Osram Ostar LED: 420 Lumens of LED Goodness

Geogecko

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http://ledsmagazine.com/articles/news/3/1/28?alert=1

Just got an e-mail alert about these guys. Looks very promising. The lens option might be interesting too.

420 Lumens w/ Lens
300 Lumens w/out Lens

700mA @ 15W for the 6-Chip version.

Wow, that's a forward voltage of 21.43V! Can you say, step-up converter?

They also have a 4-Chip version with 280/200 Lumen output (Lens/No Lens), and 700mA @ 10W, for a forward voltage of 14.29V.

Two of those put together would make a very nice bike light...:thinking:
 

jtr1962

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This sounded interesting until I read the specs. The efficiency isn't all that great (28 lm/W) so there isn't much to get excited over. I'm still waiting for someone to release a high-powered LED (3 watts or over) with efficiency in the 70 lm/W or better range.
 

IsaacHayes

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6 chips = 70lumens each at 420 total. About the same efficicney as a typical LuxeonIII, only you got 6 in one pacakge.

Mount the star on a flat elektrolumens HS in a mag, sand the mag reflector down until it comes into focus, pack the flashlight with 6 3.7v protected Li-Ions in series and a buck regulator, and you'd have one bright light! Should focus almost as good as a luxV...
 

jtr1962

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IsaacHayes said:
6 chips = 70lumens each at 420 total. About the same efficicney as a typical LuxeonIII, only you got 6 in one pacakge.
LIII efficiency isn't that great, either. You can get 420 lumens with 7 Cree 1 watts using less half the power this LED uses. In fact, I have yet to see an LED over 1 watt from anybody with an efficiency over the high 20s. That's what I would consider a real breakthrough-reaching the efficiency levels currently enjoyed by 5mm LEDs. Lamina has had the BL3000 which puts out 567 lumens at 25 watts for over a year now so this LED is nothing new. Of course, if the price is less than $10 then it sounds interesting since the BL3000 costs $80, but more likely it'll probably be a lot more than that.
 

rgbphil

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"the stupid hex shape heat spreader".....forgive me if this has been debated before....but I'm a little naffed off by the hex heatsink myself......why is it being used?
Personally I would prefer some sort of heatsink with actual real life holes, that make it easy to screw down onto....and even better being able to screw leads into the terminals rather than solder wires on, then have to worry about a neat way to loom the wires.
Surely there is a better way, this has got to cost a fortune to people assembling luxeon arrays as I can't imagine it being done by anything other than by hand.
Are there examples of hex stars being assembled in a more automatic less labour intensive manner? Hopefully Osram can come up with something better.....it looks like they're putting some serious effort into LED lighting these days.
Phil
 

jtr1962

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Opto-King said:
Talk about heat probelms.

10-15W on a small area... NOT a good idea.

xyxgun.gif
That's my point exactly. Don't start putting 420 lumens in one package until you can get the efficiency up quite a bit from the present 25 to 30 lm/W area. It makes little sense. There is probably die to heat sink resistance of at least 2°C/W so your die will already be at least 30°C over heat sink temperature. I doubt anyone using this LED will bother fan cooling it or using a huge passive heat sink, so figure at least another 50°C rise for the heat sink. That already cuts output by probably 25 to 30% (I'm sure the 420 lumen rating is at 25°C die temperature). What you'll probably end up with is closer to 300 lumens and drawing 15 watts.

More than about 3 to 4 watts in a package like that is just plain silly. Even Lumileds ran into problems with 5 watt dissipation in the L5. However, 400 plus lumens should be very practical once we get 100 lm/W efficiencies for power LEDs. Hopefully that should happen within a year or two. Better to play the waiting game than try to design that heating element which happens to generate a little light into a product.
 

Geogecko

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jtr1962 said:
LIII efficiency isn't that great, either. You can get 420 lumens with 7 Cree 1 watts using less half the power this LED uses. In fact, I have yet to see an LED over 1 watt from anybody with an efficiency over the high 20s. That's what I would consider a real breakthrough-reaching the efficiency levels currently enjoyed by 5mm LEDs. Lamina has had the BL3000 which puts out 567 lumens at 25 watts for over a year now so this LED is nothing new. Of course, if the price is less than $10 then it sounds interesting since the BL3000 costs $80, but more likely it'll probably be a lot more than that.

BL3000: 567 lumens @ 26W = 21.8lm/W
Ostar: 420 lumens @ 15W = 28.0lm/W

Still better, IMO. While not by a landslide, it's still more efficient.

The other point of interest, is the BL3000 reqires ~2.3A, a lower voltage, but still high current, whereas the Ostar uses a standard 700mA, which can be driven with a ton of different LED driver chips already available. It's hard to get a 2.3A regulator that will provide the switching element on-board, just making the design that more complex...

Still, I think you're right. The next-gen stuff is right around the corner, and we'll probably at least see some 40-60lm/W type stuff, but 100lm/W still seems too far off.
 

Opto-King

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Hmm,

I'm a bit confused, maybe someone can help me whith this question...
You are saying that you are looking forward to seeing LEDs with 40-60lm/w, but according to SSC for example they say their typ. value is 52lm for their 1.2W LEDs. This means 52/1.2=43.33333 lm/w, so what are you waiting for?

I may have missunderstod something here so please let me know if I'm wrong.

The link below is to the SSC 1.2W LED;
http://www.seoulsemicon.co.kr/_homepage/home_kor/product/spec/X32181_2.pdf

"I always want to learn more"
:shrug:
 

Geogecko

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Should have been a little more descriptive.

I meant in a high output package. In otherwords, something greater than 400 lumens in a single LED. Granted, the BL3000 looks nothing like your typical LED, but the Ostar at least looks like a normal Luxeon, and can use standard optics.
 

jtr1962

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Opto-King said:
Hmm,

I'm a bit confused, maybe someone can help me whith this question...
You are saying that you are looking forward to seeing LEDs with 40-60lm/w, but according to SSC for example they say their typ. value is 52lm for their 1.2W LEDs. This means 52/1.2=43.33333 lm/w, so what are you waiting for?

I may have missunderstod something here so please let me know if I'm wrong.
You can get several ~1 watt LEDs with efficiencies of 40 to 60 lm/W. As you pointed out, SSC makes one, Cree makes another. However, I have yet to see 3 watt or greater LEDs with efficiencies much past the high 20s from anybody. Honestly, to me anyway it seems like many of the 3+ watt parts are just 1 watt parts rated for a higher power level, and with proportionately less efficiency. You have the Luxeon 3, which produces slightly over 20 lm/W at 1 amp and 3.9 watts. The Lamina BL2000 produces about 25 lm/W at 4.8 watts. I don't believe SSC or Cree has any 3 watt parts with much better efficiencies, either. This is why the current crop of multiwatt LEDs doesn't excite me. I'd rather just use multiple 1 watt parts and get the same light with half the power. Of course, my uses usually don't require a single emitter or focused light, but then again neither does most of the market which LEDs are aiming at.
 

lamperich

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don´t forget:
nichia has a 11 Watt 400 lumen LED with 400 Kelvin Color temp. in the piplines ;-)
 

Mike Painter

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.....forgive me if this has been debated before....but I'm a little naffed off by the hex heatsink myself......why is it being used?
(maybe this one will get through)
Look up hexagonal packing and you will see why this is the best shape for things you want close together.
 

rgbphil

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"...Look up hexagonal packing and you will see why this is the best shape for things you want close together."
ahh OK fair enough, point taken.
 

eyeQ

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Stop thinking flashlights, folks.

I really think this LED will be destined for applications like vehicle light bars, headlights (motorcycles as well as cars), and home. These applications are less "efficiency critical" (lum/W not as important in tiny flashlights), and have more room for heat sinks.
 

jtr1962

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eyeQ said:
Stop thinking flashlights, folks.

I really think this LED will be destined for applications like vehicle light bars, headlights (motorcycles as well as cars), and home. These applications are less "efficiency critical" (lum/W not as important in tiny flashlights), and have more room for heat sinks.
I'm definitely not thinking flashlight here but lower efficiency will only fly for automotive applications where LED lifetime is the big advantage. For home the only reason to use LEDs in general lighting is for efficiency gains over other types of lighting. I'm not sure 420 lumens (in reality ~300 lumens once you count the effects of temperature rise) and 15 watts is all that great for home use. CFLs are more than twice as efficient, T8 fluorescent more than three times as efficient. The only thing these really have a shot at replacing are those horribly inefficient small base candelabra incandescents which get less than 10 lm/W and only produce a few hundred lumens. However, the heat sink for 15 watts will just make the overall package too large so it won't fly. You won't see LEDs for general home use until we have LEDs getting 100+ lm/W at a cost not much more than CFLs. As I said earlier, unless you're talking focused light there is zero advantage to using one emitter as opposed to several if you're going to take an efficiency hit in the process. Sure, we could make a household LED light now using maybe seven Cree 1 watters which would replace a 40 watt candelabra bulb. However, it'll still require a fairly substantial heat sink plus it'll probably cost upwards of $50. At best it would be a niche product. You need to get the power consumption down to 3 or 4 watts at a price of $10 (better yet $5) or less for home lighting.
 

BentHeadTX

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Maybe I am crazy but...,
With Osram going with multiple die/single LEDs I am sure Lumileds is watching. Think of those K2 dies that handle 185C temps and put out 100 lumens at 3.5V/700mA. String 4 together for a 7V/700mA 400 lumen LuxeonV type LED that runs at 5 watts.
Anyone for a ZWOV LuxeonV version of "Lumileds strikes back".
 

lamperich

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BentHeadTX said:
Maybe I am crazy but...,
Think of those K2 dies that handle 185C temps and put out 100 lumens at 3.5V/700mA. String 4 together for a 7V/700mA 400 lumen LuxeonV type LED that runs at 5 watts.
Anyone for a ZWOV LuxeonV version of "Lumileds strikes back".

sure 4x 100lm @ only 5 Watt ;-)



you thought about a luxeonX did you?
 
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