Highly efficient and smart power supplies to drive phosphorescent OLED lighting panels

In response to this U.S. Department of Energy Phase I Energy Conservation Applications for Solid- State Lighting (OLEDs) SBIR, InnoSys and Universal Display Corporation (UDC) propose to develop and commercialize drivers and power supplies specifically designed for high efficiency phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes (PHOLEDs) lighting panels, for a variety of indoor and outdoor lighting applications so as to increase and enhance the market and adoption for OLED lighting products. Our drivers will be more energy efficient than currently available, and will allow fixture manufacturers to readily design OLED lighting products by combining these drivers with commercially available lighting panels. OLEDs have made remarkable progress and are on the verge of becoming a significant player in the energy saving general lighting market. Several manufacturers now sell OLED lighting panels, but for fixture manufacturers to make and sell energy saving OLED luminaires, they need high efficiency power supplies. This proposal will lead to a U.S. source of these drivers, allowing the OLED lighting industry to grow rapidly, leading to the creation of new green jobs and savings in national energy consumption. OLEDs offer thin, lightweight, energy-efficient and large-area diffuse lighting with excellent visual quality. OLED lighting panels do not contain hazardous materials. There is an aesthetic to OLED lighting that is not easily possible to replicate with fluorescent lighting or LEDs. However a significant impediment to commercial innovation and competitive positioning is the lack of power supplies and drivers specifically focused and optimized for OLEDs which to date which remains unaddressed. For OLEDs to be competitive there must be a complete vendor chain for luminaire manufacturers to be able to design and implement a range of products from simple to complex, novel and innovative. To fully achieve and realize the opportunities OLEDs present to the market, innovative and flexible high efficiency power supplies and drivers are needed that can fully support and exploit the unique characteristics and performance that OLEDs offer. Our approach for this DOE SBIR is to specifically design, implement and manufacture innovative power supplies that enable and support rapid introduction of both OLED replacement and innovative general lighting and luminaires for residential, commercial and industrial applications and markets. We shall do this by combining the skills, knowledge, talents and expertise that InnoSys and UDC have in, respectively, in world-class lighting power supplies and world-class OLEDs. By designing power supplies specifically optimized for high efficiency OLEDs and OLED luminaire applications, both efficiency improvements in OLED lighting and form factor flexibility coupled with cost reductions in OLED luminaires can be achieved that will greatly increase the market acceptance and innovation of this relatively new form of solid state lighting. Both competitively-priced simple, low-cost internal (~ $1.75 and up) and cost-effective (~$3 and up) smart, feature-full OLED drivers will be implemented in this DOE SBIR. Simple, low-cost drivers will be dimmable, at least 90% efficient for output powers greater than 10 Watts, have PF & gt;0.95 (typically 0.98+), THD & lt;20%, and meet all regulatory and safety agency requirements including UL and FCC.