Cree Inc of Durham, NC, USA has announced commercial availability of XLamp Extreme High Power (XHP) LEDs, a new class of LEDs enabling a system cost reduction of up to 40% for lighting applications, it is claimed.
The first LEDs powered by Cree’s SC5 Technology Platform, the XLamp XHP50 and XHP70 LEDs provide twice the lumen output and improved reliability compared with previous LEDs of the same size, it is reckoned.
“The breakthrough performance of XHP LEDs enables both new design possibilities and dramatically lower system costs for LED lighting,” comments Nate Heiking, Advanced Lighting product manager at US-based Kenall Lighting. “Cree’s new class of Extreme High Power LEDs will accelerate customer adoption of LED lighting,” he reckons.
XHP LEDs allow lighting manufacturers to drastically reduce the size and cost of their lighting system design by using fewer, more reliable LEDs to achieve the same brightness, says Cree. They enable new lighting designs that require fewer optics, a smaller printed circuit board, a smaller housing and less handling. XHP LEDs also achieve longer lifetimes even at higher operating temperatures and currents than previous LED technology, it is claimed, allowing lighting manufacturers to reduce heat-sink size and cost without impacting the rated lifetime.
In addition, XHP LEDs enable other cost reductions at the system level not possible with other LED solutions, it is claimed. For example, in roadway and outdoor area lighting, on top of the luminaire cost savings, XHP LEDs can produce a much smaller and lighter luminaire that requires a less expensive pole. Similar cost savings over existing solutions may be achieved in a wide variety of lighting applications, including track, stadium and high bay.
As the first LEDs to incorporate the SC5 Technology Platform, the new XHP LEDs introduce what are reckoned to be significant advances in light output, color consistency and design flexibility. The XHP50 and XHP70 deliver up to 2546 lumens at 19 watts from a 5.0mm x 5.0mm package and up to 4022 lumens at 32 watts from a 7.0mm x 7.0mm package, respectively. Through improvements in the light conversion process, Cree has reduced LED-to-LED color variations and, among other options, offers XHP LEDs in 2- and 3-step EasyWhite bins for correlated color temperatures (CCTs) of 3500K through 2700K in 80 and 90 CRI (color rendering index). The XHP LEDs also introduce a new package that allows manufacturers to choose either 6V or 12V configurations from the same LED through the solder pad design on the circuit board.
Samples of both the XHP50 and XHP70 are available now, and production quantities are available with standard lead times.
