Luminus and APC Electronics sign LED/SiC partnership
LED company Luminus Devices and power semiconductor specialist APC Electronics have teamed up to deliver energy efficiency gains for the LED lighting industry.
This collaboration pairs Luminus' high-brightness LED products with APC-E's SiC power semiconductors, enabling customers to build system architectures that maximise luminaire power efficiency thus reducing operational costs and environmental impact.
The companies claim that switching an LED luminaire power supply design from traditional silicon to APC-E SiC components can reduce power supply weight and volume by 50 percent in 200W systems. It can also improve system efficiency as much as 15 percent in very high power (1000W) applications from street lighting, high mast, high bay, stadium, as well as industrial applications such as UV curing and horticulture.
In addition, they say that even lower power applications such as 100W fixtures can significantly benefit from the efficiency gains of SiC. With SiC market prices having dropped by ~25 percent annually during the past few years, the low cost of SiC components also makes the switch from silicon or even GaN to SiC especially attractive in today’s market.
"Luminus has established a leading reputation for LED efficacy, quality of light and reliability since our first generation of COBs in 2013," said Mark Pugh, CEO of Luminus Devices. "When paired with APC-E's SiC power devices, we're helping our customers take their systems to new levels of efficiency, which not only reduces energy usage and helps the environment but also enables rebates and other local government incentives."
He added: "This partnership with APC-E brings value to our existing illumination customers and will expand widely into other industries in the coming years as they leverage unique, elegant solutions for demanding applications across industrial power supplies, data centres, EVs, and medical systems."
