OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) are materials that emit light when current is passed through them. OLED are used today to make beautiful and efficient displays, but it is also possible to use the technology to create white light.
OLEDs are very power efficient and they can be made very thin. An OLED light bulb is actually a thin film of material that emits bright white light. Because OLEDs can be flexible, or even transparent, exciting new OLED lamp designs are possible.
OLED lighting - the green light source
Not only are OLEDs super efficient, but these 'lamps' do not contain any 'bad'
metals such as mercury, which is present in efficient CFL lamps. So
OLEDs are really the future lighting source, when all things are
considered.
What's on the market today
There are three companies that already offer OLED panels: Philips, Osram and Japan's Lumiotec. These are just 'design samples' currently that carry a very high price. But designers can get panels to play with, waiting till the companies lower their prices and start making commercial OLED Lighting panels.
OSRAM: The world's first OLED lamp
In April 2008, OSRAM has announced the world's first OLED lamp. It was designed by lighting designer Ingo Maurer, uses 10 OLED light panels, sized 132 x 33 millimeters. The OLED bulb in this lamp are actually thin square sheets...This lamp is actually more of a prototype - only 25 will be made, and the price is more than 25,000euro. But it sure is an important milestone on the path for OLED lighting.
In November 2009 OSRAM has started to actually sell their first OLED panel, the ORBEOS. They offer one round panel (88mm diameter) with 25lm/W efficiency. The price is around $375...
OSRAM ORBEUS OLED Lighting panel
Philips OLED lighting panels
Philips are currently the leading company with regards to OLED lights. They will start shipping OLED samples panels (which can be ordered online). Check out our first OLED light review of a couple of panels they sent us. They have plans for commercial products by 2010.
Philips ceiling OLED lamp photo
Philips think that transparent and color-tunable OLEDs will be here within 3-5 years. Flexible ones? a bit longer, might take 5-8 years.
OLED lighting status
Several companies are working towards white OLED light products. Like we mentioned before, Philips are already shipping OLED samples panels (which can be ordered online), with 'commercial' panels available in 2010. OSRAM is also shipping their first OLED panel, the ORBEOS.
GE is hoping to get products out by 2010 and China's Visionox have shown decorative OLED lighting prototypes - which they are actually shipping in "small volumes". They say that the decorative market is their first target, and general-lighting will only be addressed in a few years.
Visionox OLED lamp prototype
Other companies involved in white OLED lighting are Konica Minolta (plans to have products by 2011), Universal Display (WOLED technology), and Kodak. The Fraunhofer institutes in Germany is also doing a lot of research into OLED light. Samsung are also working towards OLED Lighting, and LG Chem have recently joined the race, and wants to start mass production in 2H 2010.
Here's a nice chart by DisplaySearch, showing the leading companies and their annonced OLED lighting plans:
The EU is funding several OLED lighting projects, while in Japan a few companies have joined forces to create Lumiotec, which will start to ship sample panels in February.
