Microprinting Waveguides for Ultra-thin and Flexible LED Lighting Panels

Lucent Optics’ CoreGLO™ panels are the industry’s first commercially available diffuse LED sources with an ultra-thin and flexible form factor. These panels are made using inorganic LED packages and optical waveguides. The waveguides are produced from low-cost plastic sheets using a proprietary additive manufacturing process called “microprinting”. This highly collaborative project will further develop and scale-up the microprinting process as well as improve the overall performance of CoreGLO panels. In Phase I, we proved the feasibility of scaling up the microprinted waveguides to the sizes of mainstream linear luminaires and enabling high-CRI versions of the CoreGLO panels. We also produced several functional prototypes that met all the established Phase I performance targets. The improved CoreGLO technology has attracted a significant interest from the industry and follow-up funding from non-federal sources, with the enhancements developed in Phase I having already been incorporated into commercial production. The proposed Phase II project builds upon the success of the Phase I feasibility study and the lessons learned from pilot manufacturing. It also leverages Lucent Optics partnerships with the industry and academia, particularly including Lawrence Berkeley Nation Lab and the Washington Clean Energy Testbeds of the University of Washington. The Phase II effort will be directed to further scaling up the microprinting technology both in terms of the physical size of produced panels and manufacturing throughput. It will also aim to further improve the performance and customization of the CoreGLO panels. The work will particularly include adapting the microprinting process for patterning very large substrates of up to 4 ft and beyond while preserving the luminance and color uniformity of the CoreGLO panels. We will also conduct further experiments with using phosphor materials in the microprinting process to improve color rendering and overall luminous efficacy of the panels. In addition, we will work on increasing the production throughput using roll to roll patterning of the waveguides using high-resolution flexography. If successful, this effort will make viable creating a wide array of ultra-low-cost LED-based luminaires having innovative shapes and attractive designs at a fraction of the cost of traditional SSL products.