Articles & Interviews

Resources | LpR Article | Commentary | Trends | Jan 15, 2018
Can You Show Me the Next S-Curve, Please?
Can You Show Me the Next S-Curve, Please? The evolution of technologies is often described using the “S-curve” model. In the early stage, in the first phase of its life cycle, technology is mainly driven by fundamental research. Only a few players are active at that time and innovation steps are quite large. In the second phase, early adopters start to develop products and bring them to market. This phase is characterized by huge investments. In the third phase, more and more players enter the technology field, competition becomes important and development speed of the technology decreases. In the last phase, the technology is mature, (nearly) everybody can use it, there are fewer margins and the technology should be replaced by a new one. Many of the SSL technologies have meanwhile reached maturity. Where are the upcoming technologies, what will be the next S-curve? Looking at technology discussions and lectures at LpS 2017 I tried to find answers to these questions. Read more »
Resources | Tech-Talks Bregenz | Research | Light Generation | Jan 15, 2018
Tech-Talks BREGENZ - Julia Frohleiks, Researcher, University of Duisburg-Essen
Tech-Talks BREGENZ - Julia Frohleiks, Researcher, University of Duisburg-Essen In his commentary on technical progress and innovation, Dr. Sejkora said: “In the early stage, in the first phase of its life cycle, technology is mainly driven by fundamental research.” He went on to say that we can never predict how a technology will develop. Researchers from the University of Duisburg-Essen, working in the Nano Energy Technical Center (NETZ), worked on this type of fundamental technology and their submission received the LpS 2017 Scientific Award. Ms. Julia Frohleiks, a Ph.D. student, was a major contributor to this research in the group led by Dr. Ekaterina Nannen and accepted the award in Dr. Nannen’s name. In the following interview she gives some background information and discloses future research possibilities. Read more »
Resources | LpR Article | Research | Optics | Engineering | Jan 15, 2018
Optimization of Freeform Optics Using T-Splines in LED Illumination Design
Optimization of Freeform Optics Using T-Splines in LED Illumination Design Freeform optics is the game changer in the illumination industry in terms of its ability to redirect the light into the target area. Non-Uniform Rational B-splines, commonly known as NURBS are widely used to represent freeform curves and surfaces. There are certain optical systems where local modification of the surface is necessary during the design or optimization phase. In such cases, NURBS cannot offer such transformations. But a new mathematical representation called T-splines make this feasible. Though its potentiality is well described, this has not been implemented in any optimization routine so far. Annie Shalom Isaac, Jiayi Long and Cornelius Neumann from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology demonstrate the advantage of the local refinement ability of T-splines by implementing it in the optimization routine and the results are evaluated. Results show that T-splines provide more uniform and homogenous light distribution as compared to NURBS at a faster convergence rate. This makes optical design or optimization using T-splines an intuitive approach for future freeform design tasks. Read more »
Resources | LpR Article | Research | Sustainability | Environment | Jan 15, 2018
Repro-Light - Looking for a Sustainable and Modular Luminaire Architecture
Repro-Light - Looking for a Sustainable and Modular Luminaire Architecture The Repro-light project aims to re-conceptualize the European lighting industry towards more sustainability and competitiveness in terms of production and time to market. This will be achieved through the implementation of modular luminaire architecture and a smart production scheme, demonstrated by the development of a reconfigurable customized LED luminaire designed to improve the customers’ health. Read more »
Resources | LpR Article | Technologies | Applications | Jan 15, 2018
Multi-Pixel LED Technology Opens New Horizons for Smart Lighting Applications
Multi-Pixel LED Technology Opens New Horizons for Smart Lighting Applications The evolution of Multi-Pixel LED technology has initiated a giant leap in the development of intelligent lighting systems which are most visible in the automotive industry. Now the first hybrid LED provides smart headlights with more than 1000 individually controllable pixels. Ralph Bertram, who is working on advanced LED device concepts, and Norbert Harendt, who is developing optics solutions for general lighting at Osram Opto Semiconductors, show that automotive lighting is just one of the potential areas in which intelligent selective pixel control can be applied. Options for the use in general lighting, such as information display for outdoor, indoor, retail or industrial applications, are very versatile. Read more »
Resources | Lp Article | Engineering | Thermal Management | Jan 15, 2018
Thermal Simulation Tool for LED Design Requirements
Thermal Simulation Tool for LED Design Requirements Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are used and accepted in many areas of lighting technology today. But without the right thermal design, LED lamps would not be viable. Chris Aldham, Development Manager at 6SigmaET explains why keeping key components within narrow temperature limits is often critical, why this makes thermal simulation important to LED device designers, and how to select the right thermal management simulation tool for this task. Read more »
Resources | LpR Article | Automotive | Driver IC | Jan 15, 2018
Flicker-Free Control of Individual LEDs in Matrix Headlights
Flicker-Free Control of Individual LEDs in Matrix Headlights LEDs combine design flexibility with practical, robust circuitry, enabling automotive designers to produce striking headlight designs matched by exceptionally long life and performance. Keith Szolusha, Sr. Design Leader for LED driver products at Linear Technology, and now part of Analog Devices explains how automobile designers are increasingly incorporating LEDs in lighting because they can be arranged in distinctive eye-catching designs - helping distinguish new models from old, or high end from economy. Read more »
Resources | LpO Article | Statements | Horticulture | Mar 05, 2018
Paul Scheidt, Cree - Horticulture Lighting
Paul Scheidt, Cree - Horticulture Lighting "When you go into horticulture application the light output level directly correlates to the yield that you see in the plants. There is no buffer, when lights dim, the yield goes down. If something degrades very quickly and is 100% for one growth cycle then goes down to 90% for the second growth cycle, you will see a reduced yield. There is no room for adjustments." Paul Scheidt Read more »
Resources | LpO Article | Statements | Applications | Mar 05, 2018
Dr. Jy Bhardwaj - The Future of Lighting Applications
Dr. Jy Bhardwaj - The Future of Lighting Applications DR. JY BHARDWAJ SAID: "LEDs get integrated into the infrastructure, or let’s say, embedded. Instead of points of light there will be ceilings of light or walls of light. LEDs will be integrated into work surfaces, tables and all kinds of different things". Read more »
Resources | LpO Article | Statements | Technologies | Mar 05, 2018
Prof. Shuji Nakamura - The Future is Laser Lighting
Prof. Shuji Nakamura - The Future is Laser Lighting PROF. NAKAMURA SAID: "For violet LEDs we reach about 50-100 Acm-2 but the laser diode uses 3-10 kAcm-2 which is about 1,000 times higher than blue LEDs. This leads to very tiny chips in combination with the same phosphors such as YAG types. The light output is about 1,000 times higher than conventional LEDs with the same chip-size". Read more »
Smart Lighting | Commentary | Apr 15, 2018
On Smart Luminaires
On Smart Luminaires In the time up to 2010, conventional luminaires with low or high-pressure discharge lamps with a luminous efficacy of about 80 lm/W were developed. The electrical power was dependent on the electrical power of the lamps built in the luminaire. From 2008 and likely until around 2020, luminaires with phosphorconverted white LEDs with one fixed color temperature, a constant luminous intensity distribution and a maximal luminous efficacy of about 140-160 lm/W are developed with an electrical power between 10 W and 300 W for different applications and dependent on the manufacturer. Therefore, a relative increase in luminous efficacy of 80 -100% in the context of the discussions on “energy efficiency” is being achieved. Read more »
Tech-Talks Bregenz | Lp Article | Human Centric Lighting | Apr 22, 2018
Tech-Talks BREGENZ - Fred Maxik, Founder & CTO, Lighting Science Group
Tech-Talks BREGENZ - Fred Maxik, Founder & CTO, Lighting Science Group LED light in combination with advanced controls, and here especially IoT capabilities, opened several new options in lighting. In this context, the term Human Centric Lighting, and more recently, the term Biologically Active Light have become trendy. Fred Maxik, founder and CTO of the Lighting Science Group, who held the keynote speech at LpS 2017, recognized these opportunities in a very early stage when most other manufacturers were still struggling with the challenges of the new technology. In the interview he explains what his perception of light is and its importance in our lives. He gives insights into his philosophy and ideas on which criteria artificial lighting has to fulfill in order to live up to the promising terms „Human Centric Lighting“ and „Biologically Active Light“. Read more »
Resources | LpR Article | Research | Light Generation | LEDs | Nanowire | Jun 27, 2018
Full-Color InGaN/AlGaN Nanowire Light-Emitting Diodes for SSL and Displays
Full-Color InGaN/AlGaN Nanowire Light-Emitting Diodes for SSL and Displays III-nitride based nanowire light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have received a staggering response as a future candidate for solid-state lighting and full-color displays due to their unique and exceptional features including drastically reduced polarization fields, dislocation densities as well as the associated quantum confined Stark effect (QCSE) on account of their effective strain relaxation. Moab Rajan Philip and his supervisor Dr. Hieu P Nguyen in the Nano-Optoelectronic Materials and Devices Laboratory at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) present astonishing ideas to fabricate and control the color emission of III-nitride nanowire LEDs via molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth techniques. The advantage of such LEDs and their characteristics is also discussed. Read more »
Resources | LpR Article | Light Generation | LEDs | Human Centric Lighting | Jun 27, 2018
A Near Infrared Enhanced LED Lighting Approach
A Near Infrared Enhanced LED Lighting Approach With the evolution of LED lighting, one topic has come more and more in the focus of the lighting industry: Human Centric Lighting (HCL). While HCL is not clearly defined, a common understanding is that this is light and lighting that supports health and the well-being of humans. Some new proposals are going beyond the approach of providing just visible light in adequate quality, but also to providing invisible radiation, UV and/or NIR that support health and well-being. Some research and the evolution of humans show clear evidence for positive effects of this kind of illumination. Scott Zimmerman, CEO at Silas, presents a new approach that adds NIR radiation to LED illumination. He explains the background of this idea, how it also improves the quality of visible light and discusses the health benefits. Read more »
Resources | LpR Article | Research | Life-Time | Simulation Tools | Jul 05, 2018
Lifetime- and Economic Efficiency Simulation of LED Luminaires in Dymola/Modelica
Lifetime- and Economic Efficiency Simulation of LED Luminaires in Dymola/Modelica Article from LpR 66 | page 40: The lifetime of an LED system is usually specified by the LM-80 report using the TM-21 method. Unfortunately, this value is solely valid for one specific application. Sebastian Hämmerle and Thomas Schmitt from the University of Applied Sciences in Vorarlberg developed a new open-source Modelica library for dynamic simulation of LEDs: The DynaLed library. The aim of the work was to evaluate the lifetime and the corresponding economic efficiency of LEDs in dynamic operation by means of the LM-80 report and according to the TM-21 calculation method. Furthermore, it should be possible to use the library for component dimensioning, e.g. the heatsink. The primary task was to develop simulation models which can be parametrized with manufacturer information, e.g. the datasheet, but still provide sufficient accuracy. As an application example an LED louvre luminaire (Article Code: 29001077) from LEDON Lamp GmbH was simulated utilizing the developed library. At the end, results from the lifetime- and the economic efficiency simulation were discussed. Read more »
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