UVC LED Beyond Covid-19: Performance Analysis and Comparison Report 2023

Glossaries

Definitions

Table of contents

Limitations

About PISÉO

About the authors

Companies cited

General Introduction

What’s new?

Objective of the report

Executive Summary

UV Radiation

Main applications of UVC radiation

• Disinfection / purification / sterilization: water, air, surfaces and objects
• Analytical instruments
• Other UVC radiation applications

Disinfection by UVC radiation

• UVC radiation disinfection mechanism
• Fundamental quantities
• 222 nm wavelength
• Benefits and risks of disinfection by UVC radiation

UVC light sources

• UVC lamps
• UVC LED vs. mercury vapor lamp
• UVC LED technology

Intellectual property

Portfolio analysis of UVC LED manufacturers

• UVC LED portfolio of manufacturers
• Analysis of the UVC LED of the market
• When will UVC LED replace Low-pressure mercury lamp?

Designing UVC LED systems for disinfection

• System design parameters
• System design example
• System integration

Implementation of systems based on UVC LEDs

Overview of marketed product analysis

UVC LED market and industry

Regulations and standardization

Conclusions

References

Related products

How to use our data?

PISÉO

About Yole Group

Contacts

A sustained UVC LED performance-increase trend.

For some years now, the increased performance trend of UVC LED has strongly continued. Three UVC LED manufacturers – ams OSRAM, Nichia, and Bolb Inc. – have brought to the market UVC LED with wall-plug efficiency (WPE) over 5%. This is a remarkable performance, knowing that so far Bolb Inc. has been the only UVC LED manufacturer to overtake the 5% threshold, and that most of the UVC LEDs on the market offer WPE between 1% - 4%.

The market is also looking for better performance in terms of lifetime, requesting significantly longer lifetime than the 8 - 12 khrs (L70) that has been reached so far by UVC LEDs. Thus, some UVC LED manufacturers are today considering lifetime as one of the main parameters to work on, appointing the necessary effort to improve this parameter. In March 2023, Crystal IS announced it has reached a lifetime of 25 khrs (L70), a remarkable step in the race for longest UVC LED lifetime.

More manufacturer announcements on performance are expected in 2023.

UVC LED: a dynamic market witnessing the entry of leaders from the LED lighting market and the publication of new standards.

For years, LED lighting manufacturers have invested in research and development of UVC LEDs, but not all of them have entered the UVC LED market. Among other factors, the performance and price of the UVC LED were limitations for the development of this emerging market, and some LED manufacturers were looking for wider adoption of the UVC LED before putting their product on the market. The significant improvements of these two factors, combined with the peak of demands brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, has led manufacturers to enter the UVC LED market. Thus, after the entry of ams OSRAM in 2020, Samsung, another leader in the LED lighting market, has recently entered the market as well.

On the regulations and standardization side, some standards are being released. As such, ANSI, IES, and IUVA are active with two standards related to ultraviolet germicidal irradiation practices and UVC LED measurement, published in 2022. Moreover, ASHRAE is expected to publish an Indoor Air Quality Standard in 2023.

Impact of performance improvement on disinfection / purification applications.

The combination of the recent and remarkable increases in UVC LED WPE and lifetime is reducing the gap between UVC LED-based and low-pressure mercury lamp-based systems in terms of total cost of ownership (cost of the product and the cost of operating it). By 2028, the total cost of ownership of a UVC LED-based disinfection system could be comparable, or even more interesting, than a low-pressure mercury lamp for most disinfection / purification applications. Of course, other parameters have to be taken into account (for example, R&D efforts to design reactors adapted to UVC LED technology), and the UVC LED technology will not be established in all applications at the same time (i.e., high flow-rate water purification systems will take longer to be established than POE and POU UVC LED systems).

Key Features

• UV radiation
• Main applications of UVC radiation (disinfection / purification / sterilization, analytical instruments, etc.)
• Disinfection by UVC radiation (disinfection mechanism, fundamental quantities, 222 nm wavelength, benefits and risks)
• UVC light sources (UVC lamps, UVC LED technology)
• Intellectual property
• Portfolio analysis of UVC LED manufacturers
• Comparison of the UVC LEDs proposed on the market
• Designing UVC LED systems for disinfection
• Implementation of systems based on UVC LEDs
• Overview and analysis of marketed products
• UVC LED market and industry
• Regulations and standardization

What's new

• Updated LED performance data
• New packaged manufacturers identified
• New UVC LED references identified
• Enriched analysis of the UVC LED offer on the market
• Updated trends on the market, with hindsight of the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact
• Updated status on regulations and standardization
• Trends for replacement of low-power mercury lamps by UVC LED technology

Product objectives

• Provide a comparison of the UVC LEDs proposed on the market.
• Highlight the existing and potential applications for UVC LED.
• Propose answers to the question of the relevancy of using UVC LED technology for disinfection.
• Offer UVC LED manufacturers and integrators an overview and analysis of the UVC LED market offer, including manufacturers’ claimed performances.
• Furnish some hints for integration of UVC LED in a system.
• Accentuate details of the UVC LED products marketed.
• Review UVC LED market status and trends.
• Recap progress on regulations and standardization.

Acuva (Canada), American Opto Plus (US), AOT (Taiwan), AquiSense Technologies (US) Asahi Kasei Corp. (Japan), Bioraytron (Taiwan), Bolb Inc. (US), Corning (US), Cree (US), Crystal IS (US), Delta Airlines (US), Dietal (France), Dowa (Japan), DUVTek (China), Edison Opto (Taiwan), Epileds (Taiwan), Everlight Electronics (Taiwan), GoodFellow (UK), Harvatek (Taïwan), HCEN (China), Hexatech (US), High Power Lighting (HPL), Hönle (Germany), Hunan Pusisat Opto Tech Co Ltd (China), Hytecon (Switzerland), Hyundai (South Korea), IBT (China), KnightOptical (UK), KoppGlass (US), Lattice Power (China), Ledil (Finland), Legrand (France), LG-Innotek (South Korea), Light Avenue (Germany), LiteOn (Taiwan), LuckyLight (China), Lumex (Taiwan), Lumileds (US), Luminus Devices (US), NationStar (China), MetaWater (Japan), Nichia (Japan), Nikkiso (Japan), Nitride Semiconductors (Japan), ams Osram (Germany), Phoseon Technology (US), Photon Wave (South Korea), Purion (Germany), QD Jason Electric (China), QT Brightek (US), Samsung (South Korea), Sanan (China), Seoul Viosys (Co) (South Korea), Seti (US), Signify-Philips (Netherlands), Stanley Electric (Japan), Sterilray (US), Sunpu Opto (China), Surenhap, Typhon Treatment System (UK), Ushio (Japan), UV Boosting (France), UVON (Point Engineering) (South Korea), UVOJI (France), UVRER (France), Violumas (US), Watersprint (Sweden), Würth Elektronik (Germany), Yole Intelligence (France) and more.