Littelfuse Press Release - 10/22/2008


New Littelfuse Introduces Reliable, Low-Cost Open LED Protector

 

New PLED® 6 Series open LED protector adds high-reliability to LED lighting,
and is available in a DO-214 or QFN surface-mount package.

 

DES PLAINES, IL - October 21, 2008 - Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ/NGS:LFUS) the leader in circuit protection, has introduced the PLED 6 Series, an open LED protector that provides a switching electronic shunt path when a single LED in an LED array fails as an open circuit. This ensures that the entire array of LEDs will continue to function even if a single LED in the array does not.

The Littelfuse PLED 6 Series open LED protector helps LED lighting manufacturers design for critical-reliability, hostile-environment applications such as automotive headlights, traffic lights, bridge lighting, and aircraft runway lighting. In these applications, light replacement is costly; open LED protection preserves the advantages of long-life LED technology and helps end users avoid high maintenance costs.

The new LED open circuit protector features a current range of 300mA to 1.0A, the highest current range on the market. It also features a low on-state voltage of 1.5V and low off-state current which lowers power dissipation and reduces the impact of heating on LEDs, which are delicate solid-state devices and can be easily damaged by current surges and transients. Such protection is especially important in a growing LED market that reached $4.2 billion in 2006 and is expected to grow to upwards of $9 billion by 2011.

The PLED 6 Series open LED protector uses a 4-layered thyristor structure that automatically resets if the LED heals itself or is replaced and also features built-in surge immunity. Its environmentally friendly package is RoHS compliant and halogen free as well.

The PLED 6 Series open LED protector is available in two surface mount packages, the DO-214 and the Quad Flat Pak No-lead (QFN). The QFN's low profile, chip scale package (CSP) is ideal for dense board applications as well as strings of LED lighting.

Availability
The Littelfuse PLED 6 Series open LED protector is now available for order and sample requests through most authorized Littelfuse representatives and distributors worldwide. For a listing of Littelfuse representatives and distributors, please visit http://www.littelfuse.com.

Additional Information. For additional information about the Littelfuse PLED 6 Series, please visit http://www.littelfuse.com/series/PLED6.html, or contact your Littelfuse products representative of the Littelfuse Technical Support line at 1-800-999-9445.

PLED6 product specifications
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For circuit protection application design ideas, please visit the new Application Design Center section of the Littelfuse web site.

About Littelfuse
As the worldwide leader in circuit protection products and solutions with annual sales of $536.1 million in 2007, the Littelfuse portfolio is backed by industry leading technical support, design and manufacturing expertise. Littelfuse products are vital components in virtually every product that uses electrical energy, including automobiles, computers, consumer electronics, handheld devices, industrial equipment, and telecom/datacom circuits. Littelfuse offers Teccor®, Wickmann® and Pudenz® brand circuit protection products. In addition to its Des Plaines, Illinois, world headquarters, Littelfuse has sales, distribution, manufacturing and engineering facilities in Brazil, China, England, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and the U.S. For more information, please visit Littelfuse's web site at www.littelfuse.com.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Any forward looking statements contained herein involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, product demand and market acceptance risks, the effect of economic conditions, the impact of competitive products and pricing, product development and patent protection, commercialization and technological difficulties, capacity and supply constraints or difficulties, exchange rate fluctuations, actual purchases under agreements, the effect of the company's accounting policies, and other risks which may be detailed in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.