At Lighting Japan 2014, it was clear that large manufacturers have been quickening their pace in introducing OLED into the lighting market. Large international manufacturer Osram spoke about developing OLED in the lighting market during the lighting expo. According to data from the company, OLED luminosity is expected to reach 125lm/W in 2018. The market will take off as luminosity increases and costs drop. Currently, aside from the increased willingness to incorporate OLED for general lighting purposes, large manufacturers have already started R&D for OLED in automotive tail lights.
During a seminar at the event on the 15th discussing new OLED technology trends, Osram spoke about the development potential OLED has in the lighting market. Osram currently focuses OLED development in the general lighting market and automotive lighting market. For general lighting, Osram has already introduced OLED lighting into their subsidiary's lighting fixture designs. Market demand in this area continues to grow.
Osram has also invested money into automotive lighting, especially as tail lights are starting to shift towards 3D lighting. Since OLED has this capability, automotive manufacturers are starting to show a lot more interest in OLED design for automotive lighting. However, automotive lighting has strict standards and stringent demand for highly reliable products. Osram therefore has not revealed their predicted time frame for introducing OLED into automotive lighting applications.
OLED has an established direction for development in lighting applications, but luminosity and cost related obstacles still have to be overcome before OLED can be produced en mass. Osram believes that OLED price/performance radio still has a lot of room for growth and estimates that the current luminosity of 40lm/W and brightness of 2000cd/m2 will be able to reach 70lm/w and 3000cd/m2 this year. By 2016, luminosity can reach 110lm/w and 125lm/W by 2018. Once OLED technology and cost reaches this point, it will be able to become a strong competitor to LEDs.
Author: Pinchun Chou, Senior Editor, LEDinside http:// Translator: Leah Allen, Editor, LEDinside