Toshiba to Release Industry's Most Efficient LED Light Bulbs

Oct 1, 2009 16:56 Masaru Yoshida, Nikkei Electronics

Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corp will release high-output LED light bulbs with a total flux equivalent to that of a 60W incandescent lamp.

Equipped with a large-size LED package that measures approximately 15 x 15mm and was developed by the company, the natural white type and the warm white type feature total fluxes of 810lm and 600lm, respectively.

Their power consumption is 8.7V. And the luminous efficiency of the natural white type is 93lm/W, which is higher than those of any other similar products announced so far.

When used alone, the illuminance right below the natural white type is equivalent to that of a 150W incandescent lamp and the illuminance right below the warm white type is higher than that of a 100W incandescent lamp.

Toshiba Lighting & Technology improved luminous efficiency by dispersing more than a hundred LED chips in a large package to prevent heat from concentrating. For its previous products, the company used Nichia Corp's general-purpose LED package. But, this time, Toshiba Lighting & Technology developed its own LED package, aiming at a total flux 1.5 times higher than that of the company's former product that is equivalent to a 40W incandescent lamp in terms of total flux.

However, as the brightness increases, so does the total amount of heat. Therefore, the company elongated the chassis by 10mm to 119mm to expand the radiating area.

The general color rendering indexes (Ra) of the natural white type and the warm white type are 70 and 80, respectively. They both weigh 160g. And their product life is 40,000 hours, the same as that of the former product.

The manufacturer's suggested retail price is ¥9,135 (approx US$101) for both of the types. The price is relatively high because of the following two reasons. First, they use a dedicated LED package and a dedicated chassis. Second, their sales volume is expected to be lower than those of the former products.

"There is no other 8.7V LED light bulb that has a total flux of 810lm," said Shinichi Tsunekawa, president of Toshiba Lighting & Technology. "We will not compare our products with others' based on their prices."

The company will release the new LED light bulbs Oct 16, 2009, aiming to sell 70,000 units in fiscal 2009.

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