Lumiotec ships OLED lighting for commercial applications

Sara Ver-Bruggen - 25 Jan 2011

This month Japanese company Lumiotec begins shipping mass production-ready OLED lighting panels.

The Yamagata-headquartered company is able to produce panels in a range of square and rectangular dimensions, each in two colours - including a 'natural white' - for customers to integrate into fixtures and products.

One year ago the company, based in Yonezawa city, started shipping sample panels, costing ¥80,000 (about €630)).

The weight and thickness of the new panels designed for mass production have been reduced, resulting in lower unit prices. Each panel costs about ¥30,000. Though this is still far too expensive for general lighting applications, the company will determine the commercial viability of its OLED lighting panels based on the results of orders and feedback from partners.

The company is targeting production volumes of 60,000 units each year.

Samples

Since its founding in 2008, by Junji Kido of Yamagata University, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Toppan Printing and Rohm, Lumiotec has wasted little time in producing sample panels, and shipping them to potential clients in the Japanese and international lighting industry.

Since the end of 2010 the panels have been exhibited at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' refurbished headquarters as part of ceiling light fixtures. In the US OLED panels produced by Universal Display, as part of a Department of Energy-funded project, have been integrated into a into a ceiling fixture produced by Armstrong World Industries to demonstrate the technology in a commercial lighting application.

This year Mitsubishi Chemical subsidiary company Verbatim will start selling hybrid OLED products based on panels supplied by its partner Pioneer. Target sales for the company's OLED lighting business are ¥30 billion in 2015.