Packaged LED news: Osram targets camera flashes, Lumileds ramps COB output

Osram Opto Semiconductors has announced a new member of the Oslux LED family intended for camera-flash applications with the modular package integrating two LEDs at different CCTs and a silicone lens. Lumileds has announced new Luxeon Core Range COB (chip-on-board) LEDs that extend the maximum output to 30,000 lm for extreme lighting applications.

LEDs for cameras

Cameras in mobile phones and tablets have advanced far beyond the novelty stage with many devices now matching the fidelity of standalone still and video cameras. LED manufacturers have been tasked with delivering a key component in photo or video quality — the camera flash.

Back in 2014 writing about a Strategies in Light presentation, we first covered the concept of tunable-white output in the LED-based subsystem used for a camera flash. Apple had pioneered a tunable flash in the iPhone 5s and matching the flash CCT to ambient light conditions had proved to greatly improve the color quality of captured images.

Osram's Oslux S2.1 packaged LED is designed to optimize video and image capture.

While Apple almost certainly accomplished its first tunable design using multiple LEDs and developing its own lens, packaged LED vendors such as Osram can now simplify the task for camera makers that want a variable CCT flash. The new Oslux S2.1 can cover a range of CCTs with a 6000K cool-white LED and a 2250K very-warm white LED on one package substrate. Indeed, that’s a broader range than Apple originally supported and covers the range from candlelight to nearly direct sunlight.

The 5×5×1.15-mm package is essentially an LED package that can be affixed directly to a printed circuit board (PCB). Integrating the LEDs in one device places the sources more closely to one another, better mixes the beam, and enables a smaller aperture for the flash. Moreover, it saves real estate on the PCB. The design also includes a silicone lens that makes the entire device reflow solderable for automated PCB assembly lines.

“With the new Oslux S2.1 we were able to achieve very high quality,” said Fiona Mak, product manager at Osram. “We have subjected it to both electrical and optically demanding testing and are very happy with the results. It definitely meets our high-quality standards.”

The Oslux S2.1 is already available. Osram said it will ship a second version of the packaged LED next year that will use a harder epoxy lens. That product will not require a protective window in flash applications whereas the softer silicone must be protected.

Lumileds lumen extension

Lumileds, meanwhile, said it will target applications including sports-venue lighting, street lights, and high- and low-bay fixtures with its newest COB LEDs. The LEDs comprise what Lumileds calls a high-lumen extension to the Gen 3 Core Range products. Lumileds announced the initial third-generation COB products in early 2016. More recently, the company announced High Density COB LEDs that outperform the Gen 3 LEDs, although those product are in relatively smaller sizes in terms of light emitting surface (LES).

New COB LEDs from Lumileds target high-output lighting with up to 30,000-lm output.

The new products are in the larger 23-, 29, and 32-mm LES sizes that are appropriate for the target applications. “We now have the ability to address not only 40 and 50W applications but up to 100W and 120W applications with these high lumen packages, at the same high efficacy as our Luxeon COB Core Range Gen 3 products,” said Eric Senders, product line director for the Luxeon COB Family.

Nominal rating for the three new COB products are 8000, 11,000, and 16,000 lm with typical efficacy in the 161-lm/W range. But developers can increase drive current to hit levels as high as 30,000 lm at lower efficacy. Lumileds will offers the LEDs across the CCT range from 2700K to 5700K and at 70, 80, or 90 CRI.