International Lighting Companies Form a Consortium for Global Standardization of LED Lighting Products

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The global standardization of LED lighting products has been garnering attention. A group of conventional lighting industry players from Europe, U.S. and Japan have formed an industrial alliance — Zhaga Consortium — to facilitate the design and promote the global standardization of LED lighting products.

Zhaga Consortium members include Philips Lighting B.V. from Holland, OSRAM GmbH from Germany, Panasonic and Toshiba from Japan, General Electronics from the USA, as well as Samsung and LG from South Korea.

According to its plan, Zhaga Consortium aims to standardize LED light engines (composed of LED modules, LED driver ICs, lenses, and other optical components) used in LED luminaires and further develop international standards for submission to organizations like the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

It is expected that in the future, more and more LED light engines will be launched after the standardization of LED lighting products, making it easier for lighting companies to purchase LED lighting components. Eliminating the need to independently develop LED light engines further reduces the production cost of LED lighting, which in turn lowers the entry barrier for manufacturers who are eager to invest in the LED lighting market.

One of Zhaga’s key objectives is to promote standardized LED products, focusing on high power LED lamps with lumen output of over 1000lm for commercial lighting and outdoor lighting followed by lighting in offices, factories, and other industrial purposes.

Zhaga Consortium will standardize LED light engine interfaces which cover the mechanical interface involving shape and holder specifications, the thermal interface of the cooling path, the electrical interface for power supply, insulation, ground and control, finally, the photometric interface relating to light beam, color and optical radiation features. Nevertheless, Zhaga did not establish standards on performance such as lifetime and quality, since lighting performance requirements vary depending on different regions and the key to product differentiation between lighting vendors lies in product lifetime and lighting quality.

Moreover, the internal structure of LED light engine is not being standardized. Zhaga specifies the overall light output, e.g. over 1000lm, however, neither the number of LEDs packaged into the LED module nor the driving method is specified. In other words, achieving the optimal balance between cost and luminous efficacy is the key competitive advantage of manufacturers, giving rise to their differentiation in the market.

Insights from LEDinside

The formation of Zhaga Consortium is beneficial for promoting the standardization of LED lighting products. Unlike other national standards guided by individual countries and governments, Zhaga’s specifications are initiated and developed by the LED industry.

In this case, the standards developed by Zhaga Consortium naturally takes into account both the current and future requirements of lighting manufacturers, allowing competitive differentiation between manufacturers, while focusing on the same goal of expanding the overall market and paving the way for LED lighting to replace conventional lighting.

Typically, a consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, or organizations with the common objective of participating in an activity to achieve a common goal. According to Zhaga’s regulation, any individual that agrees with the Zhaga Consortium Agreement can apply for the membership with a fee ranging from 1,000~10,000 Euro.