Cree, Durham, NC based market-leading innovator of lighting LEDs, LED lighting and semiconductor solutions for wireless and power applications, launched the highest-efficiency 90 CRI XLamp eTone LEDs, a set of chip-on-board (COB) LEDs that delivers 90 color rendering index (CRI) light quality at the same efficacy as current 80 CRI LEDs.
According to Cree, their new eTone COB LEDs deliver up to 155 peak lumens per watt (LPW) at 3000K Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) (at 85C) with the highest efficiency available compared with competing COB LEDs of the same size and color. The new COB LEDs are great for applications that need high-quality light, such as retail, museum, high-end commercial and medical facilities.
For indoor environment, the minimum requirement for light quality is a CRI of 80. Lower CRI values than 80 may distort the colors causing uncomfortable feeling, while higher CRI values of 90 mean higher fidelity or accuracy, indicating better light quality. Traditional LEDs with 90 CRI are expensive and are primarily used as premium lighting solutions for places where color quality is critical, like lighting fixtures in retail and museum environment. Even though LEDs with 90 CRI have been commercially available for years, due to technological limitations, to obtain higher light quality, tradeoffs had to be made on light output as well as the efficacy compared with lower 70 CRI and 80 CRI LEDs. With the new eTone COB LEDs, the efficacy has been upgraded to 17% over the traditional 90 CRI LEDs while keeping the color quality.
For lighting design engineers, using the new eTone COB LEDs in their designs can be simple and convenient. the new LEDs come available in both the ceramic-based XLamp CXA2 Standard Density and the metal-based XLamp CMA and CMT High Current COB LED series, which both share the same mechanical and electrical characteristics.