VIRIDYN: Waterproof Protection for Underwater LED Safety Lighting
The Challenge
A specialty lighting manufacturer faced challenges with protecting long-life underwater LED assemblies from corrosion.
While housings can offer robust protection, micro-faults may develop over time, resulting in moisture ingress that ultimately leads to corrosion of the PCBA and failure of the device.
The underwater LED product was designed to perform a critical safety function over long time intervals without regular maintenance. Therefore, it was essential for the manufacturer to further reduce risk of corrosion-related failure in the event of the LED housing becoming compromised.
The engineers required a high-performance, electronic-grade coating solution that would offer:
Long-term waterproof and chemical proof protection to the LED assembly;
Nano-scale thickness and optical transparency to maintain LED light quality;
UV tracer for enhanced quality control.
The Solution
VIRIDYN 101-X 2% PC is an ultra-thin waterproof and chemical resistant nano-coating with a high-definition UV tracer, that is well-suited for protection of LED assemblies designed for underwater environments and other challenging operating conditions.
ViriDyn worked closely with the manufacturer to realize the full benefits of this ultra-thin coating which include both excellent performance in terms of optical transparency and hydrophobicity, but also in terms of conformal coating process optimization.
VIRIDYN 101-X 2% PC is an ultra-thin (0.2 micron) coating that eliminates the need for manual masking of connectors, LED optical surfaces and lenses, while maintaining push-through connectivity. VIRIDYN101-X 2% PC also eliminates the need for long curing times, unlike traditional conformal coatings, and can be easily applied through a simple dip coating process.
Because of these coating process advantages, ViriDyn helped the manufacturer to realize savings of over 50% per LED assembly compared to traditional conformal coatings that require cost-intensive manual masking and curing.