Refocus design challenges to move LED lighting forward

At the recent 2013 Solid-State Lighting (SSL) Manufacturing R&D Workshop organized by the US Department of Energy (DOE), I called upon the DOE to sponsor R&D competitions with the intent of discovering new sustainable materials and fabrication methods. Innovations in sustainable design...

At the recent 2013 Solid-State Lighting (SSL) Manufacturing R&D Workshop organized by the US Department of Energy (DOE), I called upon the DOE to sponsor R&D competitions with the intent of discovering new sustainable materials and fabrication methods. Innovations in sustainable design may lead the lighting industry to achieve radical cost reductions not possible with our current technology paradigms.

I proposed two possible R+D challenges similar in spirit to the L Prize program. The first challenge is to design a complete luminaire — from electrons to photons — to meet a stringent life-cycle analysis such as the Cradle-to-Cradle Certification program. Such an “L Prize LifeCycle” award would stimulate entrants to reduce toxicity, design for end-of-life repurposing, and to reduce supply chain complexity. The second challenge is to generate the most lumen output from the least mass, normalized against output, efficacy, and other performance requirements. Such an “L Prize FeatherWeight” award would dare entrants to reduce material consumption, fixture size and complexity, and secondary transport and handling costs.

Notice that all the benefits listed above from these sustainable R&D challenges lead to cost savings. The notion that sustainable design can lead to significant cost reductions is counterintuitive for many, because most manufacturers tasked with greening their products usually start with their existing product lines, which are rooted in decades of decidedly non-sustainable design, materials, and assembly methods. This situation has only become worse with the transition to digital lighting products. LED lighting has been piggy-backing on the technical paradigms of the consumer electronics industry, such as FR4 printed circuit boards and surface-mount technology (SMT) assembly. This synergy leads to a scale and style of manufacturing better suited for producing cheap audio players than for supplying the robust and messy needs of building construction sites.

Moreover, this reliance on the consumer electronics industry has unfortunately sent large percentages of SSL manufacturing straight to Asia. Stimulating local manufacturing, especially in support of the construction industry, should be straightforward. Anybody who’s been on a construction site knows that fragile electronics with 16-week global lead times are exactly the opposite of what construction managers need from their suppliers.

While the lighting industry has spent the last decade coming to grips with the disruptions caused by LED lighting, the architecture and construction industries have experienced their own disruptions. Building information modeling, parametric design, digital fabrication, and aggressive environmental certification programs have shifted building construction to a heavily mass-customized approach with the use of more bio-friendly materials. The current paradigm of PCB-based LED electronics seems a poor long-term fit with these macro industry trends, which leads to the question: Is the lighting industry developing the technologies needed to support these advances in the construction fields?

Competitions like the proposed “LifeCycle” or “FeatherWeight” challenges will broaden the perspectives of the modern lighting industry and perhaps introduce radical new methods of fabricating lighting systems — methods that may not fit neatly on current technology development roadmaps. Such R&D challenges may also open innovation in the lighting industry to secondary partners — such as raw-goods manufacturers, equipment suppliers, university research programs — partners who are not directly capable of meeting a narrowly-defined end goal such as manufacturing a more efficient A-lamp.

With its long-term vision and patience, the DOE should continue to drive the lighting industry — even acknowledging all the amazing advances we’re currently enjoying — by challenging the status quo with smartly abstracted goals of sustainability to stimulate manufacturers and research organizations to explore dramatically different technical paradigms. The results may lead to unexpected but critically important advances in how we conceive of lamps, luminaires, and systems.

Refocus design challenges to move LED lighting forward

Global LED bulbs experienced price drop in Nov 2013

Global 40W equiv. LED bulb ASP decreased 2.7 percent to US $15.4 (NT $462), with price decline most evident in the China region, according to market intelligence organization Trendforce’s LEDinside division’s latest LED bulb retail price findings for Nov. 2013. Global 60W equiv. LED bulb ASP sli...

Global 40W equiv. LED bulb ASP decreased 2.7 percent to US $15.4 (NT $462), with price decline most evident in the China region, according to market intelligence organization Trendforce’s LEDinside division’s latest LED bulb retail price findings for Nov. 2013. Global 60W equiv. LED bulb ASP slightly dipped 0.7 percent to US $21.5.

Short term year-end sale promotions will be a driving role towards increasing consumer acceptability and market share, said LEDinside. LED bulbs will become the representatives of the global LED replacement s in 2014. Compared with 2013, LEDinside estimates that 2014 global LED bulb volume of demand will increase 86%.

40W equiv. LED bulb price decline most evident in China

Global 40W equiv. LED bulb ASP dipped 2.7 percent in November this year to US $15.4, with price decline most evident in the China region.

· UK prices increased substantially 5.6 percent in November and existing product prices fluctuated. The increased price inflation was mainly due to lowered exchange rates. There were no new products introduced to the market.

· German ASP for November dropped 10.3 percent and existing products prices steadily decrease. No new products were introduced this month

· Japan 40W equiv ASP dipped 1.6 percent and existing product prices fluctuated slightly triggered by increasing exchange rates.

· US ASP increased 0.6 percent and existing product prices experienced slight fluctuations. There were no new products introduced this month.

· Korean November ASP had a slight decrease of 0.4 percent and a portion of existing product prices dropped while some remained stable.

· China 40W equiv. price in November dropped dramatically 20.6 percent mainly due to a portion of products entering a promotional period.

· Taiwan November ASP rose slightly by 0.3 percent. Prices for some existing products receded temporarily from the market, while the remaining products maintained a stable price.

Continual LED bulb price drops in China Drove High Sales volume During Singles’ Day

Global 60W equiv. LED bulb price decline slightly

Global November 60W equiv. LED bulb ASP decreased slightly 0.7 percent to US $ 21.5.

· 60W equiv. LED bulb ASP dropped 5.2 percent to US $20.5 in Japan in November. Existing product prices fluctuated triggered by rising exchange rates that lead to price decline.

· In Korea, 60W equiv. LED bulb prices rose 0.4 percent, while prices for existing products remained flat due to decreased exchange rates causing a price hike.

· UK 60W equiv. LED bulbs ASP for November increased 5.2 percent and existing product prices fluctuated. New products introduced this month had higher prices.

· German 60W equiv. LED bulbs ASP underwent an incremental increase of 1.2 percent. Existing product prices fluctuated and no new products were introduced to the market.

· US 60W equiv. LED bulbs increased 2.5 percent. Some existing high priced products regressed from the market, while others experienced price fluctuations.

· In China, price in November dropped dramatically by 8.6 percent. Some existing products entered into a promotional period where prices dropped, while price for remaining products remained stable. No new products were introduced to the market.

· Taiwan November ASP slightly dipped 0.5 percent and existing product prices was stable mainly due to increase in exchange rates leading to price drops.

Continual LED bulb price drops in China Drove High Sales volume During Singles’ Day

LED bulb plunging price to push high sales volume in upcoming annual sales season

November global bulb prices continued to drop steadily, observed LEDinside. Large product promotions for Singles’ Day (Double 11) in China have lead to evident price drops. LED lamp sales volume has also increased substantially. Prices have dropped dramatically for 40W equiv. and 60W equiv. LED bulb products. Osram 8W LED bulb retail price for instance with 470lm dropped from US$20 to US$ 8 in November. SunSun Lighting 9.5W LED bulbs with luminous flux of 810lm decreased from US$ 14 to US$ 7.

Short term year-end sales promotions might have certain effects on increasing consumer acceptability and market share, said LEDinside. Thanksgiving and Christmas sales are also anticipated to be effective towards LED bulb promotions in the US and European markets. LED bulbs will become the representatives of the global LED replacement wave in 2014. LEDinside estimates that global LED bulb demand volume will grow 86 percent in 2014 in comparison to 2013.

Global LED bulbs experienced price drop in Nov 2013

Why LED Retrofits Are The "Trojan Horse" Of The Internet of Things

Falling LED prices are driving up adoption rates of LED lamps, which in turn will drive up the adoption of lighting controls. The semiconductor nature of LEDs makes them inherently controllable, with better dimmability, easy integration of controls with drivers, and instantaneous setup. In fact,...

LED-Street-Lighting-System

One of the most compelling data points I’ve come across in my usual year-end deluge is this one from Navigant Research: over the next seven years, annual sales for occupancy sensors, photosensors and lighting network gear related to LED lighting applications will grow from $1.1 billion in 2013 to $2.7 billion by 2020.

Certainly, that’s an appreciable growth rate, but if you think about the foundation that those sensors will create not just for more efficient commercial lighting but for many other “smart” applications, things get even more exciting.

Here’s what Navigant has to say in the executive summary for its report, “Intelligent Lighting Controls for Commercial Buildings”:

“Falling LED prices are driving up adoption rates of LED lamps, which in turn will drive up the adoption of lighting controls. The semiconductor nature of LEDs makes them inherently controllable, with better dimmability, easy integration of controls with drivers, and instantaneous setup. In fact, many LED lamps are being sold with built-in controllability, whether or not there are plans to make use of the control.”

Each new LED fixture can, in essence, become the node on an intelligent controls network. Yes, these networks are really good at turning off the lights when people aren’t around or dimming them when it’s bright, saving electricity. But those sensors are also harvesting other useful data about temperature, occupancy and their surroundings that could have all sorts of other applications.

Consider, for example, a smart LED lighting retrofit on a city street. Aside from the benefits that the municipal government could receive from lower electricity consumption and reduced maintenance expenses, that network could also support new revenue-generating services such as smart parking, by being able to sense which spots are open and sending that information to a mobile app in real time. Add some cameras, and your town can issue parking tickets more efficiently.

In a commercial building, LED lighting networks can help with security applications, letting people when someone has entered a room, or they could help with simple administrative functions, such as managing conference room attendance or keeping track of which department uses certain areas and resources.

You know those mobile marketing applications that retailers get all excited about? The ones that can deliver promotion or offers to prospective customers as they enter or move about a store, based on the GPS signal provided by their mobile phone? One of the easiest places to install the in-store sensors is within the lights shining above and all around those visitors. Another potentially huge application would be keeping tabs on food expiration dates, to minimize spoilage.

“You start to catalyze light, and then ultimately it is the infrastructure. We are the most prolific application in the Internet of things,” said Brad Bullington, CEO of Bridgelux, an 11-year-old company that has raised about $250 million in venture capital to develop its ideas.

One thing that makes Bridgelux interesting is its manufacturing partnership with Toshiba, which will help commercialize its solid state lighting more quickly. The estimated energy savings from its technology is about 65% over traditional technologies.

“The cost of LEDs and solid state lighting in general has come down faster than it would in a normal competitive environment. Prices have been accelerated by maybe three years,” he said. “That has helped global adoption creep up over 10%.” (The fastest growing market is Asia, followed by the Europe; with the United States lagging, according to Bullington.)

Both Bullington and the CEO of another smart LED company, Sensity Systems (formerly Xeralux), call LED lighting the “Trojan Horse” of the smart this-and-that movement. “What really is important is the network, the applications that are making use of the information being collected,” Hugh Martin, chairman and CEO of Sensity, told me in June 2013. “It is extremely important that we have a launch vehicle, lighting, be we are focused on the development of a Big Data infrastructure in the cloud, so that people can develop other applications.”

Sensity can name more than 200 customers that are buying into this idea, including the likes of healthcare company Kaiser Permanente, tech powerhouse Hewlett-Packard and real estate management company Shorenstein.

The latter, for example, testing smart LEDs in its parking lots as a means of reducing its power bills and introducing better surveillance systems. Another customer, the country of El Salvador, is installing the technology throughout the entire country: aside from the lighting, it is looking at national security applications, and solutions for better import and export controls.

To be sure, there will be privacy concerns with many of these applications, especially considering the ongoing fallout over the extent to which governments should or should not collect information. This is another case whether the technology is evolving faster than the policy around it.

What’s more, the LED lighting solution sales cycle still is pretty long. Bridgelux’s Bullington notes that any organization considering this technology has to look at the long-term picture, including energy costs, in order to justify a retrofit. And prices for the cheapest industrial and commercial lighting option, linear fluorescent lighting, are still so cheap that it will take a long time to displace it.

“In regions with a history of significant energy efficiency programs, linear fluorescents have clearly been established as the baseline replacement technology for high-bay lighting, accounting for a 78 – 80% market share,” according to a 2012 American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) white paper about lighting programs across the United States.

But if you look beyond strictly the lighting applications, the case for retrofits becomes even more profound. That’s why companies like Bridgelux have grown more than 546% over the last four years. (Although it’s private, that’s the estimated growth rates according to the recent Deloitte Technology Fast 500.)

Aside from Bridgelux and Sensity, here are four other companies I’ll be watching in 2014. (They certainly aren’t the only ones participating in smart lighting applications, but they are among the most active.)

Daintree Networks – Founded in 2003, the company provides wireless mesh networks and controls for various smart building applications. Its customers include commercial office building, automated factories and parking structures. Aside from lighting, Daintree has an extensive profile in managing heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) loads.

Echelon – I’ve actually been following this company for close to 20 years, when I used to cover emerging technology for an IT trade publication. These days, Echelon (like GE) is targeting industrial Internet of Things opportunities. Its energy controls are used in places like Oslo, Norway, where it was part of a 65,000-streetlight retrofit.

Sensus – This is a great example of why it’s important to look beyond lighting. You actually hear a lot more about how Sensus is adding with smart water applications. But it’s also participating in lighting overhauls: one example comes from Chattanooga, Tenn., where its technology is being used to roll out new municipal lights. “Existing utility deployments of FlexNet can accommodate outdoor lighting control with minor configuration,” the company notes.

Silver Spring Networks – The company’s IPv6 networking platform already connects more than 17 million devices. Next year, it will be part of a smart streetlight installation (along with Citelum) that will transform more than 20,000 lights in Copenhagen, Denmark; a similar project in Paris will help the city cut energy costs by 30% over the next decade. The technology is also being used for electric vehicle charging networks and connected carbon-dioxide sensors.

Why LED Retrofits Are The "Trojan Horse" Of The Internet of Things

Everlight Lighting Revenue to Surpass Backlighting in 2014

Everlight’s lighting revenue is anticipated to surpass backlighting for the first time, due to market growth in 2014 LED lighting.

Everlight-Electronics-logo

Taiwan based LED package manufacturer Everlight had successful lighting revenue growth in 2013 due to gradually maturing LED lighting applications. Although, 4Q is typically a slack season for the LED industry, the company’s revenue this quarter were 30 percent higher than 4Q last year making up 25 percent of the company’s overall revenue, similar to the revenue proportion from backlighting. Everlight’s lighting revenue is anticipated to surpass backlighting for the first time, due to market growth in 2014 LED lighting.

The company’s lighting revenue for 2013 was fed by residential, commercial, and industrial lighting. Government street light projects were one of the main contributors for the company’s revenue growth this year. The company supplied around 10,000 street lights to five major cities in Taiwan which largely affected the company’s revenue performance in the second half of the year. The cities will see a clear benefit by saving NT $1,345 (US $45) a year for every street lamp replaced with LEDs, said Robert Yeh, Chairman for Everlight.

Yeh remains optimistic about the lighting application market development in 2014. Everlight merged with German based luminaire manufacture WOFI in 2013 and expanded distribution channels in the Chinese market. The company plans to continue building distribution channels in general in 2013. Light revenue currently makes up 25 percent of the company’s revenue, similar to backlight revenue proportions, and is estimated to surpass backlight revenue for the first time in 2014, said Yeh.

Everlight Lighting Revenue to Surpass Backlighting in 2014

Smart Lighting Controllers and Sensor Annual Market Revenue to Reach US$ 2.7 billion by 2020

According to a recent report from Navigant Research, worldwide revenue from occupancy sensors, photosensors, and lighting network control gear will grow from US$ 1.1 billion annually in 2013 to nearly US$ 2.7 billion by 2020.

Smart Lighting Controllers and Sensor Annual Market Revenue to Reach US$ 2.7 billion by 2020

As falling prices for LED lighting systems drive up adoption rates of LED lamps in the coming years, the adoption of intelligent lighting controls is also expected to accelerate. Intelligent lighting controls, including occupancy sensors, photosensors, and networked controls, offer building owners and managers the same central monitoring and management capabilities for lighting systems that they are accustomed to having for their heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. According to a recent report from Navigant Research, worldwide revenue from occupancy sensors, photosensors, and lighting network control gear will grow from US$ 1.1 billion annually in 2013 to nearly US$ 2.7 billion by 2020.

“The market for lighting controls in commercial buildings has expanded and transformed dramatically in recent years, as creative ways to visualize lighting usage and new strategies to manage lighting energy consumption proliferate,” said Jesse Foote, Research Analyst, Navigant Research. “Pure-play startup companies are leading this wave of innovation, but the large, traditional lighting companies have begun offering a range of intelligent lighting control products, as well.”

Helping to drive this transformation are increasingly stringent building codes, which have begun requiring controls for more and more applications. In both the United States and Europe, new regulations will set a high bar for overall lighting energy reduction, according to the report. These reductions will require the adoption of occupancy sensors, photosensors, and other intelligent lighting technologies.

The report, “Intelligent Lighting Controls for Commercial Buildings”, analyzes the global market for lighting controls for commercial buildings, including both new construction and retrofits. Sensors, ballasts, drivers, switches, relays, controllers, and communications technologies are examined, with a specific focus on networked lighting controls. The report details the market drivers for these technologies, as well as barriers to adoption, and includes profiles of select industry players. Market forecasts for unit shipments and revenue for each type of equipment, segmented by region and building type, extend through 2020. Forecasts are also broken out for control equipment in buildings with networked lighting controls, as well as for wireless lighting controls and LED drivers. An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the Navigant Research website.

Smart Lighting Controllers and Sensor Annual Market Revenue to Reach US$ 2.7 billion by 2020

Research shows LED Grow lights have healthy impact on vegetables & herbs

UT research shows LED lights have healthy impact on vegetables, herbs. LED lights come in all colors, blue and red are the most important to plant growth. The LED lights also emit less heat.

LED lights are becoming more popular, transforming the streets of Gatlinburg and decorating Christmas trees across the country, but researchers at the University of Tennessee discovered the technology has positive impacts on herbs and vegetables.

LED stands for light emitting diodes, and are known to be cost effective and energy efficient.

research-shows-LED-lights-have-healthy-impact-on-vegetables-herbs

Research shows LED lights have healthy impact on vegetables & herbs

Gatlinburg uses cost effective and energy efficient LED lights(Photo: WBIR)

Back in 2008, Gatlinburg switched to LED lights, with 3 million bulbs illuminating the city for 120 winter days at the cost of what the city used to pay for just three days of electricity.

While they’re eye-catching, Dean Kopsell, a professor with U.T.’s Plant Sciences Department, said LED lighting can also be healthy.

“We found out that they can really dramatically increase plant physiology, increase mineral nutrient levels, and also increase antioxidant levels, which are very important for us in the diet,” said Kopsell.

Kopsell said plants only need a small percentage of sunlight rays, but under LED lighting, researchers can intensify the light plants do need, saving them energy. He said while LED lights come in all colors, blue and red are the most important to plant growth.

Research shows LED lights have healthy impact on vegetables & herbs

Blue and red LED panel(Photo: WBIR)

“We’re looking at the important impacts of red and blue but more importantly we’re adjusting the ratios of red and blue,” said Kopsell. “So on a normal day, we’re taking the percent blue that would normally be in sunlight, and we’re increasing that by three or four fold, and we’re really improving the nutritional and mineral and antioxidant levels in the crops. ”

Kopsell and Dr. Carl Sams studied the impacts on herbs and specialty vegetables, like kale. He said the already healthy crop produced even higher levels of nutrients, like calcium, potassium, iron, and even anti-cancer components.

The LED lights also emit less heat, especially compared to high pressure sodium lamps found in greenhouses, which are usually 1,000 watts each.

“You can see they’ve got a yellow tint, because they have yellow light in them. They’re hot and can wilt the tops of the plants closest to the light,” said Kopsell. “But you don’t have that detrimental heat impact under blue and red LEDs.”

Kopsell said the research could have a future impact on metropolitan areas, giving growers an indoor option.

“Right now, this idea of using urban farming, or vertical farming, going into urban areas and trying to create plant production systems in warehouses and buildings is really important and really starting to pickup in a lot of the major metropolitan cities,” said Kopsell. “But it’s going to be really hard to use high pressure sodium light in those areas just because of the heat buildup. ”

Kopsell said LED lighting could be supplement to greenhouse growing.

“Most of the people I’ve been talking to across the country, they want to be able to grow plants inside,” said Kopsell. “We’re going to be able to grow crops in urban areas or in arid land areas where we wouldn’t be able to grow them outside due to soil conditions or temperature conditions. ”

Kopsell said LED technology is still expensive. The panels U.T. is using cost $700 each, but were engineered for the research.

Research shows LED Grow lights have healthy impact on vegetables & herbs

United States will ban 40w and 60w incandescent bulbs since 2014 and encourages LED lights

U.S. bulb factories will stop producing best-selling 40-watt and 60-watt incandescent bulbs from 2014. People can replace fluorescent lamp to halogen, compact fluorescent light bulb, LED lights and energy efficient incandescent.

US-ban-40w-60w-incandescent-bulbs-encourage-LED-lights

U.S. bulb factories will stop producing best-selling 40-watt and 60-watt incandescent bulbs from 2014. According to this prohibition adopted in 2007, US eliminated incandescent bulbs more than 100 watt since 2012, and discontinued 75 watts and 100 watts incandescent lamps since 2013. This controversial law designed to promote energy-saving compact fluorescent lamps, LED light bulbs and other energy efficiency lighting.

People can replace fluorescent lamp to halogen, compact fluorescent light bulb, LED lights and energy efficient incandescent, experts pointed out that efficient incandescent approximately cost $ 1.5 each, although far more than the traditional incandescent $ 0.5, but it with doubled life, the energy consumption is also reduced by 28%.

This legislation is signed by former President George W. Bush in 2007, this provision is intended to solve the issue of old-fashioned incandescent with low energy efficiency; according to the EPA’s data, only one-tenth of the power consumed is converted into light by this bulb, the rest of the energy is wasted as heat.

However, this ban may make dissatisfaction to the people who are facing daily necessities price hike.

United States will ban 40w and 60w incandescent bulbs since 2014 and encourages LED lights

Philips SlimStyle LED bulb drops the heat sink, looks like it’s from the future

Philips-slimstyle-LED-bulb-3
For a few months now there have been rumors about something interesting coming from Philips’ lighting department. This new product was said to be LED-based, affordable — under $10 — and interesting. We didn’t know just how interesting but Philips had practically go...

Philips-slimstyle-LED-bulb-3

For a few months now there have been rumors about something interesting coming from Philips’ lighting department. This new product was said to be LED-based, affordable — under $10 — and interesting. We didn’t know just how interesting but Philips had practically gone on record stating that the company would have a sub-$10 LED bulb before 2013 was over. Today the curtain was pulled back and the SlimStyle was revealed.

The SlimStyle is a 60W-equivalent LED bulb that produces 800 lumens and operates at 10.5W (76 lumens-per-watt). In many ways it’s a standard consumer LED bulb: it’s rated for 25,000 hours of life, it’s dimmable, it has an omnidirectional light pattern, and it has a CRI (color accuracy) rating of 80. All this means that Energy Star certification isn’t just possible… it’s pending. But after a single glance at the SlimStyle you’ll know that it’s not just another LED bulb. In fact, the term “bulb” isn’t exactly appropriate…

SlimStyle

Philips-slimstyle-LED-bulb-1

When looked at straight on, the SlimStyle appears to be bulb-shaped, but that’s actually only true in 2D. When turned, it’s clear that the lamp is flat on both sides and has a ring running around its outside which serves as a light guide. The design is unlike anything else found in the LED market today but not only because of its unique aesthetics, it’s also missing a part found on every one of its competitors: a metal heatsink.

Basically, LEDs don’t like to get hot — the heat decreases lifetime and brightness (I’ve spent a lot of time explaining that) so a metal heatsink is used to disperse heat, moving it away from the sensitive LEDs. With the SlimStyle Philips was able to move to an all-plastic body and still keep the LEDs cool enough to promise a 25,000 hour lifetime. And, in doing so, the company was able to move to this cool new design. Best of all: not only does the flat design help conduct heat away from the LEDs, says Philips, it also helps cut down on costs.

Unfortunately we don’t know the price yet. Philips has told us that the SlimStyle will be available through HomeDepot.com as of January 2, 2014. So the company’s sub-$10 LED bulb won’t quite make it into 2013. That is, of course, assuming that it is under $10.

The January 2nd release date isn’t just important because it’s soon, it’s also the start of 2014 which means that EISA (the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007) will have officially phased out 60W and 40W incandescent bulbs. At that point 60W-equivalent LED offerings won’t just be the best option available, they’ll be much closer to being the only game in town.

SlimStyle LED

Philips-slimstyle-LED-bulb-2

I’ve been testing the SlimStyle for some time now and I have to say that I’m pretty impressed. The bulb is impressively engineered, extremely light, very compact, and it just plain looks cool. The light quality is fine, well into what I would consider the acceptable range for the home. In fact I’ve been using the SlimStyle in my living room without a shade, just to get a feel for it.

Philips’ early spec sheet didn’t note the color temperature, but it looks to be about 3000K to me, but it’s 2700K, and the lighting pattern is omnidirectional enough to suit my purposes.

As you can probably tell, I haven’t been overly analytical with this lamp just yet — I haven’t even taken it apart. I’ve spent my time simply using it, testing how this strange-looking bulb adapts to normal situations. You probably won’t be shocked to learn that it does its job, just like any quality LED bulb should. I haven’t found that it gets terribly hot or that it’s lost any brightness, so it seems like Philips was truly able to pull off the heat sink-free design.

Before SlimStyle goes on sale on January 2nd we should have more details on pricing and how Philips was able to deliver a LED lamp that offers solid performance, a great design, and — very possibly — a highly competitive price.

Now read: Philips LED carpet turns floors into incredibly helpful dynamic signage

Philips SlimStyle LED bulb drops the heat sink, looks like it’s from the future

IC distributor Alltek revenues soar in November

IC distributor Alltek Technology has reported revenues of NT$1.89 billion (US$63.84 million) for November, up 17.9% sequentially and 27.5% on yea. Alltek enhanced its product portfolio by adding iWatt’s PMW ICs into its offerings in the first half of 2013, targeting the LED lighting, LED...

Revenue-Growth

IC distributor Alltek Technology has reported revenues of NT$1.89 billion (US$63.84 million) for November, up 17.9% sequentially and 27.5% on year, buoyed by increased sales of wireless network chips from Broadcom and power management (PWM) ICs from iWatt.

Alltek enhanced its product portfolio by adding iWatt’s PMW ICs into its offerings in the first half of 2013, targeting the LED lighting, LED TV backlight and mobile power source segments.

Alltek has also seen its gross margin maintain at over 5% for four consecutive quarters through the third quarter of 2013, in which gross margin stood at 5.35%, according to company data.

For the first 11 months of 2013, Alltek saw its revenues soar 12.2% to NT$17.64 billion, with Broadcom’s devices contributing to over 50% of total sales. Alltek also distributes memory devices from Micron Technology.

IC distributor Alltek revenues soar in November

Global LED lighting market worth $42 billion by 2019

LED Lighting: Market Shares, Strategies, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2013 to 2019: Next generation lighting achieves a complete replacement of incandescent filament bulbs with LED lighting that is more energy efficient, lasts longer and has a significantly lower cost of operation. LED lighting...

The LED bulbs are implementing new semiconductor technology

LED Lighting: Market Shares, Strategies, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2013 to 2019: Next generation lighting achieves a complete replacement of incandescent filament bulbs with LED lighting that is more energy efficient, lasts longer and has a significantly lower cost of operation. LED lighting decreases labor costs of replacing bulbs in commercial situations. The LED bulbs are implementing new semiconductor technology.

Worldwide LED lighting markets are poised to achieve significant growth as buildings and communities lead the way in implementing the more cost efficient systems. In some cases, the utility plants are providing funding and financing so that lighting users can make the shift to LED lighting.

LED lamps lower the overall cost of lighting. LED lighting costs are less than costs with incandescent lights. LED lamps offer up to 50,000 hours of illumination with a fraction of the energy used by traditional incandescent bulbs. LED bulbs generate 90% less heat than incandescent bulbs. LED bulbs extend time between bulb replacements. The bulbs are used to achieve a near zero-maintenance lighting system.

Global LED lighting market worth $42 billion by 2019

Cree And Competitors Put LED Lighting In The Spotlight

A scrum of LED makers are competing for precedence. Among those are Philips Lumileds, General Electric (GE), the Cooper Lighting unit of Eaton (ETN), Acuity Brands (AYI) and Soraa in the U.S.
Germany’s Osram Sylvania has a heavy hand in the market. Several Asia-based players also figure...

the-rockefeller-center-in-new-york-city-lights-its-annual-christmas-tree-energy-efficient-led-lights

More than 130 years after Thomas Edison sparked a new industry with the incandescent light bulb, his invention is finally giving way to newer innovations.

Light-emitting diodes — a form of semiconductor chip that generates light — produce the crisp, energy-saving backlit displays for TV sets, laptops and smartphones.

The technology has been gaining traction in those markets over the past 15 years. But in other markets, the LED lights were more clunky and costly than the established incandescent and fluorescent competition. That barred the technology from the bigger opportunity — lighting homes, offices and large-scale outdoor applications.

The Rockefeller Center in New York City lights its annual Christmas tree energy-efficient LED lights. LEDs are commonplace in automobiles as well as…

The Rockefeller Center in New York City lights its annual Christmas tree energy-efficient LED lights. LEDs are commonplace in automobiles as well as… View Enlarged Image

Design and cost breakthroughs, and rising desire for energy efficiency, have begun dismantling those barriers.

A scrum of LED makers are competing for precedence. Among those are Philips Lumileds, General Electric (GE), the Cooper Lighting unit of Eaton (ETN), Acuity Brands (AYI) and Soraa in the U.S.

Germany’s Osram Sylvania has a heavy hand in the market. Several Asia-based players also figure into the mix. In South Korea, Epistar and Everlight Electronics, Seoul Semiconductor, Samsung and LG Innotek are involved, as well as Nichia, based in Japan.

Suppliers of chips used by those companies include Veeco Instruments (VECO), STM Microelectronics (STM) and Japan-based Toyoda Gosei.

One pioneer at the head of the field is North Carolina-based Cree (CREE), which has been developing LED materials and devices for 26 years. Several breakthroughs by Cree influenced the company in 2006 to pursue commercial lighting markets, including outdoor municipal lighting and industrial and office ceiling fixtures.

“People scoffed,” said Mike Watson, vice president of product strategy at Cree. “But we’ve always been an innovator and we committed to making the shift.”

The following year, a tanking economy sent Cree’s earnings down 58% on a 7% decline in revenue. Revenue growth quickly recovered. Earnings struggled back above 2006 levels in 2010.

But the company stuck to its guns and expanded its research efforts in order to crack the residential lighting markets. This year, the company broke a critical barrier.

In March, the company introduced a 40-watt LED light bulb for under $10. The new 60-watt bulbs were under $13. Research by Canaccord Genuity shows that consumer acceptance for LED bulbs is “very high” when priced under $10.

“The lower prices have opened the biggest market opportunity,” said Canaccord analyst Jonathan Dorsheimer.

Home Depot (HD) began pushing the bulbs aggressively. The prices dropped further when Cree received the U.S. Environmental Agency’s Energy Star seal of approval. That gave consumers a utility-subsidized discount.

Cree recently added a 75-watt LED bulb to the lineup for $23.97. The company claims the bulbs last 25,000 hours — effectively 25 times longer than incandescent bulbs — and use 84% less energy.

Incandescent Meets Its Match

Watson said the market for light bulbs across the board worldwide is a $1 trillion business. Consumer purchases are the smaller piece, about 20% of the total. Commercial and industrial is 80%.

“But it’s the consumer that leads every market transition,” Watson said.

Consumers also tend to preface changes in business behavior, Watson said, “so we wanted to capture the hearts and minds of consumers.”

Cree hasn’t been alone.

The LED market got a bonus in 2007 when Congress passed the Energy Independence & Security Act. Among its provisions were a series of mandates for the gradual phase-out of incandescent lighting. Europe is ahead of the U.S. in this regard as it began to implement a ban of incandescent light bulbs in 2009. China is also phasing out incandescent bulbs, as is Japan.

The push to phase out energy-wasting incandescent bulbs is part of a global trend to lower energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. It also opens the door for a massive upgrade to LED lights.

Lighting accounts for approximately 19% of purchased electricity worldwide. Energy-efficient fluorescent technology has helped lessen that amount but, judging by consumer tastes, fluorescent lighting is not as good as incandescent. With the rise of LEDs, incandescent bulbs may have met their match. “The LED industry is on the cusp of beginning a multiyear secular growth scenario,” Dorsheimer said.

Market Set To Double In Size

He estimates there were about 17 billion residential lighting sockets globally in 2012, 7 billion commercial sockets, 1.2 billion industrial and 1.4 billion outdoors sockets. More than half of those sockets will have upgraded to LED lighting by 2020, possibly as many as 80%, he estimates.

“The basic everyday Edison bulb is going away and will ultimately be replaced with LED,” said David Petina, research analyst at Freedonia Group. Compared with he other alternatives, including halogen, LED bulbs have the best lighting for the price when energy costs are included.

Freedonia estimates the U.S. market for LED bulbs, for indoor and outdoor lighting, including LEDs in motor vehicles, flashlights and decorative lighting, will more than double in the next five years to $7.3 billion in 2017 from $3.3 billion in 2012.

And while general lighting is the biggest market segment, many other markets are energized for the LED transition. Currently, about 60% of LED consumption is by TVs, smartphones and displays. That will shift as LED lighting enters more homes and offices. Multicolor LED lights are used increasingly in aircraft and automobiles, not to mention billboards, agriculture, ports, harbors and mines.

“The LED market is poised for very fast growth,” said Petina.

$250 Billion In Energy Savings?

The basic light-emitting diode produces light as electrons pass through a semiconductor material. The initial discovery of electroluminescence occurred in 1907. But it wasn’t until the 1960s that the technology began making its forays into expensive electronic devices such as laboratory and electronics test equipment and lasers. Then came radios, telephones, calculators and TVs. LED technology is sometimes referred to as solid-state lighting, a category that also includes organic light emitting diodes, or OLED.

Watson said it’s about time LED got put in the spotlight.

“What other technology do you have at home that dates back to 1879?” he said, referring to incandescent bulbs. “LED costs are coming down fast and consumers and businesses now recognize it’s worth the investment.”

A Bank of America Merrill Lynch report published in April detailed the LED market as a rapidly emerging opportunity.

“Spurred on by legislation, LEDs could represent 45% of the global lighting market by 2015,” the report said. “Residential LEDs could represent 70% of the general light market by 2020.”

More mind-boggling, the report estimated U.S. adoption of LEDs could result in energy savings of $250 billion by 2030. The report also estimated the global LED market in 2012 at $11.6 billion.

Dorsheimer at Canaccord Genuity thinks some of the best and brightest opportunities for LED expansion have yet to be discovered. For example, research has demonstrated that students perform better when learning under high-quality artificial light. Research is underway on the psychological and physiological affects of illumination in health care, the workplace, educational facilities and the home. This includes the effect of color-tunable lighting that LEDs can accommodate.

Boeing installed LED lighting in its energy-efficient 787 Dreamliners with multiple color lighting themes that can be changed for cruising time, meal time, lighting to simulate sunrise and sunset and other changes in ambiance.

Experiments in LED lighting are also taking place in industrial applications in areas, such as the drying of inks, coatings and adhesives without solvent emissions. In agricultural and horticultural applications, the ability of spectrally tuned light may enable farmers to increase and improve the output of produce and livestock.

The categories all simply mark beachheads where the technology is taking hold, Dorsheimer says, pointing to multiple usage models out there that have not been fully uncovered.

“The first wave is about replacement bulbs and energy efficiency,” said Dorsheimer, “but as we go through this analog to digital transition in lighting there’s a whole host of new things to address.”

Cree And Competitors Put LED Lighting In The Spotlight

Cree awarded $30 million tax credits to expand production of LED lighting

Cree Inc. will receive $30 million in federal tax credits to expand its manufacturing footprint in Racine County as well as in Durham, N.C., the U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday. The company’s expansion includes the purchase, installation and modification of new machinery that will allow C...

Tax-Credits

Cree Inc. will receive $30 million in federal tax credits to expand its manufacturing footprint in Racine County as well as in Durham, N.C., the U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday.

The company’s expansion includes the purchase, installation and modification of new machinery that will allow Cree to produce advanced LED lighting systems.

“With this project, Cree is taking the next step toward its goal of making traditional lighting products obsolete through the use of advanced LED technology with significant estimated annual savings,” according to the department.

Cree, based in North Carolina, acquired Wisconsin-based Ruud Lighting and its BetaLED division in a 2011 acquisition. Several months later the company announced plans for an expansion of its Sturtevant factory and distribution center.

The tax credits were part of $150 million in advanced energy manufacturing tax credits announced Thursday.

The new round of credits was announced to make use of credits that were not used by previously selected companies, according to the Energy Department.

The credits are designed to aid in the production of equipment used in clean energy technologies, from energy efficiency technologies like LED to wind and solar.

“Cost-effective, efficient manufacturing plays a critical role in continuing U.S. leadership in clean energy innovation, and the tax credits announced today will help reduce carbon pollution from our vehicles and buildings; create new jobs and supply more clean energy projects in the United States and abroad with equipment made in America,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz in a prepared statement.

Cree had previously announced a $24.5 million expansion in Sturtevant, adding 208,000 square feet to house LED lighting assembly lines and an expanded distribution center.

The company committed to creating 469 full-time jobs from the expansion, and received state and local incentives valued at more than $8 million.

About Cree, Inc.

Cree-LED-logo

Cree, Inc. is a global, industry-leading manufacturer of lighting-class LEDs, LED lighting technologies, and semiconductor solutions for radio frequency (RF) and power applications. Cree is paving the way for the LED lighting revolution by producing long-lasting, energy-efficient LED lighting, rendering traditional technologies obsolete.

Cree’s LED Components and Modules division includes the market’s brightest and most reliable lighting-class LEDs, including the Cree XLamp® LED portfolio. By featuring light that is both efficient and beautiful, Cree LED components and modules offer lighting manufacturers and designers high-performance LEDs and LED modules that lower system cost.

Cree leads the industry in brightness and reliability for power LEDs with its XLamp LED family. Through XLamp LEDs, Cree is enabling the lighting industry with efficient LED light. With the largest family of high-performance, commercially-available LEDs, Cree has the right LED for your design.

Cree LED modules provide a simple solution for lighting designers and manufacturers to adopt best-in-class LED lighting, accelerating time to market and lowering system cost. For more information, visit www.cree.com.

Cree awarded $30 million tax credits to expand production of LED lighting

GE Lighting LEDs Decorate US National Christmas Tree for the 51st year

GE Lighting has announced that for the 51st year its products have been used to light the US National Christmas tree located at President’s Park in Washington, DC. The design this year includes a garland made with 7-in. spherical, LED-based, warm-white ornaments combined with...

LED-based spherical ornaments, traditional LED light strings, and commercial-grade GE Tetra Max LED products combine to efficiently light the US National Christmas tree located at President’s Park in Washington, DC.

US-National-Christmas-Tree-2013

GE Lighting has announced that for the 51st year its products have been used to light the US National Christmas tree located at President’s Park in Washington, DC. The design this year includes a garland made with 7-in. spherical, LED-based, warm-white ornaments combined with sugar-plum-based light stings and an LED-based, star-shaped light on top of the tree.

“We are very proud to be part of this great tradition and to be able to bring new technology into the design,” said Mary Beth Gotti, manager of the GE Lighting Institute and holiday lighting designer for the National Christmas Tree. “Each strand of GE LED holiday lights consumes up to 80% less energy than incandescent holiday lights and provides similar light that consumers love from traditional incandescent holiday lighting.”

The US National Park Foundation that hosts the tree said that the lighting design consumes a total of 5700W. The foundation said the use of LEDs delivers 80% energy savings overall and equates that to avoiding burning one ton of coal and a 5700-pound reduction in carbon emissions.

The ornaments were designed to enhance the aesthetics during the day, appearing as large snowflakes while enabling dynamic presentations at night. In total there are 265 ornaments on the tree and 225 LED light strings. GE designed the star on the top of the tree using the commercial-grade Tetra Max LED system that is generally used in professional signage applications and that provides a bright and sparkling tree topper.

You can see the lighting of the tree using LEDs online at the National Park Foundation website. In addition, UL is a sponsor of the tree and is operating a raffle for a National Christmas Tree Lighting poster.

GE Lighting LEDs Decorate US National Christmas Tree for the 51st year

GE Lighting introduces LED downlight based on Zhaga modular light engine

GE Lighting has announced the Lumination DI Series of LED-based downlights that are available in 4- and 6-in. round and square versions with a broad choice of CCT, CRI, and beam spread. The flexibility comes courtesy of the use of solid-state lighting (SSL) modules as the base of the product...

GE-lighting-introduces-led-downlight-based-on-zhaga-modular-light-engine

The Lumination DI Series of downlights relies on the Infusion family of SSL modules that are compatible with the Book 5 Zhaga specification for socketable light engines.

GE Lighting has announced the Lumination DI Series of LED-based downlights that are available in 4- and 6-in. round and square versions with a broad choice of CCT, CRI, and beam spread. The flexibility comes courtesy of the use of solid-state lighting (SSL) modules as the base of the product that is compatible with the Zhaga Consortium Book 5 specification.

The GE downlight announcement is the second instance this week of a company announcing a major recessed downlight product family based on a modular light engine. Earlier, Lutron announced the Finiré family based on Xicato LED modules. While the modular technologies GE and Lutron chose are quite different, the benefits in each case include the ability to design and build one basic fixture and offer many variations through the choice of the light engine — a topic we discussed recently in a feature article on modular SSL.

“With lumen package options from 1000 to 4000 lm, the Lumination DI Series truly is the ideal LED alternative to everything from 13W CFL to 100W metal halide downlights,” said John Koster, GE indoor LED product manager. The company also offers CCTs ranging from 2700K to 4000K, and the choice of narrow, medium, and wide beam patterns. In the case of the DI Series, GE is using modules with a CRI of 90 because the target application is lighting high-end retail, hospitality, and office spaces.

In the GE Lighting case, the products use the Infusion modules that rely on phosphor-converted white LEDs whereas the Xicato modules use remote-phosphor technology. GE developed the Infusion modules in house after having acquired the original technology from Journée Lighting back in 2009. GE has continued to evolve and expand the family having introduced new modules in the Gen3 family back in September.

The other elements that differentiate the GE design are the Zhaga compatibility and the fact that Book 5 defines a mechanical design that can be installed with a twist-and-lock motion that is akin to changing a lightbulb. “At the heart of the design is the Infusion DLM downlight module, which uses a unique color-mixing technology to deliver 90+ CRI and very high R9 at all lumen levels and color temperatures without sacrificing efficiency,” said Koster. “Better yet, the socketable module allows for easy upgrade as LED technology advances, ensuring the lowest total cost of ownership. Customers will finally be able to upgrade or service just the LEDs — tool-free — without having to change the entire downlight.”

Indeed, the Zhaga compatibility would presumably mean that you could even upgrade the feature with a module from a vendor other than GE. For now, however, neither GE nor any other competitor has had Book 5 modules formally certified for compliance by a test lab. The complexity of the mechanical design has prolonged the certification process relative to other Zhaga books that define non-socketable light engines, which require tools for installation. Still, GE expects to achieve certification for its modules.

GE Lighting introduces LED downlight based on Zhaga modular light engine

Genesis Photonics looks to LED street lamp demand in China

LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker Genesis Photonics plans to compete for orders for LED street lamps from local governments in China in 2014, with such lamps to be made from its flip chip LED devices featuring low electric and thermal resistance, high luminous efficiency, good heat dissipation...

Genesis-Photonics-logo_en

LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker Genesis Photonics plans to compete for orders for LED street lamps from local governments in China in 2014, with such lamps to be made from its flip chip LED devices featuring low electric and thermal resistance, high luminous efficiency, good heat dissipation and wire-free bonding, according to the company.

The China government will announce plans to procure LED street lamps and related subsidization in first-quarter 2014, with such demand expected to begin in the following quarter.

Genesis uses supersonic compression to directly bond LED chips on ceramic substrates, with chip coverage of about 80%, the company said. LED chips can also be bonded on ceramic substrates using reflow soldering, but coverage is difficult to reach 80%, Genesis said.

In terms of application, lighting accounts for 50% of Genesis’ consolidated revenues currently, notebook backlighting for 20-25% and smartphone backlighting for 20-25%, the company indicated. Of the lighting appliactions, 40-50% are shipped to China-based clients and 35% to Japan-based ones, Genesis noted.

In addition to outdoor lighting, flip chip LED devices can be used in direct-type LED-backlighting for LCD TVs and Genesis has begun such shipments, the company indicated.

Genesis recorded consolidated revenues of NT$387 million (US$13.1 million) for November, growing by 3.25% on month and by 17.82% on year, and those of NT$3.623 billion for January-November, up 7.27% on year.

About Genesis Photonics

Genesis Photonics Inc. was founded in 2002. With its innovative semiconductor technologies and efficient management, the company has undergone fast growth and went public in 2007 in Taiwan. We are currently seeking for distributor and project in commercial, warehouse, residential or through its distribution channel in open North, South US and Canada Market

Genesis Photonics looks to LED street lamp demand in China

Philips Lumileds Signs Partnership with MechaTronix for LED Thermal Management Solutions

With the launch of the newest generation Philips Lumileds Luxeon Chip-On-Board (COB) LED modules there was an immediate need for a wide range of standard LED coolers. In the cooperation with MechaTronix Philips Lumileds found a practical and easy way to launch a wide range of standard LED...

With the launch of the newest generation Philips Lumileds Luxeon Chip-On-Board (COB) LED modules there was an immediate need for a wide range of standard LED coolers. In the cooperation with MechaTronix Philips Lumileds found a practical and easy way to launch a wide range of standard LED coolers fitting mechanically with the various dimensions of the Luxeon COBs and matching the cooling capacities needed for the whole series.

philips-lumileds-luxeon-cob-family

Six passive coolers have been launched, ranging from a diameter of 50mm for the Luxeon COB 1203 and 1204, over a diameter 70mm and 99mm for the COB 1204, 1205 and 1208:

With this passive LED cooler range MechaTronix aimed at spot, track and down light designs from 600 lumen all the way up to 4.500 lumen in a small size extrusion profile. The ModuLED Xtra LED coolers are developed in this way that there is an optimal balance between creating cooling surface and leaving enough intermediate space for free air convection.

In this way MechaTronix was able to reach a ModuLED Xtra cooling performance of 1.02°C/W in a package of only 99mm diameter and a height of 80mm, and keeps the Luxeon 1208 COB running at 4.800 lumen at an ambient temperature of 40° Celsius below a case temperature of 80° Celsius.

For those applications running at an extreme high ambient temperature, two active coolers packages where designed:

The IceLED Xtra active LED coolers are developed in a package for indoor low bay use with an extremely low noise factor, this delivering a cooling performance of 0.46°C/W.

This makes them extremely suitable for spot, track and down light designs in office, shop environments and silent rooms where extra noise has to be avoided

All ModuLED and IceLED coolers are foreseen from direct mounting patterns for the various Philips Lumileds Luxeon COB’s, but also offer Zhaga book 3 mounting holes so designers can use COB LED holders if they require solderless mounting of the COB’s on the coolers

MechaTronix performs thermal compatibility tests on all combinations of the Luxeon LED COB’s with the various standard coolers:

A major point of improvement according Koen Vangorp, General Manager of MechaTronix, is the extreme low internal thermal resistance of the Luxeon COB’s. “Philips Lumileds clearly understood the mission of developing high lumen packages in combination with a low thermal resistance. Maybe it is not so obvious to understand what this means because most LED manufacturers offer an external thermal measurement point and all publish similar numbers for these, but the consequences are enormous. With these low thermal resistances from junction to case Philips Lumileds is able to keep their junctions easily 10 to 15 degrees Kelvin lower than most chip-on-board modules on the market. And that immediately affects the life time of the LED dies in a very positive way. Either designers can take advantage of this by using smaller LED coolers, or just use the same LED coolers like they did before but gain on life time.”

All MechaTronix LED coolers are off-the-shelf available through their worldwide distributor and agent network.

About Philips Lumileds

Philips-LumiLEDs-logo

Philips Lumileds Lighting Company is the manufacturer of a wide range of high-power/high-efficiency light-emitting diodes (LEDs). It is now a fully owned division of Philips Lighting. LumiLeds Lighting B.V. was formed in November 1999 as a joint venture between Philips Lighting and Agilent Technologies, a spin-off of Hewlett-Packard. At the time of formation, it was an equal partnership with each company owning a 50% share in Lumileds Lighting.[1] In August 2005, Philips acquired a controlling stake in Lumileds when it purchased Agilent’s 47% share of the company for $950 million USD. This resulted in Philips owning 96.5% of the company with the remaining 3.5% owned by employees. In December 2006/January 2007, Philips acquired the remaining 3.5% of the company, making Lumileds a fully owned subsidiary of Philips Lighting.

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About MechaTronix

Mecha-Tronix-logo

MechaTronix was founded as a creative designer & manufacturer of high end mechanical plastic & metal parts. With its Asia-based headquarters in Kaohsiung Taiwan, MechaTronix became a powerhouse at designing and manufacturing heat sinks and thermal solutions for OEM and LED lighting applications. Strategic partnerships with major LED manufacturers and sharing our thermal knowledge with their luminaire designers are our core missions. Simple passive cooling, advanced heat pipe technology or active cooling solutions? MechaTronix offers of the shelf and tailored solutions to its worldwide professional customer base. For more information about the company, please visit : www.mechatronix-asia.com

Philips Lumileds Signs Partnership with MechaTronix for LED Thermal Management Solutions

GE Illuminates National Christmas Tree with New Sugar Plum LED Holiday Lights

Inspired by a classic holiday poem, “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” this year’s National Christmas Tree on display in front of the White House will feature GE’s new, energy smart® Sugar Plum light-emitting diode (LED) holiday lighting. This year marks the 51st year GE Lighting has designed and...

GE-illuminates-national-christmas-tree-with-new-sugar-plum-led-holiday-lights

Inspired by a classic holiday poem, “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” this year’s National Christmas Tree on display in front of the White House will feature GE’s new, energy smart® Sugar Plum light-emitting diode (LED) holiday lighting. This year marks the 51st year GE Lighting has designed and donated lighting for the tree, and tonight families will gather to celebrate this lighting ceremony, an annual holiday tradition.

Although the complete design of this year’s tree will remain secret until the unveiling tonight, once the switch is flipped on, the tree will feature 60,000 festive, LED lights, including Super-Bright Sugar Plum lights and warm white twinkling sphere ornaments. The Sugar Plum ENERGY STAR-qualified LED multi-color lights come in a matte finish, mirroring the look of traditional holiday lighting. Additionally, this year’s National Christmas Tree will glimmer brightly with its heirloom star-shaped topper with commercial-grade Tetra® MAX LED system that’s typically used in commercial signage.

Here, a National Tree of the past sparkles as part of the illumination ceremony. This year’s national tree will shine brightly with energy-saving LEDs.(Photography by Paul Morigi)

“We are very proud to be part of this great tradition and to be able to bring new technology into the design,” said Mary Beth Gotti, Manager of the GE Lighting Institute and holiday lighting designer for the National Christmas Tree. “Each strand of GE LED holiday lights consumes up to 80 percent less energy than incandescent holiday lights and provides similar light that consumers love from traditional incandescent holiday lighting.”

Holiday Lighting décor tips

While the National Christmas Tree has been all-LED holiday lighting for the past four year, it is expected that two out of every five holiday lighting strands sold this holiday season will be LED. As you begin your own holiday decorating, our lighting design experts have put together a few helpful tips to keep in mind:

• Find inspiration. Every year, thousands of tree lighting ceremonies take place all over the country. Draw ideas from these magical designs for your own tree. The same Sugar Plum LED holiday lighting used for the National Christmas Tree can be found at most major retailers.

• Plan ahead. When considering the amount of lights needed for your own Christmas tree, plan on using an average of 100-150 lights per vertical foot of the tree.

• Mix lighting styles. To make holiday lighting stand out, pair strings of different sized lights together to add depth to décor. On the tree, set a base of white lights at the bottom and continue upward, adding strands of large bulbs and novelty lights for color and variety.

Decoration LED, LED Christmas decoration light, LED rope light

Check LED holiday lights on Kiwi Lighting online store: TopLEDlight.com for some LED Strip Lights/ LED Christmas decoration lights/ Dream-Color-LED-Light-Strip for Christmas decoration.

Other Christmas items: http://www.topledlight.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&inc_subcat=1&search_in_description=1&categories_id=&keyword=Christmas+

LED Christmas decoration lights Dream-Color-LED-Light-Strip-TopLEDlight

GE Illuminates National Christmas Tree with New Sugar Plum LED Holiday Lights

IHS: GaN-on-silicon LEDs forecast to increase market share to 40% by 2020

The penetration of gallium nitride-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) wafers into the LED market is forecast to increase at a CAGR of 69% from 2013 to 2020, by which time they will account for 40% of all GaN LEDs manufactured, according to IHS.

IHS-Gan-on-Silicon-LED-forecast-to-increase-market-share-to-40-by-2020

The penetration of gallium nitride-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) wafers into the LED market is forecast to increase at a CAGR of 69% from 2013 to 2020, by which time they will account for 40% of all GaN LEDs manufactured, according to IHS.

In 2013, 95% of GaN LEDs will be manufactured on sapphire wafers, while only 1% will be manufactured on silicon wafers. The growth in the manufacturing of GaN-on-Si LEDs between 2013 and 2020 will take market share from both sapphire and silicon carbide wafers, IHS believes.

“Manufacturing large ingots made from sapphire is difficult, whereas silicon wafers are available from 8-inch up to 12-inch and are generally cheaper and more abundant,” said Dkins Cho, senior analyst for lighting and LEDs at IHS. “There is a large pre-existing industry for silicon-based manufacturing that is leveraged to create economies of scale and reduce the cost of an LED.”

Repurposing manufacturing facilities to accommodate the shift toward GaN-on-Si LEDs is generally accepted to require minimal investment. Companies that previously manufactured CMOS semiconductors already own legacy 8-inch CMOS fabrication units that can be converted for LED production with a small modification. These companies already have in-house expertise and technology associated with silicon-based processes, IHS noted.

“Many of the CMOS semiconductor manufacturers already have excellent inspection tools, unlike traditional LED companies,” Cho continued. “This could help increase their process yield through in-situ monitoring. However, it is unlikely the repurposing will happen overnight; instead we forecast a shift during the coming years.”

Source: IHS, compiled by Digitimes, December 2013

IHS: GaN-on-silicon LEDs forecast to increase market share to 40% by 2020

Nikkiso Begins Shipping Deep UV LEDs

Japan deep UV LEDs manufacturer Nikkiso has announced that it has initiated shipments of commercial LED product samples emitting at a range of wavelengths in the UVB and UVC spectral regions for industrial, biomedical, and environmental applications.

Nikkiso Co., Ltd., a maker of deep UV LEDs based in Japan, has announced that it has initiated shipments of commercial LED product samples emitting at a range of wavelengths in the UVB and UVC spectral regions for industrial, biomedical, and environmental applications. The company offers several power levels and package types to meet a wide variety of applications. Nikkiso is also working closely with customers in several market segments to develop customized product solutions.

UVB and UVC LEDs offer substantial advantages over UV lamps including mercury free operation, direct on-off modulation and instantaneous analog power control, compact and lightweight form factor, flexible emission wavelength, directional illumination, low voltage and direct current drive. Applications of UVB and UVC LEDs include biomedical instrumentation and dermatology, curing of industrial resins and inks, and air purification and water sterilization.

Nikkiso’s proprietary semiconductor technology enables power levels up to 40mW per package. The company says that its customized multichip assemblies are capable of emitting more than 1W. The devices can be utilized in stand-alone light sources, or integrated seamlessly as OEM components into end customers’ final product solutions.

About Nikkiso

Nikkiso-logo

Industrial Division

• Manufacture and sales of fluid equipment for process industries


• Manufacture and sales of water conditioning systems for thermal and nuclear power plants

Precision Equipment Business Division

• Manufacture and sales of particle size characterization


• Manufacture and sales of ceramic substrate fabrication process equipment and production systems


• Manufacture and sales of water and air purification systems and other utility equipment

Aerospace Division

• Manufacture, sales, and consulting for carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) products, such as aircraft components and carbon nanotube

Medical Division

• Manufacture and sales of hemodialysis machines, dialyzers, blood tubing sets, blood glucose controller, and powder dialysate for hemodialysis treatment

Nikkiso Begins Shipping Deep UV LEDs

Nichia, Everlight, Cree, Osram, Connected Lighting

Nichia and Everlight continue to scrap over intellectual property with the former taking new action, while Cree and Osram make executive appointments and The Connected Lighting Alliance will study commercial indoor SSL.

Nichia and Everlight continue to scrap over intellectual property with the former taking new action, while Cree and Osram make executive appointments and The Connected Lighting Alliance will study commercial indoor SSL.

LED-Intellectual_Property

Nichia has announced new filings with the US District Court in its ongoing LED-centric patent dispute with Everlight Electronics. Cree and Osram have both made changes to their board of directors, and Cree promoted Norbert Hiller and launched a new LED lamp. The Connected Lighting Alliance, comprising some of the industry’s top lighting companies, has announced plans to study the controls situation in the indoor commercial solid-state lighting (SSL) sector.

Nichia and Everlight

Nichia and Everlight have waged an extended intellectual property (IP) battle with Nichia generally claiming Everlight has infringed the former’s patents, and Everlight attacking the validity of Nichia’s patents. In the latest amended complaint filed in US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Nichia asserts that Everlight, subsidiaries Everlight Americas and Zenaro Lighting, and Zenaro distributor Zitroz LLC are infringing four Nichia patents.

The latest action amends a September 11, 2013 filing centered on one specific Nichia US patent — 7,432,589 — and extends the claim to cover patents 7,462,870, 7,521,863, and 8,530,250. The lawsuit (2:13-cv-703) is pending before District Judge J. Rodney Gilstrap and Magistrate Judge Roy M. Payne.

As Nichia acknowledged in its most recent press announcement, the companies have active legal disputes ongoing in several other countries including Japan and Germany. In September, Nichia announced that a German court ruled in its favor in an infringement case. There has still been no word on damages in that action and apparently Everlight is still seeking to have the German court nullify the patent in question.

Everlight has also attacked the validity of a Nichia patent in the US this past March, and prior to that had filed its own patent infringement lawsuit against Nichia.

Cree lamp and exec moves

Moving to some product news and executive reshuffling, Cree has added a 75W-equivalent Soft White LED lamp to its A-lamp family. Apparently the design is near identical to the 60W product in terms of the LEDs used, although the drive current has been increased to enable 1100-lm output. The main change in the design is a noticeably bulkier and heavier heat sink to keep the LEDs cool at the elevated current. We have a detailed article on the A-19 SSL retrofit lamp over on our Illumination in Focus website.

Cree also has appointed Norbert Hiller to the position of executive vice president lighting. Hiller has served in a similar role in the company’s LED operation for more than two years. Apparently the move was driven by Cree’s increasing presence in the lighting space as witnessed by the lamp announcement.

“The growth in our LED fixture business combined with the success of the Cree LED bulb has expanded the scale of our lighting business and increased the focus on sales and marketing,” said Cree chairman and CEO Chuck Swoboda. “Norbert brings a unique skill set and track record of success to the next phase of Cree’s growth.”

Cree also announced that Anne Whitaker has been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors. Whitaker is president of Sanofi’s North American Pharmaceuticals operation. Swoboda said, “Anne has proven herself to be a leader throughout her career and her extensive experience in strategic management and organizational development will be a tremendous asset to our company as we continue to carry out our mission to accelerate the adoption of LED lighting.”

Osram executive announcement

Osram is also making changes to its Supervisory Board. Peter Bauer is the new chairman for both Osram Licht AG and Osram GmbH. Bauer had previously been a member of both boards and succeeds Siegfried Russwurm as chairman.

Osram had said back in June that Russwurm would be stepping down, and Bauer is a ready replacement having served as deputy chairman in the past. Bauer had a long career with Siemens and Infineon, and currently works as a management consultant.

The Connected Lighting Alliance

Moving to something of a technology story, The Connected Lighting Alliance has announced that it has formed a study group focused on lighting networks and controls for the commercial space. Previously the industry organization has been focused on the residential sector, having endorsed ZigBee Light Link as the technology of choice.

The action in the commercial sector focused on indoor lighting could have a major business impact because of the companies behind the organization. Founders include GE Lighting, Lutron, Osram, Panasonic, Philips, and Toshiba. If the organization decides to tap a specific technology, the action will carry broad impact.

“After the endorsement of ZigBee Light Link last summer, our members have decided to raise the bar and address the complex solutions required for indoor professional lighting,” said Simon den Uijl, secretary general of The Connected Lighting Alliance. “The benefit of this activity goes beyond stimulating the adoption of wireless lighting solutions and provides the lighting industry with an opportunity to interface with other industry stakeholders, such as building automation companies. We hereby invite any interested company to join the Alliance now and help shape the future of indoor professional lighting.”

Nichia, Everlight, Cree, Osram, Connected Lighting

London makes LED street light plans; US and UK projects

London will get the country’s largest deployment of LED street lights by 2016 aiming for 40% energy savings, while a project in Rhode Island may change the thinking in the US on lighting ownership, and North East Lincolnshire pursues another significant UK project.

The UK’s largest city will also get the country’s largest deployment of LED street lights by 2016 aiming for 40% energy savings, while a project in Rhode Island may change the thinking in the US on lighting ownership, and North East Lincolnshire pursues another significant UK project.

London-makes-LED-street-light-plans

The Transport for London (TfL) transit authority has announced plans in conjunction with the Mayor’s office to upgrade 35,000 streetlights with LED luminaires and to install a networked adaptive control system to monitor and control the streetlight inventory. North East Lincolnshire is also pursuing a solid-state lighting (SSL) project in the UK targeting 16,500 lights. In the US state of Rhode Island, meanwhile, the activity of a small utility district has shown the cost-saving benefits of LED lighting, and the state is planning a program to aggressively push adoption of SSL.

London SSL plans

The London streetlight project will support Mayor Boris Johnson’s target goals of reaching a 60% reduction in carbon emissions by 2025. “With tens of thousands of lights marking the way on our road network it makes complete sense to focus energy and resources on bringing them up to 21st century standards,” said Johnson. “This is the largest investment to modernize streetlighting on major roads in our capital’s history and will not only cut carbon emissions and save money but it will also lead to even better and safer roads for Londoners.”

The TfL authority has a total inventory of 52,000 lights on the TfL Road Network (TLRN). The plan is to ultimately upgrade all of the lighting over ten years, but the first phase will focus on 35,000 lights that will be replaced by 2016 either as part of normal TfL maintenance or as targeted retrofits that can deliver the most savings. The first phase is projected to reduce emissions by 9700 metric tons annually while saving TfL GBP 1.85 million (about $3 million) — a 40% savings. The initial phase will cost GBP 10.9 million so payback will take a few years.

The savings will be extended in terms of both maintenance costs and maximum energy efficiency by a lighting network with controls and what TfL terms a Central Management System (CMS). TfL will use the system to set light levels to the minimum safe levels based on traffic and pedestrian activity, and to automatically detect required maintenance.

TfL said that it has already awarded a contract to supply the CMS to Harvard Engineering. Moreover, it said that the value of adaptive controls has already been proven out in other UK-based SSL trials. For example, London was one of the cities that took part in the LightSavers consortium trialing LED-based lighting and controls. The TfL also installed LED lighting in the Upper Thames Street tunnel two years back.

Burrillville, Rhode Island

Meanwhile, municipalities large and small continue to pursue SSL streetlight upgrades around the globe. The Pascoag Utility District in Burrillville, Rhode Island, for example, became the first entity in the state to test LEDs on 56 streetlights, according to the Providence Journal. The small project has resulted in a $1710 decrease annually in energy costs and $2535 decrease in maintenance costs.

But the impact of the project could be far greater. In part the success is leading Rhode Island to be the first state to force utilities to allow municipalities to buy energy-efficient streetlights and capitalize on savings. Work in the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission will allow municipalities to get a lower rate for lower-power fixtures, and an even lower rate when adaptive controls are applied. The action could make the state a leader in LED adoption for roadway lighting.

North East Lincolnshire

Back across the pond in the UK, London is far from alone in installing LED lighting. We recently covered a project in Bath involving LEDs installed on the A4 roadway. Moreover, the Yorkshire Post recently reported that the North East Lincolnshire Council was launching a project involving 16,500 streetlights.

The upfront cost of the project will be GBP 8.2 million that will be spent over the next two years. But the Council pointed to a combination of energy savings, safer roads, and reduced light pollution as justification for the expense.

London makes LED street light plans; US and UK projects

Osram Joins Cree and Philips Lumileds in "Hot-Binning" with Oslon Square

Osram has started hot binning the Oslon Square which reportedly withstands high ambient temperatures particularly well. Osram notes that to ensure that the colors of several LEDs in a luminaire remain uniform even at higher temperatures. They are measured and binned at 85 degrees Celsius (°C), a ...

Osram has started hot binning the Oslon Square which reportedly withstands high ambient temperatures particularly well. Osram notes that to ensure that the colors of several LEDs in a luminaire remain uniform even at higher temperatures. They are measured and binned at 85 degrees Celsius (°C), a temperature that comes very close to that encountered in lighting applications within buildings, in everything from spotlights to retrofit light sources. For this reason, Osram contends that measuring and binning at operating temperatures of 85° C is of great significance to customers who further process the light-emitting diodes into luminaires. According to Osram, its OEM customers receive precise information on parameters such as luminous flux or color stability, which they need to optimally define the properties of their products. Osram says it has optimized the heat dissipation of the Oslon Square to allow an increase in the junction temperature.

“With our new conversion technology, we can produce significantly thinner converter layers. The thinner layers better dissipate the heat, thus enabling the higher temperatures in the LED,” says Ivar Tangring, SSL Product Development at Osram Opto Semiconductors. Osram claims that with this heat dissipating structure, Oslon Square can reach a lifetime of considerably more than 50,000 hours even at high temperatures of up to 135° C in the LED.

In addition to longer life, Osram says that the improved temperature behavior leads to higher luminous efficacy in the application. “This luminous efficacy, meaning the ratio of luminous flux to applied electrical power, helps our customers to significantly optimize the price/performance ratio of their luminaire solutions,” Tangring emphasizes. Also, thanks to the higher permitted junction temperatures, fewer large heat sinks are required, the company pointed out

The Oslon Square comes in a color temperature ranging between 2,400 (warm white) and 5,000 Kelvin (cool white). The color rendering index of the LED is over 80 and the luminous flux is an impressive 202 lumens (lm) at 3000K operating at 700mA. This translates to about 100 lm/W at 2.9 V. Currently, Osram says that the new LED is undergoing extensive quality testing including the certification process under the LM-80 long lifetime standard. The results of the 3,000 hour test are expected at the end of the year, those of the 6,000 hour test in spring 2014.

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LED hot binning

the-xlamp-mt-g-shown-here-was-the-first-LED-to-be-binned-hot-at-85c

As the name implies, hot binning is binning the LED lamps at a higher temperature than the conventional 25°C. The LED manufacturers who have decided to launch new products binned at an elevated temperature have converged on 85°C as the new conventional binning temperature. Though 85°C, like 25°C before it, is somewhat arbitrary, it has one major advantage it is a lot closer to the typical operating temperature of many solid-state lighting luminaires than 25°C.

Binning at 85°C makes the initial part of the design process slightly easier and more intuitive. For example, if a designer were working on an LED system that needed 1,000 lumens at an 85°C temperature, then he or she could simply select 10 LED lamps with a luminous flux of 100 lumens per LED, binned at 85°C. Thus, hot binning makes it easy to estimate the performance of these LED lamps in this real-world situation. On the other hand, if the LEDs were binned at 25°C, the same 10 LED lamps would need to be binned at 114 lumens each and de-rated per the LEDs mathematical framework (Fig. 3) to arrive at the same 1,000 lumen goal at the system level.

So, the good news is binning at 85°C makes the first-pass math more intuitive. The bad news is you still have to do the same math if your system runs or ever runs at any temperature other than 85°C. Examples of this would be outdoor luminaires (60° to 65°C is much more common) or freezer cases (20° to 25°C is typical) or downlights in insulated ceilings or almost any retrofit bulb (often over 100°C). In each of these cases the value of binning at 85°C is lost and the designer is back to doing the same math from a new mathematical framework where, arbitrarily, 85°C is now set to equal 100%.

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OSLON Square LED

oslon-square–white-2nd-gen

Features

• Different luminous flux packages from one package family


• High luminous efficacy at high currents


• Superior corrosion robustness


• Binned at 85 °C


• 135 °C Tj max., 1.8 A If max.


• Package: SMT ceramic package with silicone resin and silicone lens


• Full CCT range available: 2400 K – 5000 K (warm and neutral white)


• CRI: min. 80 (typ. 82)


• Viewing angle at 50 % IV: 120°


• Luminous Flux: typ. 202 lm @ 3000 K, 85 °C


• Luminous efficacy: typ. 100 lm/W @ 3000 K, 85 °C


• Lumen Maintenance: Test results according to IESNA LM-80 available

Osram Joins Cree and Philips Lumileds in "Hot-Binning" with Oslon Square