“Osram already has various UV-C light solutions for disinfection, including LED and traditional technologies. The strategic investment in Bolb strengthens our know-how in the UV-C LED field and gives Osram a leading position in the market for disinfection with non-visible light,” said Olaf Berlien, CEO of OSRAM Licht AG.
Currently, the majority of UV-C disinfection applications are based on conventional lighting technologies, usually mercury vapor lamps. Compared to these traditional lamps, UV-C LED technology has the potential to consume significantly less energy, while still providing the high light output required. The collaboration between Osram and Bolb promises to overcome this technological hurdle. Thanks to a unique technological building block for UV-C LEDs, Bolb is already succeeding in achieving outstanding efficiency values that are far ahead of other products available on the market. “With Osram’s decades of experience in the development and manufacturing of semiconductor-based products, this partnership sets the course for Osram and Bolb to lead the market for UV-C LEDs,” said Ulrich Eisele, head of Fluxunit, Osram’s venture capital unit.
Similar to the many advantages LEDs provide for conventional lighting applications versus traditional lighting technologies, UV-C LEDs promise a variety of benefits for manufacturers of disinfection solutions. These include lower energy consumption, long lifetime and significantly simplified system design due to the compact size of the light sources.
