Growing Together with the Light Expo | Youweixin: Successfully Opening up the Southeast Asian Market and Expanding the Segmented Light Medical Track through the Light Expo

From assisting Ningde Times in battery production to empowering Quanzhou water disinfection system, from Midea air conditioning sterilization to WENJIE new energy vehicle purification, UWEIXIN is breaking through with hard technology honed in ten years, writing a new chapter in China's UV industry from following to leading

Being the first in China to complete the layout of the entire industry chain

In the exhibition hall of Youweixin Company, a deep ultraviolet LED chip the size of a fingernail is eye-catching. This "Chinese chip" with a first breaking electro-optical conversion efficiency of 8% is backed by a decade long history of technological breakthroughs. In 2015, when Professor Chen Changqing led a team from Huazhong University of Science and Technology to establish Youweixin, the efficiency of domestic deep ultraviolet LED chips was less than 3%, forcing domestic companies to import foreign products at high prices

Since its establishment and integration into the Wuhan Institute of Optoelectronics Technology (ITRI), Youweixin has been deeply involved in the field of UV LED sterilization and curing, continuously investing in innovative research and development

Through continuous upgrading of chip technology, our deep ultraviolet UVC chips currently have an electro-optical conversion efficiency (WPE) of around 8% and a lifespan of 15000 hours for L70, maintaining a leading advantage of over 20% compared to domestic peers. ”Zhuo Changzheng introduces. After taking the lead in completing the full industry chain layout in China in 2020, the enterprise experienced explosive growth: not only did it solve the problem of shortage of medical staff and supplies at Tongji Hospital affiliated with Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, but it also entered the supply chain of well-known brands such as Midea, Haier, and Gree in 2023; The first domestically developed ultraviolet LED high flow water disinfection equipment has been installed in the Quanzhou water system. After ten months of high-intensity operation verification, the sterilization rate has remained stable at over 99.999%, filling the gap in this field in China

The technological breakthrough is still accelerating. In the future, the improvement of WPE will be the key to promoting industrial upgrading. ”Zhuo Changzheng revealed that the company plans to increase chip efficiency to 15% within three years, completely breaking through the technological bottleneck of replacing mercury lamps in the industrial field. The rapid transformation capability of "laboratory production line market" has enabled Youweixin to achieve a leapfrog development from technological breakthroughs to industry leadership, and has successively obtained national level specialized and innovative "Little Giant", "National High tech Enterprise", and Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center qualification certifications

Successfully opened up the Southeast Asian market through the Light Expo

Since its first exhibition in 2019, Youweixin has participated in four consecutive sessions of the Optics Expo. At the upcoming Light Expo, companies will showcase their new generation of high-performance UVC LED chips and self-developed UV LED system level modules. Among them, the UVC LED chip adopts an innovative chip structure design, with a 20% increase in luminous efficiency compared to the previous generation product, which can effectively reduce energy consumption and is widely used in various fields such as sterilization and disinfection, photomedicine, etc; The UV LED system level module has the characteristic of high integration. Through the integrated design of the driving circuit and the lamp beads, it not only reduces the system volume and cost, but also improves stability and reliability, providing more efficient solutions for industrial production, scientific research experiments and other scenarios

Compared to other exhibitions, the Light Expo has stronger professionalism and more comprehensive coverage in the field of optoelectronics, "said Zhuo Changzheng. The Light Expo can fully leverage the advantages of regional industrial clusters, provide enterprises with efficient opportunities for industry university research cooperation, promote technological innovation and achievement transformation. At the same time, the radiation range of the Light Expo is wide, attracting many industry professionals from home and abroad to participate, and providing a high-quality platform for enterprises to expand their domestic and international markets. This is incomparable to other exhibitions, "he commented

At previous optical exhibitions, Youweixin met a large medical equipment manufacturer from Southeast Asia. This has become a key resource driving our business development, "recalled Zhuo Changzheng. At the Light Expo, the other party showed a strong interest in the potential application of Youweixin UVB LED chips in the field of optomedical. After multiple rounds of communication and cooperation negotiations, both parties reached a long-term cooperation agreement

This company has applied our UVB LED chips to their new phototherapy equipment, and with the help of their well-established sales channels in Southeast Asia, our products have successfully entered the Southeast Asian optomedical market. ”Zhuo Changzheng said that this not only brought a large number of orders and increased product market share, but also prompted Youweixin to further optimize chip performance and quality control system for the special needs of the medical field, promoting the company's technology research and development and market expansion in the field of optomedical segmentation

Guanggu's innovative model significantly enhances the resilience of the industrial chain

In Optics Valley, innovation is never a solo show. "Zhuo Chang interprets Optics Valley's innovation code in this way. In his view, the core competitiveness of the Light Expo compared to other exhibitions lies in its unique genes rooted in the "China Optics Valley" - it not only gathers top research institutions such as Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Wuhan Optoelectronics National Research Center, but also builds a complete industrial chain from materials, equipment to end applications, allowing the "chemical reactions" between enterprises to give birth to innovation networks

This synergistic effect is particularly evident in the cooperation between Youweixin and Changfei Fiber. Compared with traditional mercury lamp curing, ultraviolet LED products have the advantages of fast start-up speed, low energy consumption, non-toxic and environmentally friendly, and can achieve more precise curing control. The two companies jointly developed and took the lead in applying UV LED curing technology to the drawing, coating, and coloring production of Changfei fiber optic cables. Data shows that compared with existing technologies, the energy consumption in the UV curing process of fiber drawing coatings has been significantly reduced by more than 70%, and the fiber drawing speed has been increased by 20%. The significant energy-saving effect, improved fiber drawing speed, and long service life have significantly reduced the production cost of Changfei fiber

This collaborative innovation model of "chip enterprises+application leaders" is giving rise to a chain reaction in Optics Valley. When the UV chip of Youweixin is embedded in the production line of Changfei Fiber, it not only solves the production pain points of individual enterprises, realizes the independent controllability of key processes, but also drives the competitiveness of downstream enterprises such as Changfei Fiber, pulls the synchronous innovation of upstream material and midstream equipment enterprises, and establishes new technical standards for the industry. As Zhuo Changzheng said, "This innovative cooperation significantly enhances the resilience of the industrial chain

In his view, the Light Expo is not only an exhibition, but also a "business card" presented by Optics Valley to the world. It's like a 'resource hub' - where capital discovers hard tech potential stocks, talent finds the soil for technology landing, and companies collide to spark cross-border innovation. For example, the new project we are currently promoting plans to link with the global market through the Light Expo in the future, achieving collaborative optimization of 'chip luminous efficiency' and 'equipment operation accuracy', "revealed Zhuo Changzheng

Youweixin used the first five years to overcome the problem of UVC LED light failure, and finally ushered in the outbreak of global disinfection and sterilization demand; Within the second five years, we aim to enter the top tier of global UV LED technology. During this period, I experienced countless experimental failures, but I always believed that as long as I rooted myself in the essential needs of the industry chain and made the technology "irreplaceable", I would definitely wait for the explosive period

Now, our ultraviolet chips are not only used for home appliance sterilization, but also enter high-end fields such as biological detection and air purification. "In Zhuo Changzheng's view, this confirms a truth: only by enduring the loneliness of the laboratory can we see the future of the industry. I hope more young enterprises can focus on the 'bottleneck' link and find their own coordinates in the ecosystem of Optics Valley. The next invisible champion may be in the laboratories and production lines that we stick to every day. "As the interview draws to a close, he eagerly said that when every enterprise becomes a" strong node "in the industrial chain and every innovation targets world-class" real needs, "the journey of" China Optics Valley "towards" World Optics Valley "will be written by countless stories of" ten years of sharpening a sword

Source: Changjiang Daily

Reporter: Zhu Jiaqi Correspondent: Song Zhihui Dou Shasha Editor: Ji Jie