Universal Display Awarded US DOE Contract to Demonstrate Thin, Highly Efficient OLED Lighting

Universal Display Corporation announced that the company has been awarded a $1.65 million, two-year contract from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate a thin, highly-efficient, white OLED lighting concept for under-cabinet applications.This program builds on Universal Display’s past and current work with the DOE under its Solid State Lighting Program.

Under terms of the contract, Universal Display will deliver a set of under-cabinet lighting units to the DOE.Each unit will consist of five 6” x 6” white PHOLED lighting panels that are based on the company’s high-efficiency, phosphorescent OLED technology andmaterials.

The units will be designed to provide comparable performance to existing under-cabinet systems, have a system efficiency of > 60 lumens per watt, and exhibit a significantly thinner form factor than conventional under-cabinet lighting products currently in the market.This thin form factor has the potential to expand the array of possible under-cabinet lighting design concepts and to simplify product installation.

“While we continue technology development toward the U.S. DOE 2015 targets for general illumination, the performance of our white PHOLED devices may already satisfy the requirements of a variety of specialty lighting applications,” said Steven Abramson, president and CEO of Universal Display. “The next important step is to identify and demonstrate new lighting product concepts that leverage these energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly and very thin OLED light sources. This proposed under-cabinet lighting fixture represents an exciting, early-stage practical application for white OLED lighting for both consumer and commercial markets.”

This is the second potential commercial lighting application in development by Universal Display. In 2008, the company began working with Armstrong World Industries on a ceiling-based OLED lighting system, also supported, in part, through the DOE Solid State Lighting Program.

According to industry estimates, electric bills for lighting alone are over $200 billion per year on a worldwide basis.It has been estimated that by 2016, white OLEDs could generate well over $20 billion in worldwide savings of electricity costs and could save more than nine million metric tons of carbon emissions from the U.S. alone.