High-Efficiency OLED Light Engine

Lead Performer: LED Specialists Inc. – Holbrook, NY
Partners: None
DOE Total Funding: $120,721
Project Term: May 1, 2019 – December 31, 2020
Funding Type: SSL R&D Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) (DE-FOA-0001823)

Project Objective

The objective of this project is to develop a line-voltage, high-efficiency, long-life OLED light engine combining high-performance OLED panels in the 5W-8W range with advanced driver electronics to boost overall lighting efficiency. The light engine will include full and continuous dimmability down to 1% and will be designed to power the OLED to its maximum capacity, with user-friendly configurability to allow original equipment manufacturers to more rapidly turn out OLED lighting products. The team will also scale up the driver design to support up to four individual OLED panels in a multichannel configuration that might be well suited for multi-OLED light fixture designs. The researchers believe their efforts will result in a design that meets the DOE 2025 goal of 90% driver efficiency. They will perform the necessary research, engineering, prototyping, tooling, and qualification testing to fully develop this OLED engine, which will be designed in a form and at a cost range that facilitates commercialization.

Project Impact

For a line-voltage driver in 5-8W range with a 20V OLED load, the best efficiency that has been achieved to date is 82%. This project will result in driver technology that will provide electrical efficiency of greater than 90%, which in turn will increase overall OLED light-engine efficiency.

Contacts

DOE Technology Manager: Brian Walker, brian.walker@ee.doe.gov  
Lead Performer: William Reisenauer, LED Specialists Inc.