Philips Wins Red Dot Design Award

Reinforcing its leadership in LED lighting solutions, Philips has received Red Dot product design and product innovation awards for its Jump luminaire from Philips Ledalite. Jump is a high performance direct luminaire which combines architectural elements, integrated technologies and patented optics in a contemporary form with a innovative new luminous endcap. Featuring Philips Ledalite's unique LEDLOGIQ design approach, Jump uses MesoOptics holographic nanotechnology, which makes spaces more visually appealing by optimally blending light and color, controlling high angle glare and creating a precise batwing distribution.
"As always, our jury cast a very careful eye over the products submitted. Design quality has asserted itself clearly in the judging process, with genuine and new creative solutions also being rewarded. Both of these criteria are not just yardsticks for good design, but also for the potential for success on the market. This potential is increased several times over by the targeted use of our renowned design award," said Professor Dr. Peter Zec, the initiator of the Red Dot award.
In addition to innovative design and the integration of LEDs and MesoOptics technology, Jump offers state-of-the-art sustainable technologies such as Response, an integrated daylight harvesting sensor that can further help reduce energy use by 30-35 percent. Moreover, Jump offers Airwave technology, which is comprised of integrated wireless and battery-less controls. By using organic sources of solar and kinetic energy, Airwave provides wireless individual personal control, daylight harvesting, occupancy sensing and full range dimming for private offices, open plan areas, classrooms and other spaces where the ability to control energy and lighting are essential. When combined, these technologies not only help designers and architects achieve LEED points, they ensure that energy is used in a sustainable, responsible way, while delivering the right levels of light.
"Jump is a smart fixture that is indicative of Philips' leading-edge professional lighting solutions, which extend far beyond just offering LED as a light source, combining design, sustainability and controls," said Tim Berman, General Manager, Philips Ledalite. "Integration with other leading-edge technologies, including building management systems, ensure that Jump can easily help a building meet today's energy-efficiency requirements, while giving owners the security of knowing their investment is future-proof and can be extended as needed."
The Red Dot design award dates back to 1955 and is now the world's largest and most distinguished design competition. The Red Dot design award jury of highly respected experts has awarded Jump the "Red Dot" seal of quality for high design quality and innovation. With more than 4,000 submissions from 60 countries, the competition distinguishes truly creative achievements and thus pays tribute to the high potential creative talents, designers and design companies around the world. With this internationally coveted award, Philips Ledalite now joins the ranks of the design elite and previous award winners such as Apple, BMW, Porsche and Herman Miller.

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors Expands LED Light Site

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors announced that it has launched a new section within its LED Light Site  - "LED Fundamentals." The online tool is dedicated to providing instruction and educational tutorials on a range of subjects from LED lighting applications to LED system design considerations, and with a special focus on engineering discipline for thermal, optical and electrical applications. LED Fundamentals will offer training modules for users of LEDs with the goal of helping users to better leverage the energy and cost saving potential of LEDs.
LED Fundamentals is an expansion of OSRAM Opto's existing LED Light Site, which serves as the leading source of LED information, resources, tools, technology and LED lighting solutions for the solid state lighting, general illumination space. LED Fundamentals will help users find informative presentations on topics ranging from introductory sessions such as "LEDs Basics," to technical deep-dives on LEDs and solid-state lighting, such as "Radiometry and Photometry," "Resistor/Linear Regulators" and "External Thermal Resistance (substrates)." The training modules will be led by the product and technology experts at OSRAM Opto Semiconductors, a leading manufacturer of optoelectronic semiconductor components and technologies for a wide range of lighting applications.
"The LED Light Site was designed to provide our customers and partners in the general illumination market with the most up-to-date information and resources available about LEDs and solid-state lighting," said Kate Cleveland, marketing communications manager for OSRAM Opto Semiconductors. "We are very pleased to introduce LED Fundamentals as an expansion of the LED Light Site to provide information and instruction on a wide range of topics within solid state lighting."

R&D spotlight on LED grid lights

Grid light suppliers in China are looking at LEDs as the industry standard in the next five to 10 years. Responding to international and domestic support for “green” economies, companies are shifting more resources to the development of the line, which provides greater energy savings than older technologies. Another major advantage of LED bulbs and tubes is the absence of mercury, use of which is already limited in the EU and other markets. The material is present in fluorescent versions, the popular alternative to solid-state light sources. Even units adopting tricolor powder contain a certain amount, although most suppliers keep the level below 0.3mg.

SemiLEDs Introduces the New I-Do LED Chip

SemiLEDs Corporation announced the introduction of the new I-Do LED, an innovative new chip that will be featured in SemiLEDs’ ultra high brightness LED product portfolio. I-Do is the second generation of the I-Core AK series of LEDs from SemiLEDs, which are designed to provide further improvements in brightness, reliability and overall efficiency.
The I-Do LED features a new design with advantages in improved reliability, optimization of current distribution and lower forward voltages at high current operations of 700mA and 1A. The I-Do LED is not only more reliable, but significantly brighter as the creative design produces improved internal quantum efficiency. In a white light package, a 45 mil I-Do chip can deliver up to 135 lm at 350mA with CCT of 5000-7000K, more than a 10% improvement over the previous generation. With increased efficiency, reliability and the lowest thermal resistance in the market, the I-Do chip is ideal for small footprint, high performance applications

United LED Selects Veeco’s MOCVD Tools

Veeco Instruments Inc. announced today that United LED Shan Dong Corp., (ULED) a China-based joint venture between United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) and Epistar, has placed a multi-tool order for Veeco’s TurboDisc K465i Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) Systems. The systems will be installed at ULED’s facility in Jining City, China for its high brightness light emitting diode (HB LED) manufacturing ramp.
Dr. Tzu-Chi Wen, Vice President, Epi factory of United LED, commented, “We are pleased to add Veeco systems to our production facility because of their demonstrated leadership in MOCVD technology. The K465i provides the process performance and lowest cost of ownership needed to advance ULED’s position as a provider of LED devices for various lighting applications.”

How to Churn Out Cheap LED Lighting

A startup in California has developed a manufacturing technique that could substantially cut the cost of LED lightbulbs—a more energy-efficient, but also more expensive, type of lighting. LEDs are conventionally made on a relatively costly substrate of silicon carbide or sapphire. Bridgelux has come up a new process takes advantage of existing fabrication machines used to make silicon computer chips, potentially cutting LED production costs by 75 percent, according to the company.

LED Stairway

Ever needed to get up in the middle of the night, only to struggle to find the light switch for the hallway? Or maybe you didn't want to wake family members with bright light? Or maybe you ascend or desend your stairs and wonder where your own red carpet is? The LED Stair Lighting Controller won't really give you a red-carpet moment, but it will make your home look amazing.

New LED Driver From Supertex Protects LEDs

Supertex, Inc, a recognized leader in high voltage analog and mixed signal integrated circuits (ICs), today introduced HV9860, a boost LED driver that is designed to optimize LED performance and extend LED life in applications such as RGB or white LED backlighting, LCD TVs and monitors, and LED lamps for general lighting. The IC uses a peak current mode control scheme and includes an internal transconductance amplifier to accurately control output current over all line and load conditions.
HV9860 also includes LED wiring fault detection, which protects an LED string from high current in cases of accidental short circuit from any tap in the string to ground. A wiring fault scenario is created, for example, during production when a wire connecting the LEDs gets shorted to the chassis, and, as a result, a very high current is delivered to the operating LEDs. The built-in protection provided by HV9860 identifies this scenario and shuts the IC down as well as signaling a fault to the rest of the circuit.

Explosion Proof LED Light Tank Light

The Magnalight EPL-16C-1MLED explosion proof LED tank light provides operators in hazardous locations with an effective and versatile explosion proof lighting solution for confined spaces. The 16 inch diameter LED light head produces 10,000 lumens of light in a wide flood pattern and draws only 150 watts. This unit is multi-voltage capable and can be operated with 120VAC to 277 VAC. The wheeled cart is constructed of non sparking aluminum and includes 100 feet of explosion proof SOOW cord for convenient connection of the unit to power sources while providing high mobility.

LED work lamp

Hella Inc., the North American aftermarket subsidiary of automotive lighting and electronics supplier Hella, has released the Hella Power Beam 2000 LED Work Lamp. This new and extremely powerful work lamp delivers energy-efficient and economical lighting, providing 2,200 lumens of lighting output (at a light color of 5,700 ºK) while using only 43W of power.
The Hella Power Beam 2000 incorporates 16 high-performance, long lasting LEDs to create a powerful white light that's very close to daylight and delivers very good close-range illumination for a wide range of heavy-duty applications. In the Power Beam 2000's design, Hella also uses its Free-Form reflector technology, which is designed to deliver more lighting output and precise beam placement than conventional lamps. Due to its very low power consumption, the Hella Power Beam 2000 has a lifespan of over 16,000 hours and will last 100 times longer than a traditional halogen bulb.
The lamp is built to withstand rugged operating conditions and has a specially developed thermal management design that protects the intense light output from causing overheating. It is for use in highway, agricultural, construction, municipal, forestry equipment and heavy-duty work truck applications. Built-in shielding also helps protect against interference with other nearby electronic devices.
Completely sealed, no service is required.?The Power Beam 2000 has a multi-volt operating range from 9 – 33V. It comes completely sealed from the factory and requires no additional service. The lamp is encased in a sturdy aluminum die-cast housing, which is sealed to IP6K7 and IP6K9K for harsh conditions, and features a stainless steel mounting bracket.

N.S. looks at $90m switch to LED street lights

The Nova Scotia is reviewing the possibility of replacing 120,000 street lights across the province with more energy-efficient LED lighting, according to ministerial briefing notes. The notes prepared in January for newly installed Energy Minister Charlie Parker say the estimated cost of installing light-emitting diode technology provincewide would be $90 million.

Why All Your Bulbs May Soon Be LEDs

A breakthrough in producing light emitting diodes could see LED production costs tumble as much as 75%. That's thanks to research by a startup called Bridgelux, which has resulted in a radical shift--Gallium-nitride LEDs can now be grown on silicon substrates for the first time in a "commercial grade."

The changing lighting landscape

For a century, the only acronym you needed to memorize to light your home was GE. Say hello to CFL and LED -- and make sure you're high in CRI if you want a bright future. In California, the familiar 100-watt incandescent bulb is being phased out this year in favor of energy-saving alternatives. Soon the 75-, 60- and 40-watt incandescent bulbs will depart, too, in a controversial cross-country wave that aims to end, by 2014, the national reign of Thomas Edison's brainchild.

Good riddance to old-fashioned light bulbs

Imagine if gas stations installed pumps that spilled four-fifths of everything you bought. You’d fork out $10 but only get $2 worth of gas in the tank. The rest would spill onto the ground, stinking up the joint and polluting the groundwater. Outrageous! We wouldn’t stand for it, right? Actually, we might – because this what happens every time we turn on a traditional light bulb.

Green Mountain Power to help towns pay for energy-efficient streetlights

Green Mountain Power Corp. is teaming with Efficiency Vermont on a program aimed at helping every town in the utility's territory change over to energy-efficient streetlights. The power company plans to offer financial assistance to towns so they change out their streetlights to light-emitting diode streetlights, or LEDs.

Ann Arbor officials tout latest LED street lighting project

Ann Arbor officials said a new LED street lighting project is saving the city money and reducing the city's greenhouse gas emissions. The city recently collaborated with DTE Energy to install 58 new LED fixtures in the neighborhood bounded by Hill Street, Packard Street, South Forest Avenue and Wells Street. The area includes mostly University of Michigan student rental housing. Neighborhood representatives approached the city to discuss ways to improve street light quality.

Mitsubishi debuts hybrid laser- and LED-lit TV

While Sharp's Quattron technology adds discrete yellow to standard red, green, and blue (RGB) primary colors to improve TV color fidelity, Mitsubishi has taken a different approach to achieve a similar result. Mitsubishi has developed a hybrid LED-edgelit LCD panel that utilizes red laser diodes on top of cyan LEDs. This new technology delivers a wider color gamut of about 1.3 times and "drastically" improves red vividness, according to the company.