Introduction Purpose • Introduce Lumex’s new line of QuasarBrite UV LEDs Objective • Overview of UV wavelengths and applications • Review of UV LED challenges • Introduce three new UV products from Lumex Content • 10 Pages Learning Time • 5 Minutes Welcome to the Lumex UV LED Technology training module. This module will present a general overview of UV wavelengths and applications for UV technology. This module will also illustrate how Lumex’s new family of QuasarBrite UV LEDs is overcoming some of the challenges faced today in designing products with UV technology. A pioneer in the design and manufacture of user-interface technology for over 30 years, Lumex is a leader in semi-custom and custom LED and LCD display technology.
Transcript
Introduction
Purpose• Introduce Lumex’s new line of QuasarBrite UV LEDs
Objective• Overview of UV wavelengths and applications• Review of UV LED challenges• Introduce three new UV products from Lumex
Content• 10 Pages
Learning Time• 5 Minutes
Welcome to the Lumex UV LED Technology training module. This module will present a general overview of UV wavelengths and applications for UV technology. This module will also illustrate how Lumex’s new family of QuasarBrite UV LEDs is overcoming some of the challenges faced today in designing products with UV technology.
A pioneer in the design and manufacture of user-interface technology for over 30 years, Lumex is a leader in semi-custom and custom LED and LCD display technology.
Ultraviolet Light
Ultraviolet light or UV light is invisible to the human eye. This is because UV wavelengths are too short for human eyes to perceive. UV LEDs span the wavelength spectrum from 100 nanometers to 420 nanometers.
Despite the potential hazards of ultraviolet light which are evident in every day life, such as sun burn, the UV spectrum is proving to have many beneficial effects in a multitude of areas. Not unlike how standard, visible LEDs have impacted today’s marketplace, the advancement of UV LEDs is offering a wide range of advantages to a diverse number of applications. This promising technology is moving the UV market segment into a whole new level of product innovation and performance.
780nm
Visible LightUV Infrared
Wavelengths in nanometers (nm)420nm100nm
Spectrum of UV Light
Within the wavelength spectrum, the range of UV light can be broken into three primary areas. The Ultraviolet A, or UV-A long wave, falls within the range of 315 nanometers to 420 nanometers. Ultraviolet B or, or UV-B medium wave, is within the 280 nanometers to 315 nanometer range. And finally Ultraviolet C, or UV-C short wave, is with the 100 nanometers to 280 nanometer range.
Each area within the UV spectrum offers distinct benefits in industries ranging from medical to forensic science to test and measurement.
780nm
Visible LightUV Infrared
Wavelengths in nanometers (nm)420nm100nm
100nm 420nm315nm280nm
UV ALong Wave
UV BMedium
Wave
UV CShort Wave
Applications
Many applications in today’s marketplace are ideally suited for, and already utilizing, UV LED technology. Within the UV spectrum, examples of such applications include counterfeit detection, bodily fluid detection and analysis, polymer and ink printing, and medical light therapy and sterilization.
230nm-400nm : optical sensors & instrumentation
230nm-280nm : UV ID verification, barcodes
240nm-280nm : Sterilization of surface areas and water
UV laser passing through a cuvette for DNA testing
UV machine varnish Bacterium in a petri dish fluorescing under UV light
Spectrum range lists market applications typical for a particular range. However, product applications can extend to any use within the full UV spectrum.
There has been a marked increase in the adoption of UV LEDs for applications that until recently relied upon fluorescent UV lights. UV LEDs offer many benefits over traditional CFL UV lamps. For example, UV LEDs utilize much less energy than their CFL counterparts. UV LEDs are RoHS compliant and they are not toxic if broken. In addition, UV LEDs offer much smaller, more compact sizes than CFL lamps, and UV LEDs are much more resistant to vibration and impact.
Advantages of UV LEDs vs. CFL
Challenges of Using UV LEDs – Life Hours
Until recently, the challenge of using UV LEDs had been stabilizing the die at the wavelengths needed. Recent advancements have overcome the stabilization of the die, but challenges still remain in the packaging of the die in an effort to yield the same life hours as existing standard LED technology. Standard epoxy packages usually provide less than 5,000 life hours because the UV rays break the epoxy down rapidly. ‘Hardened’ or ‘UV resistant’ epoxy packages usually have less than 10,000 life hours, which is still not nearly enough for most applications and the epoxy break down is erratic, not graceful or linear.
0 hours 5,000 hours
Challenges of Using UV LEDs - Efficiency
One of the other major challenges of utilizing UV LEDs for any application is the efficiency rate. For many applications such as medical light therapy, water sterilization and polymer curing at less than 365nm, the output power is only 5-8% of the input power. At 395nm and above the efficiency improves, but only to about 15%.
1 Watt Input Power
0.15 Watt Output Power
The new Lumex QuasarBrite UV LED family comes in three different wavelengths, 385nm, 405nm and 415nm. The applications at 385nm include counterfeit detection, bacterial sterilization and ink fluorescing. At 405nm one of the key applications is forensic analysis of bodily fluids. Finally, the 415nm UV LED can be used in superficial sterilization including skin treatment. All three LEDs come in a robust TO-42 package with glass lens, which increases life hours from 5,000 compared to an epoxy package up to a minimum of 50,000 hours.
Lumex QuasarBrite™ UV LEDs
UV LEDs have impacted today’s marketplace, offering a wide range of advantages to a diverse number of applications. UV LEDs offer many benefits over traditional UV lamps, such as energy consumption, environmentally friendly are more compact and offer much more resistance to vibration and impact. However challenges still remain such as extended life hours and power output efficiency. Lumex’s new QuasarBrite UV LEDs overcome these challenges and has extended the use of UV LEDs in ways that might not have been considered for applications in the past, such as counterfeit detection, forensic science and medical devices.
Summary
• UV LEDs are positively influencing today’s marketplace, offering a wide range of advantages to a diverse number of applications.
• UV LEDs offer many benefits over traditional UV lamps, such as energy consumption, environmentally friendly, are more compact and offer much more resistance to vibration and impact
• Challenges still remain for utilizing UV LEDs in product design, such as extended life hours and efficiency
• Lumex’s new, innovative family of UV LEDs overcome the challenges of other UV LEDs available on the market and offer design engineers greater flexibility and efficiency
