With the help of DOE funding, Lumileds has developed a high-voltage LED light engine with an integrated driver, achieving an efficacy of 128 lm/W at a luminous flux greater than 4,100 lm, a CCT of 4000 K, and a CRI > 70. The light-engine technology reduces system cost by 25% for targeted applications. The light engine combines low-cost high-power LEDs and driver topologies that are optimized for integration with them – all integrated on a single substrate and driven directly from the AC mains. 

Driver integration enables cost reduction throughout the luminaire by reducing the number of driver components, simplifying the luminaire design and assembly process, and reducing the housing cost. While driver-integrated light engines have recently emerged on the market, developments in LED and driver technology have been needed in order to overcome their limitations, which include flicker, the lack of universal mains voltage, and a lack of suitability for high-power LEDs because of flux and forward voltage requirements.

Lumileds’ approach involves low-cost, high-voltage LEDs and LED arrays with configurable voltage increments based on patterned-sapphire-substrate flip-chip (PSS-FC) architecture. Either multi-junction high-voltage PSS-FC LEDs or arrays of small PSS-FC LEDs are used to match both the voltage requirements of the driver and the flux specification of the application. A switch-mode driver topology was optimized for integration, leveraging the high-voltage LEDs to achieve a compact surface-mount-technology solution that accepts universal input voltage and has minimal flicker (flicker index 0.03–0.06) with dimming down to 10% or lower. The integrated light-engine technology supports a wide range of applications. A 30W outdoor module was selected as the initial target application for technology development, and prototyping and performance validation were completed. (May 2016)

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