Interviews & Tech-Talks BREGENZ (TTB)
A New Lighting Scene
Commentary from LpR 69: I wouldn’t be telling you anything new if I said that technology is changing at an ever-increasing rate. But in the lighting industry there is a lot more happening, which makes these times truly disruptive and perhaps even inconvenient for some people ... but not for me.
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UV-Light for Plant Development
Commentary from LpR 68: Since the development of the incandescent lamp, greenhouse farmers have been using electric light sources as a supplement to natural sunlight. Initially, light intensity was the major concern. Later, growers learned to manipulate plant development by altering the power distribution of the light spectrum for added value such as taste and appearance.
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Tech-Talks BREGENZ - Rico Kramer, Inventor, Founder & CEO, esave ag
In recent years there has been a strong focus on safe communication and controls in the lighting industry. The success story of esave ag, however, started much earlier, when Rico Kramer, the founder and CEO of esave, travelled to Taiwan due to his dissatisfaction with the quality of early LED replacement bulbs. What the former Apple employee learned there led to the development of the esave concept and its technology. In the interview he talks about his intentions, the beginning of esave, wireless technologies in general, system security, commissioning, system incompatibilities, markets and their peculiarities.
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Tech-Talks BREGENZ - Ken Munro, Partner & Founder, Pen Test Partners
Today, hardly a day goes by that we don’t hear about security breaches, hacker attacks or comprimized data; often as a result of insufficient security measures. IoT does not really improve this situation and it is therefore necessary for the industry to take this threat seriously. This is especially true for the lighting industry, whose aim is to become the IoT enabler. Ken Munro, founder and partner at Pen Test Partners, is an ethical hacker whose passion is to hack any technical product he can get his hands on. Unfortunately, he succeeds way to often. LED professional talked with him about ethical hacking, where he sees the risks in various products, where the risks are hidden and what can be done to minimize them.
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Blue Light Hazard - How Dangerous Is SSL Lighting?
Modern Solid State Lighting (SSL) technology has long since found its way into our normal working and living environments. In the early phases, consumers were most concerned with lifetime, pricing and light quality of the new LED-based light sources. Now they have become almost ubiquitous, a focus has been placed on safety. At the recent Light+Building exhibition topics such as photobiological safety and blue light hazard (BLH) were highly ranked among both visitors and exhibitors.
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International and Cross-Industry Projects such as OpenAIS are Absolutely Crucial to the Success of Connected Lighting
Interview with Jens Herter, Coordinator Alliances & Funding at Tridonic.
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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“.
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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.
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Tech-Talks BREGENZ - Ken T. Shimizu, Research & Development Director, Lumileds
QDs have been a hot topic in lighting for a while already, but up until now they haven’t been adopted on
a large scale in lighting. The adoption began in display devices because some of the technical issues
were of less concern in this application. With continuing development, QDs are now also becoming
interesting for general lighting applications. Ken Shimizu, Director of Novel Technologies and Devices,
Research and Development at Lumileds, attended the LpS in Bregenz and made a presentation about
the company’s QD technology. In this interview he gives some background information about the QD
program and future steps.
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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.
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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.
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The Value of High-End Labs for High Quality Lighting
With the relocation to the Augsburg
site in 2015, the Osram laboratory
equipment includes a number of
integrating spheres of different sizes up
to 3 meters in diameter, several goniophotometers
A/B/C types, a rotary mirror
light distribution meter and a hemispherical
goniometer with a measurement radius of
2.65 meters, optical bench measuring
systems with up to 35 meter measuring
distance, corresponding high-quality
photometric receivers and spectral
radiometers as well as the necessary
components for the electrical operation
of lamps - according to customer or
standardized specifications.
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Trends in Horticulture Lighting
Cree has been a leader in general lighting applications for over 20 years and has customers ranging
from restaurant chains to global government agencies. Paul Scheidt began his career in Cree in 2005,
working on the development of their lighting applications. During this time, he has seen an increase in the
horticulture lighting application. LED professional spoke to Paul Scheidt about horticulture lighting and
what he thinks is behind this recent trend. He also shares his views of what he thinks the future holds for
both Cree and horticulture lighting applications.
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Tech-Talks BREGENZ - Dr. Wilfried Pohl, Research Director, Bartenbach GmbH
Bartenbach is one of the pioneers in light planning and lighting research. Since Christian Bartenbach
Senior founded the engineering office in 1976, the company has been dedicated to light and visual
perception. Several lighting inventions made over the years, can be attributed to Bartenbach.
Dr. Wilfried Pohl, as a member of the Managing Board and Director of Research at Bartenbach GmbH,
has played a substantial role in many developments. LED professional talked with him about
Bartenbach’s history, education in the lighting business, the lighting parameters he deems very
important, the quality of light, "Human Centric Lighting" and "Biodynamic Lighting“, and how LEDs
have changed the light planning and lighting research company, in general.
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Lighting Delivering Increased Value To Society - A Strategy For Growth
In recent years we have seen
energy efficiency as the key driver
for regulation as well as growth.
Thanks to the arrival of LEDs the
industry is already providing energy
savings greater than any other
sector. As the LED revolution rapidly
continues, where next for the EU
lighting industry? LightingEurope,
the European industry association for
the lighting industry has developed a
strategy for growth which aims to
fundamentally deliver value to society
while aligning with the need to move
towards a circular economy.
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Brave New World and the Dualism of Light(ing)
The lighting business has been quite
predictable over a long period of time.
Technical changes were introduced
slowly, dominated by a handful of leading
companies, and mostly due to new,
but not disruptive light sources. The life
of engineers was mainly determined by
a manageable number of parameters:
Lighting requirements, light source
parameters, costs, product dimensions,
and the odd, required feature.
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Tech-Talks BREGENZ - Jamie Singerman, Future Lighting Solutions
We recently sat down with Jamie Singerman, Worldwide Corporate Vice President, and Patrick Durand,
Technical Director for Future Lighting Solutions, a leading provider of Solid-State Lighting technologies,
engineering expertise and online simulation and design tools, to discuss the company’s differentiators
and their views on the ever changing lighting market.
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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
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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
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A Lighting Designers Relativity of Light Performance
The LED will always be the superstar
of light sources. Their precise and clear lighting possibilities have been targeted by lighting planners and architects for the past ten years. The coming years will see the performance of the LED getting progressively closer to the spectrum of daylight and that will, in turn, generate biologically effective LEDs that are even higher in contrast and promise a new kind of feel-good light.
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Tech-Talks BREGENZ - Philipp Henrici, President and Managing Director at BJB
It’s unusual for a lighting company to be older than electric lighting itself, but BJB in Arnsberg, Germany is celebrating their 150th anniversary this year. LED professional’s Siegfried Luger and Dr. Günther Sejkora spoke with Philipp Henrici, the President and Managing Director at BJB about disruptive technology changes, starting from petroleum lamps to electric lighting as well as conventional lighting versus solid state lighting. They also touched on the subjects of chances and drawbacks of LED component standardization, modular systems and automated production processes.
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Andreas Weisl on the Future of Seoul Semiconductor
Andreas Weisl is Managing Director and Vice President Sales SEOUL SEMICONDUCTOR Europe GmbH.
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Tech-Talks BREGENZ - Norman Bardsley, President of Bardsley Consulting
Professor of Physics, Dr. J. Norman Bardsley, has become an internationally recognized expert in SSL
through his activities as an advisor for DoE and ISA. Dr. Bardsley has a profoundly deep knowledge and
understanding of OLED technology, which includes the manufacturing thereof, cost structures and
research activities. LED professional talked with him about the different aspects of OLED lighting
technology and asked for his thoughts on future perspectives.
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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".
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Dr. Jy Bhardwaj
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".
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Professor Shuji Nakamura
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".
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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".
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From Component to System, Andreas Weisl, CEO at Seoul Semiconductor Europe GmbH
The history of Light-Emitting Diodes
(LED) is quite short compared with
some other electronic device industries.
However, it has changed and
revolutionized the entire world of light
within a very short period of time. The history of Light-Emitting Diodes (LED) is quite short compared with some other electronic device industries. However, it has changed and revolutionized the entire world of light within a very short period of time.
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Tech-Talks BREGENZ - Dr. Rubén D. Costa, Group Leader, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Light quality and costs of LED systems remain an important topic even though big improvements have
been made. New approaches are always welcome and stir up hope. It was exactly a year ago that LED
professional published the article by Dr. Rubén D. Costa, Liebig Group Leader at the University of
Erlangen-Nuremberg, about his amazing new „Bio-Hybrid“ white LED approach. At LpS 2016 his
presentation on the latest research results and improvements also won him the LpS 2016 Scientific
Award. Consequently, we just had to invite him to a Tech-Talk Bregenz! In the interview below he gives
us some interesting background information about why he started the project, how it works and what
he expects in the future. He also gives us his views on LEDs and lighting in general.
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Lighting Up Smart Cities, Dr. Wu Chou, Huawei
Although streetlights have been
associated with cities for more than
a thousand years, they are rarely
considered for functions other than
luminary purposes. One of the distinct
features of streetlights is their
geographic location. In particular,
streetlights follow the roads and
streets that are the arteries of the city,
and at night they outline the city so it
can be seen from many miles away.
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