India Is The Biggest Market Of LED Lights And Electronic Components
The Indian LED industry has witnessed a paradigm shift in the last five years from the import of complete lights to SKD (semi knockdown) to CKD (completely knock down) to the component level, states Rajesh Uttamchandani, Director, Syska Group. In an exclusive exchange of notion, Jyoti Gazmer | Sub Editor | SYSKA further lit up the current LED Components Market and SYSKA’s leadership in this domain. Edited Nub.
- The current LED driver market is characterized by increasing pressure to cut costs and to bring a product to market quickly. How do manufacturers address this issue without compromising on the end product?
Driver is the heart of LED lights and hence the practical life of LED lights are analyzed based on the quality of drivers in service. The driver design and life is dependent on two external factors which are an ambient temperature at the working place and quality of power supply. As temperature and power supply conditions keep on changing from place to place and application to application, drivers are designed to meet these adverse conditions. Few critical components within a driver help in improving the overall life of the driver. As these components influence the price of drivers, we evaluate each project and accordingly import drivers in bulk directly from manufacturers. With this cost advantage, we try to maintain our competitive selling price with added features of longevity. With proper projection and help of regular market analysis, Syska also maintains adequate inventory and buffer stock of lead time. This helps us reduce the lead time in terms of the materials available and shipping time.
- “Connected” or “smart” lights, bulbs are becoming important data sources. Technologies such as Li-Fi (Wi-Fi for light) or internal geo-location grow rapidly in many areas of application. What kind of future do you see in these applications?
Smart lighting as a trend is seeing increasing implementation in view of reduction in prices. Various wireless and voice-controlled platforms have been developed such as Bluetooth, Mesh, Wi-Fi, Li-Fi, Geo, Alexa, Google and Apple home. These advanced technology-driven products have created their own space in store shelves. Currently, smart lighting is commercialized as a lifestyle commodity, however soon it will also be incorporated in all types of LED lighting applications.
- LEDs being preferred for in all kinds of industry domain are nothing new. How do you think the LED Chip manufacturers are aligning with the growing needs of LED? Does that pose any challenges to the LED chip that is being manufactured?
LED demand is growing at the space of 20~25% per annum and LED manufacturing is a highly automated industry. In the present scenario, LED chips (packages) are imported from China, Taiwan, and South Korea, hence the lead time is a major concern and prices are controlled by global trends. Today, India is the biggest market of LED lights and electronic components. Indigenous production of all electronic components will augment LED manufacturing in India and create opportunities for exports to the Middle East, Africa & other Asian countries.
- What is the buzz in the current market with regards to the LED Components?
The Indian LED industry has witnessed a paradigm shift in the last five years from import of complete lights to SKD (semi knockdown) to CKD (completely knock down) to the component level. Presently, the demand for electronic components is growing as many manufacturers have set up in-house surface-mount technology (SMT) lines. All principle manufacturers and brands of components have appointed stockiest and distributors in India to meet the growing requirement of components.
- Choosing the correct protection media for LED devices is very important to improve lifetime and performance. Which Encapsulation resins currently hold the key to this?
LED lights basically require protection from input power supply and inherent generated temperature. However, LED lights can be strengthened against both parameters. Use of wide input voltage range can absorb the voltage fluctuations and maintain stable light output. Higher temperature ratings of electronic components help in increasing the life of the device. Encapsulation of the driver circuit offers many advantages such as thermal conductivity, ingress protection, and electrical insulation. Hence, the type and selection of encapsulation resins/compound play a very important role in encapsulation. Chemical properties and composition, fineness, viscosity, hardening time, all these factors influence productivity and quality of encapsulation.
