Lamina ceramics light chips

Last week I received 2 samples from this company. These things are very interesting. They measure approximately 5/8 of an inch square..(prototypes), and about 1/16th of an inch thick. They have 2 solder edges for electrical contact. When I first saw them, the local rep simply pulled out a battery holder with 3 D cells and touched the 2 wires to the edge of one of the chips. WOW!! Tremendous, brilliant wash of light. These chips are different from LEDs in that they create a wall of very bright light...not focused. I got my 2 samples and headed home to my workbench. I used a Radio Shack..4 AA battery holder with built in switch. I AA epoxied the chip to an old 486 computer heat sink...they will get hot if not heat sinked. I did use a dummy AA cell so I'm driving this with 4.5 volts alkaline..direct. The amount of light is incredible. I can see tons of applications for these. I'm awaiting a sample of a white chip..right now I have a green and a red one. Mind you, I was told the samples I have are about 3 months old, and the new chips are approximately 6 times brighter!! I've been carrying the green chip around showing it to people at work..everyone is shocked at how bright it is. It's very different from an led, so I've been having difficulty doing measurements on it. Please look at the attached pictures to see just how tiny this is. Remember..the light source is only the small, white chip ..it's epoxied to a computer heat sink.
Please visit their site for more info:
www.laminaceramics.com
I'm thinking of sharing the green chip with a fellow member who could do some more intricate measurements on it. The company's new rep told me that since these are so new, they're not really available..just yet...but VERY soon...and pricing will be very reasonable. I want to try a white one in a desk lamp to see what it would be like for reading. Please let me know if one of you would be interested in doing a more detailed review of one.

What attached pictures?????

Sorry..rough morning:

From their PDF specs:
BL2000 Vf=10.5V If=0.42A P=4.41W 108 lumens (min:73)
BL3000 Vf=10.5V If=2.34A P=24.57W 567 lumens (min:406)
That means that BL2000 has 24.5 lm/W, while BL3000 has 23 lm/W
As the forward voltage is 10.5V, I don't know how your samples worked with 4.5V?

Holy poop! The BL3000 Amber boast 1938 lumens at 104 watts!!!

I don't know which am I more horrified by: 1938 lumens or having to sink 100 watts of heat...... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Yes..I noticed that too. I think the figures given on the site are for very early prototypes. Even the rep said that 4.5 volts is overdriving them. That's why I was offering to let someone more skilled than I to measure them. At 4.5 volts...without a heatsink, they get quite warm..quickly. With heatsink...barely warm.

Oh yeah..they were offering some larger sized chips..the ones I have are the "standardized" size. They can be linked together to form larger displays. This may be why the posted figures are off.

The lumen output sounds fantastic. Must take some heatsink! Here is another site. They have a sink called the M-16. Its shaped like a flashlight head www.optotech.com

Ken

Cool... is the flood of light pretty a pretty even or is there more of a "hotspot"?

-Mike

It's kinda hard to explain..it's a wash of light..each "die"..there are 7 of them..is an emitter..they're shallow and filled with an epoxy which seems to make a lens for the individual dies. They combine to give a wall of light..no hotspots..no center. If you hold the lamp up to a wall, say 1 foot away..it's just bright color....it's very cool. I want to make a lamp with one. I can see these used to wash a walkway..a wall..ceilings. The rep told me that they are already talking to "businesses" about using these in the immediate future...(don't want to reveal too much until he says it's OK). I mentioned to the rep about using a few of these with a U FLEX driver board. These things are screaming to be played with. Imagine a flashlight made with a white one..it would be ideal for reading in the dark..no hotspot.
My offer still stands..if someone would be interested in "borrowing " the green one, I will send it for review along with the battery box and the heatsink..only stipulation is..I'd like to get it back..sometime.

Did you mention my adress to sent samples to... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Awaiting.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Is this just me or do some of the configurations look like magnitrons to you? Radical design! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
That looks like some real exciting fall off to me! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif
You got me going on the GRBs and white one's man (in my best Shaggy)!

If any of you would please be so kind as to email me the PDF files I would be greatly indepted! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I have a plug in problem! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

These devices sounds great, but I don't think we can manage the photons well, the die area seems to be rather big.

I personally think something like this will be better suited to general lighting needs than the point source of luxeons. Rooms lit with point sources tend to be less comfortable than more diffuse light (hence the reason lamps always have shades). Rather than having shades or diffusers which reduce the efficiency of the lighting system, it makes more sense to have a diffuse light sources to start with (i.e. more like fluorescent tubes). This new light source fits the bill.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif Defused light at it's origin only means deprivation of energy at it's source. We can do better!
PDF files please? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[ QUOTE ]
jtr1962 said:
I personally think something like this will be better suited to general lighting needs than the point source of luxeons. Rooms lit with point sources tend to be less comfortable than more diffuse light (hence the reason lamps always have shades). Rather than having shades or diffusers which reduce the efficiency of the lighting system, it makes more sense to have a diffuse light sources to start with (i.e. more like fluorescent tubes). This new light source fits the bill.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto, in fact I'm real interested to see how well the white units could be used as a lamp for lighting a work area or desk. The closer the light soruce can be to a even plane rather than a point source, the better it would be. The only issue is what colour their whites will turn out. Hopefully they won't have the same problems as the early 1W LS

Any idea of ballpark pricing, are we talking $100, $10, $1, $0.1 region for these things?!?! These would make AWESOME flood torches, especially with that kind of output level.

Any idea when we are likely to be able to get hold of them properly.

Any hints would be welcome. I wait to get my hands on them for real!!!!

PEterW

The rep led me to believe that the NEW ones..(6 times brighter!) would be available around the first of the year at approx. $20 each. Exact pricing on an individual basis hadn't been determined yet. He was trying to get hold of a white on for me to review. The colored ones are incredible, but not terribly practical for day to day use. I said that I wanted to play with one of the ceramic backs also..he claims that these dies are easy to heat sink..the manufacturer provided him with that 3M sticky "paper" to bond them to a heat sink.
Anyone interested in borrowing the green one?

The info in their PDFs, is it showing specs for the current one or for the new one that is 6 times brighter? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif