Friday, November 28, 2014

UK County Concerned about LED Streetlight Upgrades

Residents in Dorset County, UK complained new led street lighting Manufacturer being installed in certain areas in the county have been too bright, while others were concerned with the lack of overnight lighting, according to a BBC report.

To reduce lighting energy consumption, the county switched off streetlights between midnight and 5:30 Am. Council members say the lights are only being switched off in areas where there are no significant road safety and crime.

In areas of Bournemouth and Poole are installing new low-energy LED lights to replace sodium bulbs. A GBP 7 million (US $11 million) project is being rolled out in Bournemouth to retrofit 16,500 streetlights with LEDs, which is expected to save the borough more than GBP 30 million in 30 years.

The borough council also approved a GBP 10 million plan to replace 17,500 streetlights in Poole in the next six years with LEDs, which is hoped to save about GBP 20 million in the next 30 years.

Despite the county efforts, Alison Lynch, a personal trainer in Bournemouth, noted the new led street light wholesale left dark patches in between, making night runs fairly difficult around Christchurch.

Another resident Michael Witherden complained the new LED lights were too bright and affecting his sleeping patterns.

LED Bulb Prices Drop the Most in Germany Last Month

LED bulb prices over the past quarter, with price declines most markedly in the German market for both 40W and 60W equiv. LED bulbs last month.Prices for 60W equiv. LED bulb have dropped more than 40W equiv. led high bay light manufacturers in September. Bulb price upticks have only been reported in the U.S. market last month, according to a recent global bulb price survey by LEDinside, a research subsidiary of Taipei-based market intelligence firm TrendForce.

The 40W equiv. LED bulb prices have dropped 1.8% Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) during 3Q14, while 60W equiv. LED bulb prices were down 6.3% during the same period, said LEDinside.

Global 40W equivalent LED bulbs ASP dropped 0.6 percent in September to US $ 14.1. Bulb prices fell the most in Germany, having dropped 13.1% in September as existing bulb product prices dwindled. Prices also slid 3.4 percent in the UK market last month, as prices for some products steadily declined. The Philips 8W LED bulb for instance was down 4% to US $27.2 in UK, and some low-priced have reentered the market.


(Source: LEDinside)
In contrast, 40W equiv. LED bulb prices were up 14.3% in the U.S. market. Manufacturers including Cree, Philips, GE and other renowned brands have raised prices for certain products in the U.S. market. Bulb prices in the Japanese market also increased incrementally by 1.5%. Iris Ohyama’s 8.8W LED bulb prices that were slashed to US $5.8 in August, but have not returned to previous retail price of US $15 in September. Bulb prices in other Asian markets including Korea, Taiwan and China have remained relatively stable. Retail prices of 40W equiv. LED bulbs in Taiwan and Korea were mostly affected by fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Bulb prices also remained the same in China, with the exception of a small portion of products, such as BYD Lighting 6.9W bulb prices were lowered from US $5.14 to US $4.44.

Prices declined even more for 60W equiv. LED bulbs last month, with the global ASP down 5.9% to US $18.2. Prices fell steeply in the German market last month, having dropped as much as 24.8%. This was mainly due to further price cuts among existing bulb products, and some products entered sales promotion. For instance, LG 12.8W LED bulbs was marked down 31% to US $14.35 on the German market. Prices also dropped sharply by 19.4% in the UK market in September, with Osram 10W LED bulb prices down by more than 30% to US $12.2. Low-priced products launched on the UK market last month also further drove down bulb prices in UK. The Japanese market also reported 60W equiv. LED bulb ASP falling 9.9% to US $16.6. Existing bulb prices all declined in Japan, for instance Toshiba’s 9.1W LED bulb prices was down 9% to US $8.91. New low-priced bulbs released on the market also further spurred price falls in the Japanese market.

In Korea, China, and Taiwan, 60W equiv. LED bulb prices have remained stable. Compared to the above listed markets, 60W equiv. led high bay light for sale prices in U.S. have climbed up 11.1%, as Cree, Philips, and Sylvania raised retail prices.

Some interesting trends were observed in the Chinese LED market. While 40W equiv. LED bulb prices dropped the most in China on a quarterly basis having fallen 2.3% compared to the global average, the market reported 60W equiv. LED bulb price outperformed the global average last quarter having dipped a mere 0.6% QoQ. This was mostly contributed by the fact that most 40W equiv. LED bulbs are manufactured domestically in China, while 60W equiv. LED bulbs in the market are mostly made by international brands. Therefore, there are huge price differences between international brands and local Chinese vendors. Furthermore, global lighting brands have chosen a market strategy of raising product competitiveness instead of engaging in price wars in the Chinese market.

Thailand’s Anemic Economy Might Slowdown LED Industry Growth in 2015

The Thai LED market has emerged as a market holding great potential, government statistics estimate the current LED market value has reached 80 billion Thai baht (US $2.44 billion), said Dennis Stech, Vice President, of Hatari LED at EcoLightTech Asia 2014 in Bangkok, Thailand in mid-November. However, the country’s unstable political situation might lead to lower LED industry growth rates in 2015.

Compared to before 2014, when led street lights price share was only 5% in the Thai lighting industry, LED market share is expected to reach 70% by 2020, said Stech. LED lighting penetration rates in the Thai lighting market has reached an estimated 10% to 15%, said Vincent Chang, Manging Director, Glaring International. The LED industry has really picked up in 2013, observed Nathan kulvadhanaphan, Product Development Manager, Lumoz, AKE Enterprise.


L&E's outdoor luminaire products. Thai government policies have driven down LED bulb prices. (LEDinside)
The increasing LED lighting penetration rates are attributed to Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) subsidies that have lowered LED prices to US $4 to $5, said Pongskorn Ouvuthipong, LED Product Director, L&E. “Government subsidies continue to play a key role in the Thai LED market,” he added.

The Thai government projected LED market Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) to reach 30% in the next five years, to bring the total market value from US $900 million to US $1 billion. LED manufacturers reported growth rates were consistent with Thai government estimations. The average growth rate reported by the nine manufacturers willing to reveal revenue statistics was about 34.67%. Some high performers even reported growth rates soared at least 50%.

Yet, Thailand’s unstable political situation and sluggish economic performance might slow down LED industry growth next year. On May 22, 2014, the Royal Thai Armed Forces led a coup d'état that dissolved the former government headed by Yingluck Shinawatra and senate. The country has been under military junta National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) rule since.

Commercial building led street lighting Manufacturer applications such as hotel lighting seen in this picture have declined because of recent political turmoil in Thailand (LEDinside)
In the private sector business investors are also more cautious about investing in real estate and building construction projects, which could further hurt the LED commercial lighting applications in the local market. “Real estate and building lighting growth have been stagnant in the Thai market this year,” said Eric Ooi, Group Marketing Manager, Trade Link Media, which publishes architectural lighting magazine Southeast Asia Building. Most investors are speculating because of the uncertain political situation, with many even considering to invest in Myanmar or Cambodia instead, he added.

LED Lighting-Use Market Contracted Up to 16% in Fourth Quarter

The lighting-use LED market contracted 5-16% in the fourth quarter, while backlighting-use LED products fell 4-13% according to a new report from LEDinside, a division of the Taiwan-based market intelligence firm TrendForce. The average price of lighting-use LED products is falling with the arrival of the non-peak season and as competition intensifies among manufacturers, said Jack Kuo, an assistant research manager at LEDinside. “Orders are falling and profits are being squeezed,” he said. “For manufacturers to increase their market share, they need to introduce more new products.”

Prices declined across the board in the lighting-use led street lighting Manufacturer in the fourth quarter due to increasing lighting product inventory. As demand in the 3030 market gradually fell, it increased the speed of price declines and overall the market contracted 16%. 5630 prices also fell, but only by 5%. High power LED products did not fall notably in price for the most part, but the 1500mA was an exception, decreasing 6%. Moreover, prices of backlight-use LED products used in mobile phones and tablets dropped by 13%. LED specs for smartphones, tablets and PC are very similar, and can actually be shared in these applications, Kuo said. 0.6t LED prices fell $ 0.035. Furthermore, LED price for monitor application was fairly stable, decreasing just 2%. LEDinside predicts LED specs for TV applications will be further standardized in 2015. 7020 LED, representing LED specs in the edge-type LED TV sector, fell 6% to $ 0.113 in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the direct-type LED TV penetration rate is expected to reach 60% in 2015. 3528/3030 LED package prices fell 10% in the fourth quarter.

The lack of MOCVD experts in China to operate MOCVD equipment is no longer an issue, since the Chinese have been able to continue producing LEDs with high utilization rates, Kuo said, adding: “Even if the machines’ production yield is not optimized, Chinese manufacturers have still achieved economies of scale because of their high production volume and low manufacturing costs, which is putting enormous pressure on Taiwanese, Japanese and Korean LED manufacturers.” Looking ahead to 2015, led street light fixture will face a number of challenges, Kuo said. They will need to figure out to maintain their competiveness in a saturated market, where low prices are common. Additionally, there are 5 LED manufacturers in the industry that have most of the patents: Nichia, Cree, Toyoda Gosei, Philips and Osram. It will be imperative for other vendors to form strategic alliances with them to avoid patent lawsuits and expand into new markets.

Seeing Red with PFS Phosphor

Who invented the color red? Well, nobody of course. But in another sense, you might say that Nick Holonyak did in the modern era, when he created the red LED at GE’s labs in 1962. Now, materials scientist Anant Setlur has reinvented the color. Working with a team of researchers at GE Lighting and in Europe, Setlur found and patented a way leading to the perfect red light.

Setlur says that the new led high bay light for sale could “vastly improve” the color and crispness of LED and LCD displays for everything from smartphones and tablets to TV sets. “We were able to make LEDs emit the color red in a narrow band that makes everything look sharper and cleaner than the current state-of-art technology,” Setlur says. “It really makes the pictures pop.”

His idea is one reason why GE made the Thomson Reuters Top 100 Global Innovators list every year ever since its inception in 2011. The information and analytics firm released the most recent list on Friday. The list “honors the 100 corporations and institutions around the world that are at the heart of innovation as measured by a series of proprietary patent-related metrics.”

Here’s why Setlur’s LED is a breakthrough. A large part of how we see colors boils down to the spectrum of light emitted by the source. (Although light appears white, we can see its colored components corresponding to the particular wavelengths during a rainbow.)

Of these colors, the red has been the most difficult to produce. Deep red makes other colors like green and yellow more vivid. But to the human eye, it appears dim since it moves quickly to the invisible, infrared part of the spectrum. “For a long time, we had to choose between brightness and appearance,” Setlur says. The result was a compromise that yielded displays and screens with a broad red profile with enough brightness, but also washed out yellows, greens and oranges.

Setlur and a colleague at GE Lighting started looking for a “Goldilocks” red that was just right. They found clues in a material called potassium fluorosilicate (PFS). “This material looks like pure yellowish powder that does not do much, but when you dope it with manganese, it emits a beautiful narrow red line,” he says. “We were able to coax that manganese to do the heavy lifting for us.”


This yellowish potassium flourosilicate powder manufatured in GE labs was key to making a better red light. Top Image: PFS radiates clean red light under a UV lamp in the lab. (LEDinside)
GE has already licensed the technology to Japan’s Sharp Corp. and Nichia Corp. Both companies are manufacturing and packaging LEDs containing the PFS phosphor material for use as LED backlights in a wide range of LCD display products. Several display companies have recently launched tablets, smartphones and large screen TV’s containing these buy led high bay lamps supplied by the two licensees.

Says Setlur: “It took us a few years to get there but soon everyone will be able to see the light.”

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Japanese developed new technology can reduce deep UV LED cost significantly

Ritsumeikan University in Japan recently published a communique that its researchers have developed a technology to produce a low cost and efficient deep ultraviolet light-emitting diode (LED); it is expected to be widely adopted deep ultraviolet light source after the mercury limit by United Nations .

Ultraviolet wavelength between 200 nm and 350 nm is called deep ultraviolet light, is widely used in water purification plants, hospitals, air sterilization, handling formaldehyde and other fields. In the past, a lot of deep ultraviolet light source used the mercury lamp, but United Nations organized parties signed the "led street light wholesale last year, aims to restrict the use of mercury greatly, it is necessary to develop alternative sources.
Deep UV LED can be used to substitute mercury, but it adopted sapphire substrates to produce such LED, which is too expensive to be widely used. A team led by Ritsumeikan University professor Yoshinobu Aoyagi reported that it can use cheap silicone to replace sapphire substrate, which cut the costs significantly.

In order to allow the current past through, the previous method need to peel part of the insulating layer on the substrate, but the new method is to attach indium nitride on the layer of silicon substrate as an insulator, and then open pores that allow electrical current to flow, it's no need to peel insulating layer, and short the process significantly. It can cut five days production to only one day, and avoid damage to the led street lighting fixture layer, also improve the luminous efficiency at the same time.

The research team believes that the new method can reduce the deep UV LED manufacturing costs substantially; it is expected to promote the mass production and widespread application of this deep ultraviolet light source.

2014 LED lighting will exceed fluorescent lamps in the U.S. market for the first time

American manufacturer Precision Paragon recently released a survey report about the status of lighting industry, a total of more than 5,000 professionals in the lighting industry received the survey, and result that led indoor lighting wholesale in the US market will firstly exceed energy-efficient fluorescent lamps in 2014 .

More than half of respondents believe that energy efficient lighting market grown moderately or significantly in 2013, and there only 20% of respondents in 2012.

Surveyed lighting companies said that in the past few years (mainly since 2010), their annual sales achieved different growth, mainly from 57% to 64%.

63% of companies said its 2013 revenues achieved or exceeded their expectations. And up to 82% of the respondents expect the lighting industry demand will continue to grow in 2014.

Although the led outdoor lighting wholesale sales remain strong in 2013, and the respondents said the proportion of using LED lighting products has accounted for 37% in 2013, that means annual growth of LED lighting products is about 8%.

In addition, respondents believe that by 2014, the amount of installed LED lighting will exceed fluorescent lamp for the first time, and take the dominant market.

Based on the above investigations, LED lighting will continue to maintain a high demand for the US market in the future.

Refond will launch the Brifond brand with Bridgelux jointly

The evening of 5th June, Refond announced that the company intends to hold a press conference with the American Bridgelux on June 9 to release their Brifond brand jointly.

According to information that Brifond is a brand for Bridgelux small and medium -power SMD LED. Bridgelux believes that small and medium- power LED devices is one of Chinese fastest growing led street light Manufacturer market, Brifond will expand the potential market, firstly will introduce 4014 and 2835 products with a variety of different CCT and CRI combinations, to meet indoor and outdoor general lighting applications. Also it will provide good performance, quality, price competitiveness, and intellectual property protection.

led street lighting fixture pointed out that the US Congress has passed a ban on incandescent lamps, United States stopped to sell the market's best-selling 40 -watt and 60 -watt incandescent since the New Year's Day of 2014, it is worth noting that China will also expand incandescent regulation from the scope of existing industrial applications to the field of indoor lighting.

Refond said, Brifond will provide high performance and high quality products also property protection for domestic manufacturers, allow more companies enjoying high growth market opportunities, thereby improve companies' competitiveness in the high-end market.

OLED is developing twice as fast as LED

According to Korean survey company UBI report: The report said that the OLED lighting market will remain very small, but its performance is close to the LED in 2015, UBI forecasts that led high bay light for sale panels will reach 100LM / W and 30,000 hours next year The report. concluded that, the performance improving will encourage the rapid growth of OLED lighting, and the market is expected to reach $ 4.7 billion in 2020.

But some of the lighting manufacturers do not think that OLED will progress very quickly OSRAM OLED product manager Karsten Diekmann said:. "Market research is a difficult story, it's really hard to tell what will be the case in five to 10 years from now ", also he added that:" Our key year for performance is 2016, where we anticipate to break the 100lm / W barrier and to be technically competitive with LED technology We showed a 65lm / W OLED at Lighting + Building this year, which. is the same performance of CFL; but sadly nobody is interested in the performance of CFL Everything is back to LED performance, which is the true benchmark "..

OLED is catching up, Diekmann think OLED technology advancement speed is twice of the LED. In 2010 OSRAM introduced 20lm / W and 5000 hours L50 OLED, it has tremendous progress today for OSRAM launched 65lm / W and 15,000 hours L70 OLED, the brightness is . three times as before Compared to LED, it needs to return six or seven years to achieve double performance improving He also pointed out that the LED with more thermal and optical losses than OLED;. Therefore, OLED is expected to compete with the LED in two years later.

Of course, price is another matter, Diekmann forecast OLED will be competitive with LED in price need at least 2018, or even 2020. "The goal is clear," Karsten Diekmann said, "OLEDs have to be competitive in pricing in order to succeed . in the lighting market By having a good technical performance two years from now will not mean we can start selling led street light with solar panel for the same price First we need premium projects, new infrastructures, standardisation efforts;. then you can start all these economy of scale factors. "

OSRAM hopes the automotive industry to push the OLED market, drive down costs and achieve the general lighting market. "We think the OEMs in the car industry are desperately looking for possibilities to differentiate themselves from others to create branding by lighting, to have a certain fingerprint from their luminaires. "Diekmann said." They will be the first adopters of OLED technology. With this we can increase our economies of scale and then move into the general lighting market with OLEDs. "

Thermal conductive plastic has become popular in LED component

Thermally conductive plastics are used to replace metal thermal components of LED luminaires increasingly, the replaced parts including lamp holder, heat sink and shell. Compared to metal, the conductive plastic material has the advantage of heat evenly, lightweight and flexible sharps.

. The rapid development of led high bay lighting wholesale, not only promotes the development of upstream industry greatly, but also further promotes breakthroughs in the field of high-end materials The conductive plastic used in LED lamp including: LED chip packaging components, LED optical lens, light scattering components, efficient cooling components, light reflection and light diffusion slices.

Thermal conductive plastic

LED light is a sustainable alternative lighting solution;. It can save 30% to 80% energy than fluorescent and incandescent lamps LED luminaire emits a small amount of heat, but its thermal component has critical effect on the energy efficiency and lifespan of LED lamp. Therefore, researchers use thermal conductive filler to fill the polymer matrix material uniformly, improve its thermal performance, and develop effective thermal conductive plastic.

Compared to traditional metal materials, thermal plastic has many advantages, summed up in the following four points:
1) Heat evenly and no searing point, avoids deformation parts caused by high temperature.
2) Light weight, it's 40-50% lighter than aluminum.
3) Easy to produce, no secondary processing.
4) Product can be designed freely.

The Use of conductive plastic can increase the flexibility of lighting design, and reduce the buy led high bay lamps. In addition, the conductive plastic can improve lighting efficiency effectively, finally save energy consumption. With the increasing technological innovation and investment efforts in this material, it will have good prospect and development space.

Today, people remain highly concerns about carbon dioxide emissions, and increase the awareness of energy conservation and environmental protection gradually; the LED technology can help people to achieve the goal of sustainable development.

Taiwan will fully replace mercury street light by LED in two years

The premier of Taiwan Jiang Yihua today (14th Nov) approved the "Mercury streetlight sunset plan", it is expected to invest NT $ 5.49 billion yuan (about 178.44 million US dollars) in the next two years, aim to assist local governments on replacing 692,000 units mercury street lights by led street light with solar panel in the end of 2016. After the completion of replacement, Taiwan will become the world's first region which eliminates mercury lights comprehensively. It is expected to save up to 640 million Kwh annually, will reduce NT $ 1.1 billion yuan (about 35.75 million US dollars) electricity cost and NT $ 346 million yuan (about 11.24 million US dollars) maintenance costs, the local government expenditure can save up to NT $ 7.23 billion yuan (about 235 million US dollars) in five years.

The premier spokesman Sun Liqun said that in order to accelerate the development of LED optoelectronic industry and reduce carbon emissions, Taiwan promoted LED traffic light since 2008, and make Taiwan became the second area that fully using LED traffic lights; also develop LED street light standard (CNS15233) in the same year, and began to promote the LED street lamp demonstration project.

The premier stated that besides the promotion of led street light fixture Manufacturer by government funds, they will add mandatory regulations to prohibit the use of mercury lights at the same time, and finally achieve the goal of fully replaced the mercury lights. Taiwan LED street lamp performances were improved significantly, the average luminous efficiency is more than 100lm / W, which is about three times of mercury lights, while the life is up to six years, also three times of the mercury lamp, so it can fully replace the traditional mercury light.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

China's November 11 Online Shopping Festival Promotes Lighting E-Commerce Sales

The emergence of online and mobile shopping in China has changed the distribution structure of many industries, including the lighting industry. Due to the popularity of led street light with solar panel products on online shopping platforms, the LED lighting market scale could go up on a yearly basis. At the latest, the proportion of lighting products sold through online channels is expected to reach 30% in 2017, according to "2015 Chinese Lighting E-Commerce Market Analysis" released by LEDinside, a subsidiary of Trendforce.
China’s lighting e-commerce market scale is around US $2.349 billion in 2014, 14.4% of overall China lighting market, according to LEDinside Senior Analyst, Figo Wang. The market witnessed a shopping platform that boosted the total transaction value of lighting products up to 16 times the average daily transaction volume during the November 11 Online Shopping Festival.

TMall announced it recorded RMB 194 million in sales for lighting products within 24 hours, and Taobao RMB 259 million. led street lighting Manufacturer from online lighting sales add up to approximately RMB 450 million.

There have been doubts over whether Taobao and TMall's figures are reliable due to the widespread “click farming” phenomenon – a means used by some retailers to boost their online popularity. But since “click farming” is not a new issue - the same thing happened the year before - perhaps the growth rate can still be estimated reliably. The entire transaction counts for light source products are up 101.62% from last year, 37.20% higher than luminaries counts.

“2014 turnover is 38.88% more than same period last year, while trading volume is up 53.87%. The fact that turnover growth is slightly lower compared to trading volume growth is normal since it reflects recent decreasing LED lighting product price.” Said Wang.

Lunera Lighting BallastLED lamps enable plug-and-play retrofit at Trinity Schools



A leader in lighting innovations accelerating the transformation to advanced LED technology, is pleased to announce Trinity School has installed Lunera’s Susan Lamp in a move towards sustainable, energy-saving led high bay light supplier for its multipurpose gymnasium. The private elementary school, located on a 43-acre campus in Atlanta, Georgia, is an area leader in advancing student achievement.

“Our focus on being a healthy, high performance school compelled us to upgrade to a sustainable, energy-efficient LED lighting system. The plug and play installation and brilliant high-bay lighting provided by Lunera’s Susan Lamp for our gymnasium was outstanding. We expected a two to three-day installation, the entire retrofit was completed in a day,” said Reginald P. Haley, FMP, Director of Operations, Trinity Schools, Inc.

Trinity School required an improved lighting environment that reduced energy expense, lowered air conditioning costs, and needed no routine maintenance. The Susan Lamp fit this need perfectly, with immediate 60 percent energy reduction and long run times. Trinity School was impressed with the negligible installation cost and was able to take advantage of local utility rebates to lower its overall purchase burden. These combined benefits contributed to a greatly improved bottom line for the school’s operations budget while increasing lighting performance and flexibility in the space.

According to the energystar.gov website, “the nation’s 17,450 K-12 school districts spend over $6 billion annually on energy - more than is spent on computers and textbooks combined. As much as 30 percent of a district’s total energy is used inefficiently or unnecessarily.” “It’s time for schools to spend less on utility bills when those dollars could be spent on students,” said Tom Quinn, Lunera Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

Designed for long run times, the LED Susan Lamps last at least five times longer than the metal halide bulbs they rendered obsolete, resulting in fewer service cycles and replacement lamps, virtually eliminating maintenance costs. The instant-on feature of the lamp also adds important flexibility and capability, not previously available with metal halide lighting. Read our case study for more information.

Lunera Lighting, an innovative technology leader, delivers LED solutions that are simple to install, reliable to operate, and valuable to own. Lunera designs, assembles, and markets high performance commercial led high bay light for sale and lamps that obsolete traditional lighting technologies. For building owners and operators, Lunera’s products reduce operating expenses by lowering electricity and maintenance costs. For occupants, Lunera’s technology improves light quality, enhancing comfort and productivity. Based in Silicon Valley, Lunera is part of a community of progressive companies that challenge convention and transform industries for the benefit of all. Visit Lunera (www.lunera.com) on the web, Facebook (LuneraLighting) or Twitter.

Hubbell expands outdoor SSL line joins network alliance

Hubbell Lighting has announced the GSL LED-based parking garage luminaires designed to replace 150W to 250W metal halide (MH) fixtures. The company also has expanded its line of Dusk-to-Dawn (DDL) and WGH wallpack solid-state lighting (SSL) series for outdoor lighting applications. In indoor-related news, meanwhile, the company has joined The Connected Lighting Alliance that is championing led high bay lighting fixture wholesale technology for intelligent SSL networks.
Hubbell expands outdoor solid-state lighting line, joins The Connected Lighting Alliance for promotion of ZigBee wireless technology
The new GSL product is available in a choice of 4500- or 6100-lm packages, at an efficacy level of 81 lm/W, and targets indoor/outdoor lighting applications including parking garages, walkways, building corridors, tunnels, and large stairwells. The optic design can deliver a choice of symmetric or asymmetric beam patterns, enabling the product to fit in such a broad range of applications.
Hubbell also released two new versions of the DDL luminaire family, for roadway and other outdoor area lighting applications, with higher output than prior products. A 5279-lm version enables deployment in applications where higher mounting heights are required, and delivers efficacy of 121 lm/W. The second model delivers 2906 lm and efficacy of 97 lm/W. The products are available with a variety of beam distributions and offer zero uplight performance. For more information on beam patterns, see our feature article on the topic.
In the wallpack area, the company added a higher output product in the medium-size WGH family and debuted a larger luminaire intended to replace 250W to 400W legacy sources for outdoor lighting. The products use borosilicate glass refractors to provide uniform illuminations with minimal glare.
Bridge crane lighting
In a separate announcement, Hubbell introduced the HBLC LED fixture designed specifically for bridge cranes. The product requires 169W of power and can work with AC or DC supplies. The luminaire delivers 16,808 lm at an efficacy of 99 lm/W. Hubbell has tested the fixtures at 3g in 3-axis vibration environments for 100,000 cycles to endure reliability in the demanding application.
And in a third announcement, Hubbell Building Automation (HBA) has said that it joined The Connected Lighting Alliance, an industry organization comprising major lighting vendors. The alliance was formed to first identify wireless network technology that can enable intelligent lighting in residential applications. The alliance has chosen to back the ZigBee Light Link standard. The alliance is now considering standards for commercial indoor lighting.
"The use of wireless technology is one of the most exciting frontiers in lighting control, offering significant benefits over traditional wired solutions for both existing buildings and new construction," said Terry Arbouw, director of business development at HBA. "We look forward to working closely with The Connected Lighting Alliance on the promotion of a unified approach to wireless connectivity."
"We are glad that led high bay light for sale Automation, a major player in the field of lighting solutions for commercial buildings, decided to join our alliance," said Simon den Uijl, secretary general of The Connected Lighting Alliance. "This is especially important for our activity regarding wireless connectivity standards for lighting solutions in commercial buildings, as we want to make sure the opinions of all the key players are included."

Fujitsu modulates RGB LED sources to convey data to cell phones

Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd, based in Kawasaki, Japan, has announced a technology development in which colored solid-state lighting (SSL) products using RGB (red, green, blue) LEDs can convey data to mobile phones and tablets. To be formally unveiled at the Fujitsu Forum in Munich, Germany this week, the technology is designed for SSL products that light objects such as retail goods or museum pieces while also delivering data about the object that mobile-device cameras can decode. The modulation is not detectable by the human eye.
Fujitsu modulates RGB led high bay light price to convey data to cell phones
There have been a number of announcements in recent years about using LEDs to convey data. Several companies have demonstrated modulation of white LEDs to deliver data to computers much the way Wi-Fi works in the RF spectrum. Moreover, companies such as ByteLight and GE Lighting plan to use LEDs to supply indoor location data to mobile devices for applications such as retail.
Fujitsu, however, seems to have a different idea about how the data modulation would be used. In a museum, for example, a visitor might direct the mobile-phone camera at a work of art and receive data from the SSL fixture illuminating the art. The company said that physically affixing information to such an object can "diminish the appearance of the object itself." But the data transfer would be invisible in terms of a person viewing the object.
Fujitsu believes that the technology is scalable and could even be used to deliver data on extremely large items such as buildings. The potential range of applications is indeed broad. For example, the company said a person watching a singer could point their mobile phone camera at the performer and perhaps get an instant download of the song being performed. The company said that it will commercialize the technology in 2015.
It's not clear why the Fujitsu approach requires RGB LEDs as opposed to simply modulating phosphor-converted white LEDs. Apparently, part of the issue is that the camera has an inherently more difficult time detecting light reflected from an object as opposed to schemes such as the one from ByteLight where the expectation is that the white light goes directly from the LEDs into the camera. Indeed, led high bay light for sale absorbs some amount of the light and reflects some portion of the light. See our series of articles on color science to understand how light is reflected by objects. Part of the Fujitsu innovation is reflectance compensation in software that allows the camera to capture a weakened signal.
In any case, the tie to RGB LED sources will limit applications for the technology. For example, most retail stores will use LED lighting based on phosphor-converted white LEDs as opposed to more complex and expensive RGB LEDs. Fujitsu has not said how the technology will come to market, but clearly a lighting company will have to integrate support into RGB fixtures.

Access Fixtures releases wildlife-friendly amber parking-garage LED lighting

Access Fixtures is expanding its extensive product line to include LED amber garage lighters as part of its line-up of wildlife-friendly luminaires. Wildlife-friendly led high bay lighting wholesale minimizes light pollution in areas where excessive artificial lighting can harm ecosystems, especially coastal areas where sea turtles need a dark sky to migrate towards the ocean. Garage lighters in parking garages around waterfront locations can emit light through openings and contribute to light pollution. Access Fixtures LED amber garage lighters produce light that is visible to humans, but not to most species harmed by artificial lighting.

“Although artificial lighting in parking garages can potentially harm wildlife, it’s necessary to safely illuminate parking garages so people can safely travel to and from their vehicles,” said Access Fixtures CEO, Steven Rothschild. He continued, “LED amber garage lighters by Access Fixtures provide the necessary lighting for humans to thrive, while not enjoy disrupting nature.”

With all the benefits of led high bay light manufacturers, the amber garage lighters minimize disturbances in ecosystems. Species that are affected by artificial lighting can see wavelengths used in traditional light sources like fluorescent, incandescent, and metal halide sources. These species, however, cannot see longer wavelengths like 590 nm used in amber LEDs. Rated for 100,000 hours, the wildlife friendly LED amber garage lighters are long-lasting, energy-efficient and require minimal maintenance. Amber light emitted by the garage lighters is not visible by most wildlife harmed by artificial lighting. It is important to check with local ordinances to identify the species it focuses on and the nanometer of light required. Access Fixtures luminaires are assembled in USA with USA and imported parts.

Philips Lighting adds flexibility in the Fortimo LED downlight module family

Philips Lighting has released a new version of its Fortimo DLM LED downlight module that offers developers more flexibility in product development. Indeed, the DLM Flex can be ordered as a bare printed circuit board (PCB) light engine, in a new low-profile packaged module, or in the legacy Fortimo DLM form factor. Moreover, led high bay light price has gone away from the remote-phosphor design that it previously used in the DLM family, moving to phosphor-converted LEDs as the nearby photo illustrates.
Philips Lighting adds flexibility in the Fortimo downlight module family
Remote phosphor implementations have in the past offered higher efficacy and more uniform color performance over time than do phosphor-converted packaged LEDs. The color advantage comes courtesy of the distance between the blue-pump LEDs and the phosphor in a remote design. The phosphor isn’t impacted by the heat radiated from the LED junctions and therefore the phosphor doesn’t degrade as rapidly over time.
Philips has used remote-phosphor technology in the Fortimo DLM family up through the Gen 5 family announced one year back. Likewise, the company used remote-phosphor technology in many retrofit lamps only to move toward phosphor-converted LEDs in late 2012.
In the case of retrofit lamps, the move away from remote phosphor was presumably due to consumer preference for a white lamp in the off state as opposed to the yellow or orange remote-phosphor lamps. The off-state appearance was likely less of a factor in the move to the DLM Flex. In the DLM, remote-phosphor implementations require a mixing chamber that impacts the size of the module. Philips would not have been able to deliver the new low-profile or PCB options with remote-phosphor technology.
Philips said the new design delivers 15% better energy efficiency that the prior Gen 5 led high bay light for sale module. The company offers the modules over the range of 1100–5814 lm. The new low-profile model is only 22 mm high, thereby enabling less bulky downlights. Meanwhile, lighting makers that have used the prior DLM modules can drop the larger module into existing designs. And the PCB offers maximum flexibility in mechanical designs.
Philips said the new modules are already available for all European markets. Expect a US version to follow down the road.
Slim fixture
In other Philips Lighting news, the company announced a new slim downlight that can be flush-mounted and is 5/8-in. high. The downlight does not appear to use the DLM LED module, however. Philips said the new product uses an edge-lit lens/light guide that delivers even illumination across the surface. Light guides and edge lighting have been used extensively by companies such as GE Lighting and Cooper Lighting.

Blue LED creators receive Nobel Prize in Physics for 2014

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize for Physics to the team of researchers that created the first blue led high bay light manufacturers in the early 1990s and ultimately enabled functional white light output from LED sources. Isamu Akasaki (Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan and Nagoya University, Japan), Hiroshi Amano (Nagoya University, Japan), and Shuji Nakamura (University of California, Santa Barbara, CA) have been honored "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources."
Blue LED creators receive Nobel Prize in Physics for 2014


The trio of scientists will formally receive their Nobel awards in December at a ceremony in Stockholm. The three will also share a monetary prize of SEK 8 million ($1.1 million). The Academy noted that the blue LED was crucial in creating white light by combining with existing red and green LEDs. More recently, the white light is most often generated by a blue LED along with a mix of yellow, red, and/or green phosphors in a phosphor-converted white LED.
The Academy released the infographic depicted nearby that demonstrates the impact that LED sources can have on energy consumption. Indeed, LED sources have reached 300 lm/W in efficacy in the lab. At the system level, shipping solid-state lighting (SSL) products regularly achieve efficacy in the 150 lm/W level.
"With 20% of the world’s electricity used for lighting, it’s been calculated that optimal use of LED lighting could reduce this to 4%," said Frances Saunders, president of the Institute of Physics, in response to the Nobel announcement. "Akasaki, Amano, and Nakamura’s research has made this possible and this prize recognizes this contribution."
The Academy also noted that LEDs combined with solar energy hold the promise of bringing light to 1.5 billion people globally who lack access to electricity. Indeed, as we have chronicled, led high bay light for sale are breathing new life into solar technology. A speaker at the Strategies in Light conference back in February also described the advances in LEDs and solar power.
It's also notable that the Nobel Award to the blue-LED inventors comes as we approach what the United Nations has declared the Year of Light in 2015. Saunders added, "It’s wonderful that the Nobel Foundation have chosen to commend these three physicists’ work on the cusp of the International Year of Light 2015, a global initiative to highlight the importance of light in our lives."
Nakamura in particular has been recognized a number of times previously for his work with the blue LED. He won the 2006 Millennium Technology Prize, and continues to be involved in the industry and is one of the founders of Soraa.
It's also important to recognize the work in red and other LEDs that preceded the invention of the blue LED. Back in 2012, for instance, GE celebrated the 50th birthday of visible LED lighting and the work of its researcher Nick Holonyak in creating that LED.

TI enables adaptive LED headlamp designs with matrix manager IC

Texas Instruments (TI) has announced the TPS92661-Qi LED Matrix Manager for automotive headlamp systems. The IC integrates 12 MOSFET switches that are used to steer current through or around multiple LED strings to vary beam patterns and intensity in intelligent and adaptive headlamp systems.
TI adds to automotive led street lighting fixture products, enabling adaptive LED headlamp designs with matrix manager IC
The most widely known implementation of an intelligent and adaptive headlamp system is the Audi Matrix unit announced last year. The system can steer a beam to match corners in the roadway and create notches in the beam to ensure that the beams don't blind drivers of oncoming vehicles. Effectively the technology eliminates the need for a low beam. The system is on production cars in Europe, although for now US standards prohibit such implementations.
Coincidentally or not, TI chose to use the word matrix in the branding of its new IC. The switch array is designed to drive a matrix of LEDs, both switching strings on and off and dimming strings to deliver the adaptive headlamp features. TI says prior to the development of the TPS92661 IC that the switch array would have to be implemented using discrete transistors and other components. The company said the IC would reduce the printed circuit board (PCB) size by 73% in an adaptive headlamp controller.
The IC can drive as many as 96 individual led street lighting Manufacturer broken into 12 strings. Each string can be individually controlled including pulse-width modulation (PWM) dimming with 10-bit precision. The IC also includes fail-safe features such as LED open and short detection and protection.
The IC meets the AEC-Q100 Grade 1 specification for automotive-qualified components. It is designed to work with a master microcontroller (MCU) to enable the matrix headlamp functionality. A serial communications port can link the matrix IC to MCUs such as the TI C2000 Picolo series that is also AEC-Q100 qualified.
TI also offers an evaluation module that development teams can use to evaluate the matrix IC and jumpstart headlamp projects. The PCB incudes two strings of 12 LEDs, the switch IC, and a C2000 MCU. Development teams can experiment with dimming and control via included software and develop their own software for new LED-based headlamp designs.

SIL’s Investor Forum focuses on the light in a challenging investment climate

The vitality of the LED and solid-state lighting (SSL) industry depends on constant innovations. New companies are started by entrepreneurs willing to take personal risks and backers who tackle the financial risks. In the past few years, the return on investment (ROI) in the LED/SSL industry has been mixed. Cleantech, as a sector, has also been soured by the disastrous turn in the solar market. On top of all this, led street light with solar panel is out of favor among the venture capital (VC) community. Last year, only 2% of all VC investment nationwide was in semiconductors.
In this investment climate, fundraising and finding meaningful exits are both difficult. At Strategies in Light (SIL), taking place Feb. 24–26, 2015 in Las Vegas, NV, the two keynotes at the 6th Investor Forum will address this issue from two points of view. Konrad Jarausch, who manages Passport Capital’s private and public investments in LED/SSL, will discuss the investment landscape in his talk, “Squeezing blood out of stone? Investing in LED/SSL Companies.” He will provide some perspective on lessons learned and tips on how to approach the investment community. Dan Coyne, managing director of investment banking at Canaccord Genuity, will examine mergers and acquisitions in the ever-evolving segment. He will elaborate on the valuation environment, transaction activity (including IPOs), and consolidation trends in LED/SSL as well as share insights from recent transactions consummated in the LED/SSL sector.
SIL’s Investor Forum focuses on the light in a challenging investment climate
The 12 companies invited to present at the Investment Forum have been selected across varying technologies, nations, and sizes.
Cooledge (Canada) presented at the Investor Forum in 2012 and CEO Wade Sheen was mobbed when he left the podium. In three months, he gathered $9 million in funding and the company went on to win many industrial awards. With a successful and more mature company, Sheen is coming back to update forum attendees regarding the company’s technology, products, and financial status.
Related article: Strategies in Light and The LED Show combine for illuminating keynotes and sessions
In the white-hot smart lighting sector, we have Ecospectral (Australia) and Orama (San Jose, CA). Ecospectral makes cloud-connected, mesh-networked sensor and control systems that measure interior events and provide intelligent response.
In the field of optics, we have LUXeXcel (the Netherlands) and Fusion Optix (Woburn, MA). LUXeXcel uses 3D printing to print its lens offerings. Prototypes and production volumes can be received in a few days. The digitization of optics manufacturing allows lighting manufacturers to customize the light distribution of every SSL design.
Related article: LUXeXceL demonstrates its patented manufacturing technology for printable optics
Representing a more mature company, Bridgelux (Livermore, CA) has been successful in designing easy-to-use SSL systems. Among the long-term innovations that will affect the SSL market, Transphorm (Goleta, CA) — the startup funded by Google Ventures, Soros Fund Management, Kleiner Perkins Baufield Byers, and other top-name VCs — has developed GaN-based drivers. When luminaire designers want extremely small and efficient drivers, GaN-based solutions will be on the table.
Outside the SSL markets, we have invited RayVio (Hayward, CA) whose main focus is on deep-ultraviolet (UV) LED development and Outstanding Technology (Japan), which broke the world record in outdoor visible light communication (VLC) at 42.19 km.
This is just a sampling of companies presenting at the Investor Forum. Together with the full set of 12 companies, they represent some of the trending innovators in our industry.
The format of the Investor Forum is called the “Dragons’ Lair” for good reason: Each company presents for 12 minutes and a panel of bankers, VCs, and corporate investors will have 8 minutes to question and comment. We started this format during the 2014 event and it received positive feedback from the audience as well as the participants. These led street lighting Manufacturer listen to company pitches every day, so their questions were pertinent and to the point.
The panelists for 2015 include Tim Woodard, Prelude Ventures; Konrad Jarausch, Passport Capital; Frank Harder, Samsung; James Kim, LG Innotek; and Dan Coyne and Jed Dorsheimer of Canaccord Genuity. They will all come together for an Investor Roundtable at the end of the day. This portion has proven to be the highlight of the day at previous conferences where lively discussions ensued and sage advice was given.
We hope you can join us at the Investor Forum during Strategies in Light on Feb. 24, 2015 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, Las Vegas.

LISIDA ups COB flux Plessey expands Si family

Osram Opto Semiconductors has announced the Soleriq P 13 chip-on-board (COB) LED with significantly increased flux output to 6800 lm. The packaged LEDs target applications such as retail that require a tight beam pattern and high center beam candle power (CBCP). Plessey, meanwhile, followed up last week's announcement of small chip-scale packages (CSP) with a 4.5×4.5-mm gallium-nitride-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) LED that will serve as a technology demonstrator for the company's Magic (Manufactured on GaN-on-Si I/C) portfolio.
High-output COB
The Osram announcement follows a recent trend of LED manufacturers boosting lumen output relative to the size of the light-emitting surface (LES) to deliver directional solid-state lighting (SSL) products with more punch. For example, Cree doubled the output of 6- to 12-mm COB LEDs earlier this year. And Philips Lumileds added a high-output 9-mm COB LED. The trend is based on the fact that smaller sources enable better beam control for directional lighting.
Osram Opto Semiconductors has announced the Soleriq P 13 chip-on-board (COB) LED with significantly increased flux output to 6800 lm.
Indeed, Osram is targeting the new packaged LEDs at high-powered spotlights for retail, museum, and commercial applications. The company demonstrated the LEDs at the Electronica trade fair in Munich, Germany last week. The new LEDs match the output of previously-announced 19-mm-LES Soleriq S 19 packaged LEDs.
"Customers could compare the P 13 with the formerly launched Soleriq S 19 due to its similar light output of 4000 to 5000 lm," said Mark Dyble, product marketing manager for general lighting at Osram. "In fact, the new Soleriq P 13 has smaller dimensions and is therefore the right choice for more compact lighting solutions."
The new buy led high bay lamps, in fact, deliver 3300 lm at 3000K CCT and 90 CRI or 4000 lm at 80 CRI when operating at 85°C and 1050 mA. But you can double the drive current for maximum output. Like other manufacturers promoting high-output packaged LEDs, Osram notes that the new products can use simpler, less expensive lenses relative to larger COBs while enabling more applications with fewer LEDs relative to smaller COBs.
GaN-on-Si LED
Plessey, meanwhile, has produced what it acknowledges as a technology demonstrator in the 20-mm2 LED based on a silicon substrate. The LED is simply a blue source based on multiple emitters that delivers 5W in radiometric power. The packaged LED would require phosphor to generate white light.
Plessey has produced what it acknowledges as a technology demonstrator in the 20-sq.-mm LED based on a silicon substrate.
Plessey openly admits that it is seeking to allow customers to find an application fit for the technology in producing the demonstration LED. The company even mentioned the use of the led high bay light for sale devices, but most such packaged LEDs use an array of smaller die presently.
"It is clear that the next wave of general lighting products will see LEDs applied in ways that truly exploit the benefits obtained through Plessey's leading GaN-on-Si technology," said David Owen, Plessey's marketing director. "This announcement marks the start of a phase where we engage with our key partner customers in defining the commercial realization of lighting products based on Plessey's large GaN-on-Si LED die."