Iwasaki Electric Co., Ltd. and Teijin Limited announced the joint development of a completely plastic LED lamp that uses a high thermal conductivity resin, made by combining Teijin's RAHEAMA high thermal conductivity carbon material with polycarbonate resin, for the housing in place of aluminum. The new lamp, named LED EYELAMP, will be released by Iwasaki Electric by the end of this year, as the world's first LED lamp for outdoor illumination that uses plastic for the entire housing except for the bayonet cap.
The new lamp weighs just 300 grams, the same as a conventional self-ballasted mercury-vapor lamp. With only a tenth of the power consumption of a conventional mercury-vapor lamp, it is brighter and lasts 40,000 hours, roughly seven times longer than a conventional lamp. It also offers high design quality utilizing the unique texture of high thermal conductivity resin, which differs from the metal feeling. It still fits existing fixtures yet creates a new impression.

While conventional self-ballasted mercury-vapor lamps are usually available in 3,100K (Ra58), the new product comes in a warm-colored 3,000K (Ra80) model, and a white 6,500K (Ra70) version.

Iwasaki Electric expects initial annual sales of 30,000 lamps, while developing more product variations. With the new product, the company aims to expand applications for lighted signs, makeshift installations, factories and indoor facilities that require the performance, as well as for professional use by architects and lighting designers. Teijin will further expand the market for RAHEAMA in LED and other applications, aiming to sell several hundred tons annually by 2015. As the market further develops, the company hopes to increase production capacity in the future.

Lighting in outdoor signs and at work-sites mainly use self-ballasted mercury-vapor lamps, which do not require the ballast usually needed to turn them on. However, problems such as high power consumption remain. LED lamps feature low power consumption and long life, but since they generally use aluminum for heat dissipation, achieving adequate luminous flux usually results in excessive weight, while heat generated by the LED may affect electric circuit components.

To resolve these issues, Iwasaki Electric has utilized its many years of experience and knowledge as a lighting manufacturer in the development of a new type of LED lamp.

Teijin, making use of its proprietary technology, has developed RAHEAMA, and has sought ways to expand the applications for high thermal conductivity resin. Demand is increasing for advanced materials that help cool through heat dissipation, which is becoming an important means of raising efficiency and protecting operational integrity.

Since their needs coincided, the two companies began joint development in the end of 2009. By fusing Iwasaki Electric's light fitting design technologies with a high thermal conductivity resin made by combining RAHEAMA with polycarbonate resin from the Teijin Group, the companies successfully developed a new type of LED lamp that combines all the properties of brightness, low power consumption, long life and light-weight.

RAHEAMA, a name combining the words "rapid" and "heat," conducts heat better than metals, and quickly helps dissipate the heat of electric devices. RAHEAMA-compounded resin can disperse heat on par with aluminum, making it ideal for a range of products including LED lamps that require light weight, designability and moldability. Teijin currently produces RAHEAMA at its Iwakuni facility in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan, and is now preparing for full-scale production.


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About Iwasaki Electric
Iwasaki Electric Co., Ltd. is a global lighting conglomerate, founded in 1944 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Iwasaki, a publicity traded company, is keenly focused on high-tech manufacturing and their marketing operations worldwide as it continues into the 7th decade of commercializing our global business. Tokyo-based Iwasaki Electric Co., Ltd. is a high-technology manufacturer with marketing and manufacturing operations worldwide. The company's principal operating area is lighting products including high intensity discharge (HID), incandescent and fluorescent lamps and fixtures, which are used in commercial and industrial lighting systems, electronic products and communications equipment. Iwasaki also develops innovative applied optics applications for ultraviolet, infrared and electron-beam radiation for customers in fields such as photo-chemistry, electronics semiconductor manufacturing and biotechnology.