Introduction to Optoelectronics

With over 7 years of experience in the high power LED industry, Future Lighting Solutions has developed an industry leading infrastructure to support LUXEON®-based solid-state lighting solutions. Through Future Lighting Solutions, customers are able to purchase complimentary products to build their complete LUXEON®-based applications. With a wide range of power, thermal and optics products, customers can acquire everything they need at one place – Future Lighting Solutions.

The LUXEON Lighting Network™ offers a certified network of over 50 solutions partners. These partners have been certified by Future Lighting Solutions as experts in supporting LUXEON® technology. From optimized components to complete system solution design and manufacturing, a Certified Solutions Partner is the best qualified to facilitate a LUXEON®-based application.

Future Lighting Solutions offers a broad range of knowledge and assistance. With communication resources such as market specific collateral, the new Future Lighting Solutions website (www.FutureLightingSolutions.com), has the tools to demonstrate LUXEON® LEDs in various applications so customers can see the possibilities of LUXEON®-based solutions first-hand.

Technical assistance is also available through a team of highly trained engineers working around the world. The industry-first Lighting Resource Centers, based in Montreal, Canada and Shenzhen China, offer lighting measurement and LUXEON® retrofit capabilities, allowing for proof of concept evaluations for applications that are currently not using solid-state lighting solutions.

Future Lighting Solutions is a division of Future Electronics Inc. – a worldwide leader in the distribution of electronic components. With the support of a world-class leader and innovator in the distribution and marketing electronic components, we operate in 167 locations in 39 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Through Future Electronics, we are able to offer unparalleled flexibility and support in supply chain management, financial programs, sales and advanced engineering assistance.

 

 

Enhanced Backlight Solutions

Advantages of Enhanced Backlight Solutions EBS™
Comparison of EBS™ versus other LCD Brightness Enhancements

EBS™, from Future Electronics, not only provides an improved brightness performance that compares with any other backlighting enhancement technique, it also offers a significant advantage in lifetime (mean time between failure – MTBF). See Figure 1.

EBS™ combines high quality LCDs with the world’s brightest solid-state light source and optimized chipsets. This eliminates traditional CCFL tubes, and the inverters required to power them. In their place is a longer lasting, more ruggedized and more efficient system which in most cases will provide the most enhanced backlighting system available.

 

 

EBS™ Brightness

All EBS™ units are specified at 1000 nits, although units are not limited to that brightness level. Each unit is designed using LUXEON® III LEDs, which can be driven at various power levels. The brightness is directly affected by how hard the LEDs are driven (see Figure 2). Increasing power will deliver increased brightness, but will also lead to more heat being produced, so an appropriate thermal management system is required

 

 

MTBF

MTBF calculations of LCDs are based upon the half brightness point of the CCFL tube – typically 25K- 50K hours (minus the CCFL backlight, a LCD typically has an MTBF of around 100K hours – it is usually the light source that fails before the LCD itself). EBS™, if driven at its specified wattage to obtain 1000 nits, uses less than 1 watt per LED, thus increasing the overall lumen maintenance of the LED and therefore the solution to well over 100K hours.

 

Components of EBS™

NEC LCDs

EBS™ uses NEC’s innovative displays, available in sizes from 5.5”-15.0”, which include their SFT technology displays (ultra wide viewing) as well as their wide operating temperature (-10ºC to 70ºC) displays (custom EBS™ solutions using NEC LCDs can be provided up to 23.0”). NEC TFT LCDs offer fast response times and extended temperature liquid crystal material.

LUXEON® LEDs

LUXEON® emitters are the highest flux LEDs in the world, delivering the brightest solid-state lighting solutions available. LUXEON® III White LUXEON® LEDs typically produce up to 40 lumens per watt (based on 3.4V typical, 350mA rated current).

 

The Solution

How EBS™ Works

Most LCDs have CCFL backlights. In the EBS™ solution, these CCFL backlights are removed and replaced with an array of LUXEON® LEDs. See Figure 3 for an example of how a typical LCD with EBS™ looks.

The LED array is aimed directly at a 90º reflector and is directed toward the LCD light guide. The light guide is typically made up of clear acrylic with a silk screen pattern on the inside, to help direct the light toward the face of the LCD. A diffuser is typically used to increase the uniformity of the light. 3M BEF films are used in the stack-up to increase the light developed in the backlight by up to 59% depending on the film stack-up. As an example, in the 10.4” EBS™ unit, in order to achieve the measured 1000 nits, the backlight has to develop at least 14400 nits before it passes through the LCD (see Figure 4).