Osram targets 'life-changing' LED applications
With revenue from mobile handset backlighting applications now at saturation point, Osram Opto Semiconductors is looking to turn heads with some more high-profile uses of its brightest LEDs.
In particular, the German chip manufacturer is now focusing its public relations effort on the benefits that its O-Star, TopLED and new Platinum Dragon HB-LEDs can bring to television displays and automotive lighting.
For example, Osram has developed an optical module that features one red, one blue and one green O-Star HB-LED. Together, the three chips output 300 lumens, enough to backlight a 56-inch television screen.
O-Star LEDs also featured in a partnership between Osram and Volkswagen that has updated the Germany motor company's Type 2 Transporter - the 1960s favorite also variously known as the "hippy bus" or "shagwagon" - for the 21st century.
The concept vehicle's headlamps are powered by O-Star LEDs, while its daytime running lamps feature Osram's Golden Dragon chips. TopLEDs were used in the front and rear turn signals, making this vehicle the first to be constructed with LEDs in all the major exterior lighting functions.
Osram OS chief executive Rüdiger Müller will underline the company's focus on future applications in a presentation entitled "how LEDs will change our lives" at the LED leadership summit conference that is taking place in San Diego next month.
The high-profile event has been organized by the "big five" HB-LED makers "“ Osram, Nichia, Toyoda Gosei, Cree and Philips Lumileds "“ and will feature presentations from the chief executives of all those companies.
Osram has also recently launched a new type of high-power white LED that it calls the Platinum Dragon. The device emits 75 lumens when operated at 700 mA, giving it an overall efficacy rating of 30 lumen/W "“ less than some recent products introduced by Cree.
However, the Regensburg firm says that at a cost of less than $3, the Platinum Dragon offers more lumens per dollar than any other LED.
