White, single-die LED is brightest new star

By Richard Comerford

Fulfilling a promise made in the laboratory three years ago, the XLamp XM-L2 LED delivers efficiencies up to 186 lm/W (at 1W, 25°C, 5,000K) — the highest of any single-die LED commercially available today. Driven at 10 W, a single LED can deliver a lumen output equivalent to a 75-W incandescent bulb.

Built with SC3 silicon-carbide technology, the LED doubles the lm/$ figure, delivering 20% more lm/W than the previous generation. Thus lighting manufacturers can use fewer LEDs to deliver better lighting systems at a lower cost.

The LED is designed to provide very high lumen output at an 85°C junction temperatures, suiting it for such applications as high-bay, indoor, and outdoor lighting. By leveraging the 5 x 5-mm footprint of previous-generation XM-L LEDs, the new LED fits users’ existing designs — without the necessity of changing optics or drivers — thereby shortening the fixture design cycle and improving time-to-market. Further, as a follow-on to the to XM-L, the XM-L2 requires only 3,000 hours of LM-80 data for ENERGY STAR qualification, instead of the normal 6,000 hours.

The XM-L2 LED is available in color temperatures ranging 2,700K (warm white) to 6,200K (cool white) and with minimum-CRI options of 80, 85, and 90, depending on color temp. The LED is UL-recognized and has a level-4 rating. (Priced competitively with other LEDs — samples available now; prod qty in Q1.)

source : http://www2.electronicproducts.com/