LED Die Maker Cree Launches Product It Says Bridges Gap Between Old-School And New Display Tech
November 13, 2024 by Dave Haynes
The American LED die manufacturer Cree has launched a new product for outdoor displays that it says bridges a gap between old-school through-hole LED and much newer surface-mounted device (SMD) display technologies.
Cree LED says its new CV28D LEDs with what it calls “FusionBeam Technology provides a big boost in resolution and image quality and better focuses light to reduce light trespass (pollution) by 4X over standard outdoor displays that use SMD LED packages.
For readers who are looking at this a bit cross-eyed, products like highway roadside billboards still use LED technology called through-hole – little LED bulbs that attach to a display’s circuit using a pair of long wires.
The newer method – LEDs in teeny, usually square “packages” – tends to be used for higher resolution outdoor displays, like in Times Square or along the Vegas strip, as well as for indoor applications.
This marks a major leap forward for information displays, suggests Cree in PR, providing new levels of clarity and contrast versus current through-hole LED displays. With this high resolution, CV28D-enabled signs can now display icons, photos, logos, and even video, bringing unprecedented versatility to signs that can currently only display text or simple shapes.
Compared to traditional through-hole LEDs, the CV28D enables displays with 2.5 times the resolution, equivalent to the leap from standard definition 480p to full HD 1080p video. At the heart of the CV28D’s performance, FusionBeam Technology simultaneously blends individual RGB LED dies into a single, uniform color and then sends it only to the intended audience. The new LEDs also feature advanced directionality, focusing light on the intended viewer while reducing light trespass and pollution to four times less than standard RGB SMD LEDs.
These LED packages are IP68-rated for dust and waterproofing, and have a form factor of 4.3 mm in height. Cree suggests this can make it possible to build significantly thinner and lighter displays.
The CV28D seamlessly blends individual RGB LED dies into a single, uniform color, delivering vivid, accurate colors to the intended audience. Its color uniformity is up to 18 times better than standard RGB SMD signage LEDs, which only maintain color consistency in one direction – either side-to-side or up-to-down.
With FusionBeam Technology, the CV28D provides true-to-life colors visible from all angles, enhancing image quality even at close distances.
An electrical engineering degree and a background designing LED displays would be useful in appreciating the significance of this … and I have neither. But the light trespass/pollution thing is a real issue. Toronto-based Media Resources, for example, uses a combination of louvres and through-hole LEDs pointed downward to prevent light from roadside billboards finding its way through windows into nearby homes.
But Media Resources uses Cree competitor Nichia’s LEDs for its big roadside boards.
Wonder what the power efficiency is vs standard thru-hole.