ITRI's Newest AC LED Tech Wins U.S.' R&D 100 Award

Taipei, Oct. 27, 2008 (CENS)-After four years of collective effort with 19 local companies in the LED (light emitting diode) industry, Taiwan's government-funded Industrial Technology Research Institute has finally reaped fruit for its labor: winning U.S.' R&D 100 Award this year with its AC LED technology, according to industry sources.

Founded in 1963 by U.S.'s famous R&D Magazine, R&D 100 Award has become one of the most important R&D contests for innovative technology developers globally. Evaluated by experts in different fields, every year a total of 100 technologies are awarded for innovative, progressive and practical features.

Having won early this year, ITRI's AC LED technology has attracted intense attention from globally leading brands of lightings, including Philips and Osram. ITRI noted that the technology is developed in line with a concept of "Simple is Best," adopting an AC drive chip instead of DC model to drive LEDs.

By using AC drive chips, AC LEDs feature improved thermal dissipation and has no need for transformers. Plus, AC LED cuts energy consumption by 15-30%, achieving better efficiency than conventional LEDs.

Besides, AC LED is also smaller than conventional LEDs. This advantage allows producers to apply more design and innovations in manufacturing of LED lightings. So far, the technology has been used for making LED backlight modules of displays, and is expected to gain popularity with lighting producers and interior designers all around the world soon.

ITRI indicated that in addition to current 19 Taiwanese LED makers, it plans to team up with others to promote the technology. Also, the institute is going to prompt integration of the whole industry on the island by R&D alliances, in hopes to build a sound supply chain for AC LEDs and to help to sharpen Taiwanese makers' competitiveness. Also, the institute is presently engaged in drafting proper safety certification and testing criteria for AC LED applications