm from 14W of power while the MHD-G delivers a maximum of 2500 lm at 19W. Both of those figures are indeed similar to COB LEDs on the market from Cree and other manufacturers.
The new surface-mount LEDs have already resonated with at least one customer. "The high lumen output and high reliability of Cree’s new MHD-G LED allows us to develop a new downlight that outperforms other downlights in the market," said Baly Luo, general manager of Aeon Lighting Technology (ALT). "ALT’s compact size 4-in. downlight that is built with the MHD-G LED generates over 1,800 lm at 3000K while other downlights can only produce 800 to 1000 lm."
Cree will offer the new surface-mount LEDs across a range of CCTs from 2700K to 6500K. The multi-emitter products rely on the company's EasyWhite technique of mixing chips to deliver precise lumen and color bins with a two-step MacAdam ellipse option. And the company offers the LEDs with CRI as high as 90 in warm CCTs.
The company will also offer the surface-mount LEDs in a choice of array configurations with 9.1V, 18.2V, and 36.3V options. Efficacy ranges to 130 lm/W.
"At Cree, we continue to deliver innovative products that give our customers a competitive edge in the marketplace," said Paul Thieken, Cree director of marketing for LED components. "With the MHD LEDs, we’re offering chip-on-board performance to lighting manufacturers that prefer surface-mount technology, making it easier for them to achieve lower system cost than with the same commoditized mid-power LEDs that everyone is using."
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.
