For the Philips LumiLEDs Luxeon III:
Average Lumen Maintenance Characteristics
Lifetime for solidstate lighting devices (LEDs) is typically defined in terms of lumen maintenancethe percentage of initial light output remaining after a specified period of time. Lumileds projects that white, green, cyan, blue, and royal blue LUXEON III products will deliver, on average, 70% lumen maintenance at 50,000 hours of operation at a 700 mA forward current or 50% lumen maintenance at 20,000 hours of operation at a 1000 mA forward current.
This performance is based on independent test data, Lumileds historical data from tests run on similar material systems, and internal LUXEON reliability testing. This projection is based on
constant current operation with junction temperature maintained at or below 90°C. Observation of design limits included in this data sheet is required in order to achieve this projected lumen maintenance.
Page 15:
http://www.lumileds.com/pdfs/DS45.pdf
Philips Luxeon V:
Average Lumen Maintenance Characteristics
Heat Sink Temperature Drive Current Average Lumen Maintenance After 500 Hours of Operation
35°C 700 mA 90%
75°C 700 mA 75%
85°C 600 mA 65%
Notes for Table 8:
1. LUXEON V Portable is designed primarily for portable lighting and other applications requiring operating lifetimes of 500 hours and less. While the device will operate past 500 hours, its lumen maintenance cannot yet be characterized.
Longer life versions of white LUXEON V will become available in the future. (we are waiting...)
2. Average lumen maintenance is dependant on heatsink temperature. A recoverable light output loss may occur during the first 500 hours of operation.
Page 9:
http://www.lumileds.com/pdfs/DS40.pdf
Philips Luxeon I:
Average Lumen Maintenance Characteristics
Lifetime for solid-state lighting devices (LEDs) is typically defined in terms of lumen maintenance—the percentage of initial light output remaining after a specified period of time. Lumileds projects that LUXEON products will deliver on average 70% lumen maintenance at 50,000 hours of operation. This performance is based on independent test data, Lumileds historical data from tests run on similar material systems, and internal LUXEON reliability testing. This projection is based on
constant current 350 mA operation with junction temperature maintained at or below 90°C. Observation of design limits included in this data sheet is required in order to achieve this projected lumen maintenance.
Page 16:
http://www.lumileds.com/pdfs/DS25.pdf
Philips Luxeon K2:
Average Lumen Maintenance Characteristics
Lifetime for solidstate lighting devices (LEDs) is typically defined in terms of lumen maintenance—the percentage of initial light output remaining after a specified period of time. Philips Lumileds projects that white LUXEON K2 products will deliver, on average, 70% lumen maintenance at 50,000 hours of operation at a forward current of 1000 mA. This projection is
based on constant current operation with junction temperature maintained at or below 120°C. Philips Lumileds projects that green, blue, cyan and royal blue LUXEON K2 products will deliver, on average, 70% lumen maintenance at 50,000 hours of operation at a forward current of 1000 mA. This projection is based on
constant current operation with junction temperature maintained at or below 150°C. Philips Lumileds projects that red, red-orange and amber LUXEON K2 products will deliver, on average, 70% lumen maintenance at 50,000 hours of operation at a forward current of 350 mA. This projection is
based on constant current operation with junction temperature maintained at or below 120°C.
This performance is based on independent test data, Philips Lumileds historical data from tests run on similar material systems, and internal LUXEON reliability testing. Observation of design limits included in this data sheet is required in order to achieve this projected lumen maintenance.
Page 3
http://www.lumileds.com/pdfs/DS51.pdf
What is junction temperature? It is the temperature of the little die inside, at the the heart of the LED. It is the part that actually produces light. One can roughly estimate this by using the LEDs C/W rating on the datasheet, calculating the power consumed by multiplying the forward voltage times the current, then multiplying this times the C/W. Then one measures the slug temperature (the mounting slug or thermal slug of the LED), and adds this to the die temp from the previous step. Then you have die temperature.
Notice how in the K2 statement above, the green, blue, cyan and royal blue and white(phosphor) parts all have the same estimated life. Key to note is on the white parts, how the die must stay below 120C to hit that lifetime. This is quite different than the 185C that was advertised back when the part was officially announced in February 2005, and they were talking about just mounting them to a board, no heatsinking was necessary at lower currents....