ProPhotonix Ltd raises cash, targets new LED markets

ProPhotonix Ltd raises cash, targets new LED markets
Although best known for machine-vision products, ProPhotonix Ltd is looking to expand into other markets, such as medical and illumination, after raising cash from the sale of shares.
ProPhotonix Limited, a designer and manufacturer of LED light-engines and laser-diode modules with operations in Ireland and the UK, has raised approximately GBP 3.255 million before expenses from the sale of 23.25 million new shares.

The company said in its press release that the funds would be used to "capitalize on the opportunities available in our chosen markets through the application of our proprietary technology and expertise in relation to LED-based lighting applications and in developing our laser-module business."

Best known as a supplier of light sources for machine vision, ProPhotonix has recently expanded into the medical-equipment and homeland-security markets, and says it intends to develop and market a high-power LED light-engine product line for the industrial illumination market.

COBRA Slim linescan illuminator provides extreme brightness in a slim form-factor and is available in any length up to 5 metres.
FIG. 1. COBRA Slim linescan illuminator
In October 2009, StockerYale, Inc. sold its North American operations, including its specialty-optical-fiber division, to Coherent, and about nine months later StockerYale changed its name to ProPhotonix Limited. Its shares are traded on the AIM (PPIX and PPIR) and OTC (STKR.PK) stock exchanges.

Based in Salem, New Hampshire, the company has two operating subsidiaries, an LED operation in Cork, Ireland and a laser operation in the UK. ProPhotonix Ireland is the company’s center for LED research, design and production of LED arrays and light engines for various markets.

This part of the company began as a spin-out from University College Cork, which developed what has become ProPhotonix’s proprietary COBRA chip-on-board (COB) LED technology. As the name implies, COB manufacturing places unpackaged LED chips directly onto the circuit board. “We buy chips and mount them very close together in thermally-efficient packages,” says Mark Blodgett, ProPhotonix’s chairman and CEO. “We offer a very strong engineering capability, and a lot of our products are custom-made.”

Blodgett says that the company’s production capacity was increased three-fold in the fourth quarter of 2010, adding automated capabilities for pick & place, die bonding and encapsulation. “We have sufficient capacity for 2011,” he says. “Despite their banking woes, we’ve found Ireland to be an incredibly creative engineering environment with many highly qualified engineers available.”

Applications

Among ProPhotonix’s LED products are COBRA and COBRA Slim (Fig. 1), which addresses complex linescan illumination needs; and Lotus, a highly reliable replacement for fluorescent machine-vision applications.