In June 2016, Laatzen, Germany-based Lunux GmbH acquired the Hella Industries industrial lighting business unit from its parent company.
Among the 14 different street-lighting products that were produced by Hella and added to Lunux's Hellux-brand lighting products in 2015 is the mast-mounted Hella Eco Stateline STL 17" streetlamp. This contains four "Plug & Play" LED light modules, each containing 98 LED lights in 14 rows of seven LEDs each.
With a choice of one, two, three or four LED modules, the 2,000-20,000 lumens brightness Eco Stateline STL 17" units have 15W-180W power consumption.
Lunux benefited from Hella experience in using LSR in a complex automotive multibeam matrix headlamp light guide and lens part.
Mold maker and molder Wilhelm Weber GmbH & Co. KG revealed in October 2017 that it has been overmolding the circuit board carrying the LEDs to form LSR lenses over each LED in the streetlamps. The streetlamps are being sold under the Hella Industries brand name.
The overmolded LED module adds to Weber's experience in molding thermoplastic and multicomponent LSR/thermoplastic parts.
Weber uses LSR for a complex integrated single-part molding with an integrated sealing lip, produced by placing the circuit board with a six-axis robot into a single-cavity mold fitted with sliders for LSR overmolding.
The mold runs on an Arburg 520A e2 all-electric drive injection molding machine. Weber applies partial surface pre-treatment on LED module sides to ensure high stability through higher adhesion between LSR and the circuit board.
The overmolded circuit board module is then removed from the mold after the LSR has cured and placed in a second station of the mold, where the rear of the circuit board is also overmolded with LSR. All of the LSR overmolding provides mechanical protection and insulation functions that would otherwise require separate techniques.