Ten years chasing a dream! Turning the light emitting diode into a practical bulb

"Will become" led bulb. ""....... This is the subject of the Nikkei October 21, 1996. 10 years later, the use of white light-emitting diode (LED) lighting appliances and automotive headlamps finally towards practical.

White LED can be said to be a mobile phone, digital cameras and portable music players and other small LCD backlight needs. Recently, Toshiba in a small notebook computer "libretto U100" backlight uses a white LED. Previously, to promote the evolution of a variety of equipment white LED, now began to change the fate of lighting appliances.

The opportunity to bring such a change is that during 2005 to 2006 each LED beam over 50lm (Liu Ming), luminous efficiency of more than 60lm/W high-power LED began to debut. And for a small LCD screen backlight LED compared to high brightness high power LED ten times. Under normal circumstances, lighting equipment and vehicle equipment requires more than 1000lm of the beam. If the use of mobile phones, such as the use of low-power products, it must be equipped with hundreds of white LED lighting equipment, and the use of high-power LED, it can be reduced to about 20.

The luminous efficiency of high power white LED (lm/W), only from the numerical point of view, than the 80lm/W ~ 100lm/W fluorescent lamp slightly inferior. However, the fluorescent lamp is luminous in the form of a full range of radiation, while the white LED is only forward to light, with the advantages of the full use of light beams. Therefore, even if only 60lm/W, can also be obtained with the same fluorescent lamp brightness of nearly 100lm/W.

Think that the presence of business opportunities in the field of lighting equipment and vehicle equipment, LED manufacturers, has been competing to develop high-power varieties. 1 trillion yen (about RMB 77 billion) huge potential demand is attractive. LED market at present in small power oriented mobile phone etc. the main varieties, Nichia chemical industries hold the majority share, described as thriving. The high output power varieties, from the market share is also like a piece of white paper, there are many business opportunities". Has been in the development of high power LED Lumileds Lighting in the United States, as well as in the packaging technology has a strong strength of the Japanese CITIZEN electronics has been in a leading position in terms of luminous efficiency.

Nichia occupies market share of nearly 90% in the field of mobile phone white LED also began to develop the high-power varieties. The company also has a sense of crisis for the white LED market changes, that the next 10 years will be completely different from the previous 10 years". For the changes in the market, Nichia chemical industries have not been on the defensive, but take the initiative. For example, with the car manufacturers work closely with the development of the white light LED. And not only for LED, Nichia chemical industries developed using semiconductor laser, the brightness is close to the HID lamp (high intensity discharge lamp) high power white light source. The company said that the next 2 years to 3 years of technology development will become the key to victory and defeat, and further accelerate the pace of R & D. Including Nichia chemical industries, the future competition in the United States and Europe, high power LED development will certainly be more intense.