Flexible white LEDs made from existing tech

A highly-flexible yellow-tinged white-light LED created at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan combines off-the-shelf parts with novel design patterns. The LEDs produce a uniform sheet of light and could soon find use in curved and flexible TVs and wearable displays. The device was made from 81 readily-available blue LED chips mounted onto a copper foil, which itself covered a polyimide substrate (a flexible yet rugged material). Atop all this the researchers added a layer of yellow phosphor film coated in polydimethylsiloxane, known as PDMS for short, which is a silicone-based substance known for its stability (inert, non-flammable, and non-toxic), transparency, and flexibility.

Philips Hue LED lighting gets a new dimmer control

Philips has some great lighting products in its Hue line of LED smart bulbs and lamps, but they’ve long depended on a smartphone or tablet for control (or more recently,  voice control via Amazon’s Echo ). The new Philips Hue wireless dimming kit adds on-the-wall control. But don’t get too excited until you hear about its limitations.

Norwalk lands $15K grant for free light bulb exchange

The city had landed a $15,000 grant that will be used to help residents replace old, incandescent light bulbs with modern, energy-efficient bulbs. Mayor Harry W. Rilling and Councilman John Kydes, chairman of the Mayor's Energy and Environment Task Force, on Friday were presented the check for the city's participation in Clean Energy Communities program. The Bright Idea Grant will pay for a free Light Bulb Swap that will be held Saturday, Sept. 19, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the Community Room of City Hall, 125 East Ave.

Danville to test LEDs in streetlights for energy savings

Danville could save 40 to 80 percent on energy used to light up the city’s streets by switching its high-pressure sodium lights to LEDs — if the bulbs perform as advertised. Interim Director of Danville Utilities Jason Gray told the Danville Utility Commission that before a change is made, he wants to test bulbs from various suppliers for performance, lifespan, reactions to heat and cold and ease of installation

The Lighting Paradox: Cheaper, Efficient LEDs Save Energy, and People Use More

New research at Rutgers University has shown how to slash the cost of highly efficient light emitting diodes (LEDs) and significantly reduce lighting’s energy requirements. The energy savings, however, will likely be eroded as people find new uses for the inexpensive lights. It’s a classic example of how a solution to a problem may cause more problems, or at least nullify the solution.

ISS Astronauts Say LEDs are Making Light Pollution Worse

Astronauts aboard the ISS have made an interesting discovery earlier in the week after comparing photos of Milan they’ve taken over the past few years. According to astronauts, the widespread adoption of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is producing a lot more light pollution than their predecessors. LEDs are known for being more eco-friendly since they are better at conserving energy. Cities across the globe are switching to LEDs since they’re typically brighter, in addition. The city of Milan made a full transition in 2015, and New York City has recently installed over 250,000 LEDs in street lights. Unfortunately for New Yorkers, many are saying that light pollution is causing them a lot of discomfort.

Coating can drive down white LED light prices

The cost of white LED lighting may be set to fall as scientists in the US have created an LED coating made from a relatively cheap luminescent metal–organic framework (MOF).  The film may supplant current white LED coatings, which consist of far more expensive rare earth elements.

Modern LED technologies are being touted as the next leap forward in solid state lighting, and offer a more efficient alternative to common incandescent or halogen light bulbs. ‘You can see LEDs everywhere,’ said Zhichao Hu from Rutgers University, speaking at the 250th ACS National Meeting & Exposition in Boston, US. ‘But not a lot of us know how to make a white LED.’

Street Lighting Electricity Consumption Cut By 61% With LEDs & Wireless Controls

The city of West Richland, Washington, just completed an LED upgrade to its entire street lighting system, and the project is expected to reduce the system’s electric consumption by 61% and save the municipality $67,000 per year in energy costs. The city street lighting project, which included replacing more than 1000 high pressure sodium (HPS) lights with energy-efficient LED models, as well as installing a wireless monitoring and control system, will allow the city to move from a flat rate from the utility to a consumption-based tariff, which will further reduce the city’s cost for street lighting.

City looking to convert more streetlights to LEDs

The city of Campbell could soon be seen in a new light. The Campbell City Council is looking to install more LED streetlights in the city to conserve energy. The council discussed the move at an Aug. 18 meeting. Last year the city converted 200 of its 2,700 streetlights from traditional light bulbs to LEDs. Since changing to LEDs, the city has saved approximately $9,900 on its energy bill, according public works director Todd Capurso.

LEDs don’t drain much of the battery

Do LEDs in cars draw enough current to pose a threat to the cars battery’s life? Fortunately, it takes so little current to light that LED that your battery will power it for between 2,500 and 2,700 years before it’s unable to start the car — an LED that size takes an infinitesimal amount of power. The digital clock in your car takes more power.

Staring at flashing LEDS to control a lower limb exoskeleton

Lower limb exoskeletons show great promise in helping those who have lost the use of their legs to walk again. However, if a person has been rendered quadriplegic, any hand controls in such a device are essentially useless. To help address this and other whole-of-body disabilities, scientists working at Korea University (KU) and Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin), have created a hands-free brain-to-computer interface to control a lower limb exoskeleton by specifically decoding signals from the wearer’s brain.

Osram launches retail-oriented COB LED to make colors pop

Osram Opto Semiconductors has announced the Brilliant Color addition to the Soleriq S 19 chip-on-board (COB) LED family. Brilliant Color is a spectral-enhancement technology intended to produce light that allows people to experience richer, more saturated colors. The technology is targeted at applications such as high-end retail where accent lighting on merchandise can increase product sales.

LEDs to light up Sikanderpur flyover

The Sikanderpur flyover, part of the DLF-HUDA 16-lane expressway project, is set to be lit up soon. DLF has started installing poles for LED lighting fixtures on the 740m stretch between Sikanderpur and Cyber City. Rohit Mailk, the director of DLF Estates, said 25 LED light clusters would be erected in the coming days on the Sikanderpur flyover, which was opened to public in March by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. "A total of 25 light fixtures covering the entire flyover will be put up within two months.

LEDs reignite radiance to Des Moines icons

A number of iconic Des Moines bridges have been sitting in the dark over the past year due to broken or burned out lighting systems. Now, the city of Des Moines is ready to reignite the radiance with new, high-tech lighting systems. The city began taking bids on new lighting systems last summer for bridges like the Carver Bridge on Martin Luther King Parkway, the Iowa Women of Achievement Bridge and all the blue basket-handled pedestrian bridges over I-235.

MidAmerican Replacing Street Lights in Iowa with LEDs

Streetlights across Iowa are getting a 21st century upgrade. MidAmerican Energy is upgrading more than 100,000 Iowa streetlights from incandescent bulbs to LEDs to save both energy and money. That project kicked off this month and will continue over the next decade, with MidAmerican covering the entire cost of the project.

Museums Are Using LEDs to Protect and Prettify Paintings

Under museum lights, the vibrant yellows in Vincent van Gogh’s iconic sunflower paintings have muddied over time. The yellow pigment van Gogh used—lead chromate, more popularly known as chrome yellow—darkens so noticeably with light exposure that artists eventually switched to different yellow pigments entirely.  But it’s not just Van Gogh’s yellows that suffer: Light will make most paints change color. So when a masterpiece is on display, curators, lighting designers, and engineers work together in order to keep the lights low and the painting pretty at the same time. Recently, to reduce energy costs, art museums have been shifting to using energy-efficient LEDs. But the switch isn’t just about cost—it can make preserving paintings easier, too.

Aerelight OLED desk lamp lasts 18 years, doubles as wireless charger

This aluminum frame lamp replaces the typical light bulb with an OLED panel. In doing so you get a lamp that is incredibly thin and cool to the touch, but at the same time means you won’t need to worry about changing the light source for at least 18 years (based on 3 hours use a day). Opting for OLED also means the A1 lamp draws very little power (no more than 9 watts) and produces a natural light with the promise of no eye strain.

Honey, I retrofitted the car's interior lights with LEDs

A dead battery in my SO's car got me thinking about ways to reduce the chance of that happening again – to either of us. Why not replace the interior car lights with LED versions? Sure enough, hitting the Web revealed gazillions of choices. Car interiors commonly use wedge-base bulbs, and festoon bulbs, the name given to cylindrical lamps with a contact cap at each end. Who knew? Being a cheapskate, even the reasonable prices I was seeing were more than I wanted to spend. After all, how many times have we all ended up with junk when trying a relatively new product category? Sometimes paying more results in better product, but often not.

4x4x4 LED Cube Seeking Funding Through Kickstarter

Patrick Thomas Mitchell is a Kickstarter junkie. He’s currently running his twelfth funding campaign to launch his 4x4x4 LED Cube Electronics kit. The kit is marketed toward makers and the DIY crowd as a one time project or an add-on to a current project that needs lighting. The kit works with 5mm LEDs that can be ordered through this campaign or supplied by the user. The cube structure allows up to 64 LEDS to be used in a 4x4x4 configuration. Each layer of LED is controlled separately by the PIC18 microcontroller, and several different blinking configurations can be programmed.

Iluminarc architectural LED fixtures light busy Florida toll gantry

The one million motorists who traverse the Miami Dade Expressway (MDX) every year share one common concern: they want to get to where they’re going quickly and safely. To help them do this, the MDX authority is constantly enhancing its network of roads by doing things like installing open road tolling gantries that read vehicle license plates and passes, thereby avoiding the stop-and-go issues created at traditional toll plazas. At one such gantry, MDX went beyond its usual practical traffic control and safety mission to offer motorists an additional aesthetic benefit with help from a collection of Iluminarc architectural LED fixtures installed by Barbizon Lighting Company.

Resembling an aircraft wing, the impressive gantry and pylon toll structure spans ten lanes of one of the busiest sections of the MDX system, the 15.4-mile State Route 836, referred to by locals as the “Dolphin Expressway.” The structure’s soaring design creates the impression that it is about to take flight, an image that makes the daily commute more enjoyable (or less tedious) for the thousands of motorists who pass under it every workday

LED-Based Lamps in Explosion-Proof Lighting Is Expected to Reach US $303 Million by 2022

Illumitex Inc., LED innovator, announced it has concluded its C1 round of funding, strengthening the company's cash position by $16M. The round was led by outside investor WP Global Partners, a strategic partner particularly interested in solidifying and growing Illumitex's position and the world's leading maker of LED grow lights for horticultural applications. Buoyed by the confidence shown by WP Global Partners, existing investors NEA, Morgan Creek Capital, Mousse Partners, Apex Venture Partners, Jimmy Treybig, Larry Abrams, DMWMDW Interests and Syngenta Ventures also participated in the round.

Renault's new Espace uses HELLA LED Technology

The new Renault Espace recently introduced in Europe has distinctive LED tail lamps with a two-part design developed by HELLA. An auxiliary lens that combines clear and brushed coatings is located in front of each LED light guide to create what Renault refers to as an "ice cube" design similar to the appearance of light passing through an ice cube.

Plessey retrofits its manufacturing facility with MaGIC LED kits

Plessey says that it is retrofitting its manufacturing facility in Plymouth, UK with LED modules designed using its MaGIC (Manufactured on GaN-on-Si I/C) GaN-on-silicon LEDs. The retrofit involves replacing aging fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent bulbs in existing fixtures to use new LED light modules produced in the same facility. The manufacturing site currently has about 2700 fixtures with 4200 fluorescent lamps that consume 1,000,000kW/h of electricity at a cost of £100,000 a year and costs about £5000 in materials and 200 man hours a year to maintain. After the retrofit is completed, the firm expects to see a 25-40% reduction in electricity consumption, saving tens of thousands of pounds per year.

Could blue LEDs preserve food without chemicals?

Blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) show promise as a chemical-free way to preserve food, according to new research. The LEDs work best in cold temperatures of 4°C and 15°C (about 39-57°F) and mildly acidic conditions of around pH 4.5, say the scientists. Acidic foods such as fresh-cut fruits and ready-to-eat meat can be preserved under blue LEDs in combination with chilling temperatures without requiring further chemical treatments that are commonly needed for food preservation.

LEDs and Paint

Stef Cohen decided to combine three different artistic mediums for her latest project. Those are painting, electronics, and software. The end goal was to recreate the aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, in a painting. The first step was to make the painting. Cohen began with a shadow box. A shadow box is sort of like a picture frame that is extra deep. A snowy scene was painted directly onto the front side of the glass plate of the shadow box using acrylic paint. He painted the white, snowy ground along with some pine trees. The sky was left unpainted, in order to allow light to shine through from inside of the shadow box. A sheet of vellum paper was fixed to the inside of the glass pane. This serves to diffuse the light from the LEDs that would eventually be placed inside the box.

Fitchburg nights get brighter with LEDs

By the end of this month, Fitchburg is expected to have all 3,000 of its streetlights converted from high-pressure sodium lights to state-of-the-art, energy-saving LED lights. The lights, which are projected to save the city $1 million over the course of their expected life of 20 years, were purchased with a 10-year lease agreement. They are much more energy-efficient than Fitchburg's old streetlights, and include sensors that are networked together, which means they can be easily dimmed or brightened through a computer system at the Department of Public Works.

Solar Hive LED Lamp

When it comes to creating modular designs, it’s no surprise that a number of designers turn to the hexagonal ‘hive’ shape that can easily be expanded.  The shape, which reminds many of a beehive, has been used to create everything from modular shelving systems to desktop organization systems.  Now, thanks to one clever designer, you can 3D print and build your very own solar powered lamp, too.

Linear, Low-Bay/High-Bay LEDs Have Greatest Market Potential

Linear and low-bay/high-bay LEDs are the most fertile ground for future energy savings in lighting, according to a new report from the US Department of Energy (DOE). The report, Adoption of Light-Emitting Diodes in Common Lighting Applications, investigates the current US market adoption and resulting energy savings of LEDs in 10 common white-light applications: A-type, decorative, directional, small directional (MR16), linear fixtures, low-bay/ high-bay, parking lot, parking garage, area/roadway and building exterior.

The adoption of LED products is growing across all lighting applications, but market shares remain low overall, leaving substantial room to increase market penetration and related energy savings, the report found.


 

Ikea to Replace All Lighting on Shelves With LED Bulbs

For years, lighting companies have been predicting a time when LED bulbs will become the standard, replacing not only traditional incandescent lights, but halogen and compact fluorescents as well. That time has come for one global retailer, Ikea. Beginning Sept. 1, the company said Monday, it will sell only LED bulbs, part of its overall sustainability efforts. The company had planned a major investment in compact fluorescent lights, but it redirected it to LEDs.

Intertronics Launches New DYMAX BlueWave QX4

The new DYMAX BlueWave QX4 from Intertronics brings together the benefits of LED UV curing in a small and compact package that enables users to operate quickly and with more control. The QX4 multi-wand UV spot curing system puts the high intensity LEDs and lenses close to the substrate in each emitting head, with lightweight flexible connecting leads in place of light guides. This enables easy placement of up to four heads of high output power (up to 1 watt per head), which can deal with complex geometries or multiple cure points.

LED lights may disrupt the bat signal

Light-emitting diode (LED) streetlights often draw moths and other insects into small areas at night, setting a buffet for nocturnal predators, but certain aspects of the lights themselves might be rendering insects vulnerable in even more sinister ways, new research suggests. Many cities and towns are upgrading their streetlights from power-hungry gas-vapor lamps to LEDs as a cost-saving matter. In a 4-night study conducted at sites near Bristol, U.K., researchers mimicked one of these newfangled streetlights by placing an array of LEDs inside a streetlight housing on top of a 4-meter-tall tripod far from other sources of artificial light.

Cree and Epistar sign major LED patent cross-licensing agreement

LED manufacturers Cree and Taiwan-based Epistar have announced a global intellectual property (IP) cross-licensing agreement covering all nitride-based-LED patents owned by each and some non-nitride-based patents as well. The companies revealed little of the details of the agreement other than stating that Epistar will pay Cree a licensing fee and royalty payments over the term of the agreement.

Cree and Epistar are competitors, although not directly so. Cree manufactures the bulk of its LED chips and packages the chips for sale to solid-state lighting (SSL) product developers. Epistar is focused more purely on chips and sells those to LED manufacturers that don’t own chip manufacturing lines and to some SSL manufacturers that can work with the unpackaged die.

These Lamps Illustrate How Lamps Work When You Turn Them On

There's a reason lamps were the first electrical gadgets: they're simple. A simple switch opens or closes the connection between an electric current and a light bulb. The filament in the light bulb heats up from the electricity, and voila. Let there be light. It's a simplicity and elegance that is hidden away inside a lamp, where you can't really appreciate it. As part of their Node series of lamps, The Odd Matter Design Studio has taken the elegance of a lamp's mechanism and externalized it as a sculptural part of the body itself.

LED Lamps to Surpass Traditional Lamps in Offices by 2019

The use of smart lighting in offices worldwide is set for an impressive growth in the next five years as LED lamps will overtake traditional lamps by 2019, according to a new report from IHS. Currently, smart lighting is used in only a minority of offices around the world but is found more commonly in developed countries such as the United States and Japan. However, in the coming years, revenue from LED lamps will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.4% during the 2014 to 2019 time frame, IHS says. This revenue growth will overtake traditional lamp revenue in offices by 2019.

Industrial giants caught in LED headlights

Shoppers at the Carrefour hypermarket in Lille no longer have to ask for help to find items on special offer — instead they can navigate to them using their smartphone. Philips, the Dutch technology conglomerate, has installed 800 light-emitting diode fixtures at the 7,800 square metre store that can send a location signal to a customer’s phone using light invisible to the human eye. “With the right sensors installed, an LED light-fitting could become the best GPS ever by directing customers or visitors to where they want to go” says Gaia Nocchi, director at Frost & Sullivan, the research and consulting firm.

LED Technology Debuts At Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

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It's sometimes hard to keep track of positions in an IndyCar race, especially if you're in the stands and don't have the luxury of a broadcaster or data stream to point things out. Never fear, though: as of this weekend, the league's cars are carrying LED panels that display the driver's race position in real-time by working in conjunction with timing lines embedded in the tracks. They're also smart enough to switch to pit stop times, so you'll know if that tire swap is running too long.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin 4 Lamp Now Available on Yamagiwa

You can now adorn your home with your very own Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesin 4 lamp. Lighting brand Yamagiwa and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation have reached an agreement to sell reproductions of the wooden lamp worldwide. Available in both cherry and walnut, the towering geometrical lamp was originally designed by Wright for the Hillside Home School theater that had burned and was reconstructed at Taliesin in 1952. It features an array of stacked boxes, embellished with red accents, that indirectly reflect off directional boards placed above and below each cube.

Sole-source LEDs can be used as effective production strategy for annual seedlings

In northern latitudes, producers of bedding plants depend on supplemental lighting during the late winter and early spring growing seasons. Unfortunately, these peak times for young plant production are also the darkest. Researchers have determined that a minimum amount of photosynthetic light (daily light integral; DLI) is necessary to produce high-quality young plants in greenhouses. In northern latitudes, though, the average greenhouse photosynthetic DLI can fall far short of optimal levels, resulting in delayed production and poor quality plants.

Lamp runs for 8 hours on one glass of water and some salt

Lighting is something that we take for granted in the developed world, but there are still many areas around the globe where people lack reliable access to light at night. They often use kerosene lamps, which contribute to indoor pollution and have to be refilled with oil regularly. Aisa Mijeno, an engineering professor who worked for years with Greenpeace Philippines, noticed during her work there that many indigenous people in the over-7,000 islands that make up the country were using kerosene lamps exclusively for lighting. The family she lived with there would have to climb down the mountain that they lived on and then walk an additional 30 km to the nearest town in order to get more oil to fuel their lamps.

UI to replace streetlights with LEDs

In an effort to promote energy efficiency and save money, The United Illuminating Co. will replace more than 50,000 streetlight bulbs with LEDs across its service area. UI, the electric distribution subsidiary of UIL Holdings Corp., said by the time the project is completed in 2021, the effort will reduce electric consumption by about 12.8 million kilowatt-hours a year across the 16 towns and cities where UI owns and maintains the streetlights. It’s the equivalent of the electricity used in about 1,500 typical homes in a year.

Audi Swaps Matrix LED Lights for Matrix OLED Lights

Emerging from an extremely brief shadow in the modern headlight technology wars, Audi has announced it will debut a concept car at this fall’s Frankfurt auto show featuring Matrix OLED headlights. After sparring with BMW over who’d be first to market with a laser headlight, Audi is moving to incorporate OLED (organic LED) lighting into its clever Matrix headlight technology, the one where a multitude of individual lights are switched on and off to effectively “shadow” oncoming cars and pedestrians from the headlights’ dazzle.

LEDs to light up Macon streets

Macon-Bibb county will soon replace all of its street light bulbs with brighter lights. They're called LED lights and county Commissioners approved Georgia Power's proposal to let them install more than 6,000 of them inside the former Macon city limits.