With support from DOE's Small Business Innovation Research program, Universal Display Corporation (UDC) is working with Acuity Brands Lighting to make an efficient, color-tunable luminaire for use in the commercial sector using UDC's proprietary phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED™) technology. The present project aims to adapt this technology—which increases the energy efficiency of OLEDs by as much as fourfold—to high-end commercial and institutional building applications.
White PHOLEDs offer a novel form factor for more effective and imaginative application of white light, with the ability to tune light across a range of color temperatures—a functionality that's neither feasible nor practical when using traditional light sources. The new luminaire will consist of about 30 PHOLED panels, with each panel 15 cm2. The luminaire is projected to have a light output of >3,000 lumens, an efficacy of >70 lm/W, a color rendering index of >85, an extrapolated LT70 lifetime of >25,000 hours, and a color-tunable coordinated color temperature between 2700K and 4000K.
Lifetime and efficacy goals in test pixels, necessary to realize the final program luminaire deliverable, have already been met. The challenge now is to realize this performance in 15 cm2 panels. The project is on target to achieve this and to meet its performance goals in 2012.
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