Trends
LED Lighting Requires New Approaches in Optics
LpR 67 Article, page 88: Even though LED technology has been established LEDs still need new approaches in electronics, thermal management or optics to make complete use of their advantages. Marek Škereň, Chief Technology Officer of IQ Structures, explains how new optical devices, with the trade name Nanoptiqs, based on principles of diffraction are applied to achieve improved performance of white light illumination systems. This unique solution is based on full control over the modulation of material and geometric properties of the optical elements at a nano-level. A combination of complex transmission diffractive elements, with specially designed systems of micro-reflectors (produced using an innovative mass-production technique) is also presented as a promising flexible building unit for the construction of new generation luminaires.
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Spanish Researchers Develop Sand that Produces White Sun-Like LEDs
The team led by the chemist-technologist Rubén Costa of IMDEA Materials (Madrid) and the chemists Jesús Berenguer of the University of La Rioja and Javier García of the University of Alicante has overcome one of the biggest obstacles in the progress towards new sources of healthier artificial lighting.
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Dynamic In-Car Lighting Scenarios - Osram's Osire E4633i Prototype with Inova's Serial Control Driver
The more autonomous a car becomes, the more the way in which it is used will change. As developments continue toward autonomous driving, more and more attention is being focused on the passenger cell. Light will become an integral part of the passenger cell, taking on functional and design-specific tasks. Previously static light, which could only be switched on and off, has now been given a dynamic dimension with the prototype of the Osire E4633i – with countless design options for car manufacturer.
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Automatic Panel Level Transient Thermal Tester
LpR 67 Article, page 44:The thermal resistance junction in case is an important parameter for the reliability of LEDs because degradation of the LED is temperature driven. Simulation and testing has advanced over the past few years but transient thermal analysis (TTA), which is required to understand the thermal transfer path, is especially work and time consuming - and not automated. Gordon Elger, Professor for Electronic Manufacturing Technologies, Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, and his co-authors, Maximilian Schmidt, Alexander Hans, and Dominik Müller, present and discuss an automatic panel level TTA tester. They explain the challenges and the solution and demonstrate the applicability of using LED test board-panels.
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Electron Beam Patterning for Full-Color HR OLED Displays
OLED microdisplays are increasingly establishing themselves in consumer-ready wearables and data glasses. In order to meet the requirements for higher efficiency, higher contrast, and higher resolutions in these applications, Fraunhofer FEP scientists have developed a new micropatterning approach for OLEDs on silicon substrates. This might eliminate the use of color filters and shadow masks in the future and allow full-color displays to be developed by means of a new process. An increase in efficiency and considerably broader color gamut have already been demonstrated in first experiments.
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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.
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Liquid-Suspended White QD LEDs Achieve Luminous Efficacy Record
Quantum dot (QD) white LEDs that show a luminous efficacy of 105 lm/W have been developed. The QDs are liquid-based and, according to researchers, could help the LEDs achieve an efficacy double that of LEDs that incorporate quantum dots in solid films. With further development, researchers say the new LEDs could reach an efficacy over 200 lm/W.
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InteGreat Project Successfully Researched New Approaches to LED Production
In the InteGreat research project, Osram Opto Semiconductors coordinated a consortium comprising seven partners from science and industry. Between December 2014 and February 2018 the project partners investigated time-honored manufacturing approaches and know-how along the entire LED production process with the aim of identifying potential areas for optimization. The new insights allow for LED products to be given additional superior properties that would have been difficult or even impossible to achieve with the technologies previously used to produce LEDs.
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Intended for High-Performance Computer Chips - Maybe Also Useful for LEDs
The inner workings of high-power electronic devices must remain cool to operate reliably. High internal temperatures can make programs run slower, freeze or shut down. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and The University of Texas, Dallas have collaborated to optimize the crystal-growing process of boron arsenide – a material that has excellent thermal properties and can effectively dissipate the heat generated in electronic devices.
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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.
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KAIST Team Develops Flexible Blue Vertical Micro LEDs
In CES 2018, micro LED TV was spotlighted as a strong candidate for replacing the active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display. Micro LED is a sub-100 um light source for red, green and blue light, which has advantages of outstanding optical output, ultra-low power consumption, fast response speed, and excellent flexibility. Professor Keon Jae Lee from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and his team have developed a low cost production technology for thin-film blue flexible vertical micro LEDs (f-VLEDs).
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Key Principles for the Ecodesign Framework to Continue to Deliver Substantial Energy Savings
The European Parliament adopted today an own-initiative report on the implementation of the Ecodesign Directive, while the European Commission is now more than halfway through the 2016-2019 Ecodesign Work Plan.
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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.
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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.
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The Austrian Province of Burgenland Invests in Joanneum Research
At today’s press conference in Weiz, Austria, the provinces of Styria, Carinthia and Burgenland emphasised their prospective closer cooperation in the area of research. Burgenland holds an interest of five percent in Joanneum Research and will be active in the promising research area of “Smart Connected Lighting”. Thus, the research axis south of Carinthia through Styria into Burgenland is to be further reinforced, and international visibility of domestic research is to be increased.
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Smart Printing: Fraunhofer IAP Develops Power Generating Films and Luminescent Glass
New inks for inkjet printers make it possible to print organic displays or solar cells on film and glass for the use in architecture, the textile industry and many other industries.
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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.
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Scientists Reveal the Fundamental Limitation of In Concentration in InGaN Solid-State Devices
For the first time an international research group has revealed the core mechanism that limits the indium (In) content in indium gallium nitride ((In, Ga)N) thin films - the key material for blue light emitting diodes (LED). Increasing the In content in InGaN quantum wells is the common approach to shift the emission of III-Nitride based LEDs towards the green and, in particular, red part of the optical spectrum, necessary for the modern RGB devices. The new findings answer the long-standing research question: why does this classical approach fail, when we try to obtain efficient InGaN-based green and red LEDs?
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A New Technology Is Changing the Tunable White Solutions
Tunable white LEDs are one key element of human centric lighting. Until today, different solutions are
currently available but none of them is easy to apply or cost effective enough to speed up the diffusion
of human centric lights in building projects. A new approach for tunable white solutions is able to
provide flexible lighting for multiple occasions without sacrificing output or going over project budget.
Phil Lee, Senior Lighting Engineer from Meteor Lighting will compare this new technology, called
ColorFlip™, to conventional tunable white solutions, and talk about current tunable white issues.
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Realizing Highly Efficient QD LEDs with Metallic Nanostructures at Low Cost
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced that a team of their researchers have discovered a technology that enhances the efficiency of Quantum Dot LEDs. Professor Yong-Hoon Cho from the Department of Physics and his team succeeded in improving the efficiency of Quantum Dot (QD) Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) by designing metallic nanostructure substrates.
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VTT and Neonelektro Have Made LED Advertising Boards Light, Flexible and Energy-Efficient
Through a European project, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Neonelektro have developed new types of LED displays that combine the flexibility, low cost and high technical performance enabled by roll-to-roll mass manufacturing technology.
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Supercomputers Aid Discovery of New, Inexpensive Material to Make LEDs with Excellent Color Quality
A team led by engineers at the University of California San Diego has used data mining and computational tools to discover a new phosphor material for white LEDs that is inexpensive and easy to make. Researchers built prototype white LED light bulbs using the new phosphor. The prototypes exhibited better color quality than many commercial LEDs currently on the market.
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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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100 Years Lighting IP Applications
These IP Snapshots show approximately 100 years of patent applications of the IPC class F21 lighting and the IPC class H05 electric techniques. Both IPC classes are the most relevant in the lighting domain. Annually, over 60,000 applications are filed globally and an increasing number of IP applications is predicted over the next few years. Lighting, in general, and the electronics are, therefore, quite similar in numbers.
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Fraunhofer IIS IoT-Bus: The Secure Communication Bus - Not Just for Lighting
The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS is developing the IoT-Bus with IPv6 support and integrated security concept. It is a communication bus based on EIA/RS-485 and the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, which enables a secure and reliable data transmission of measured values and control commands and connectivity to the Internet of Things. The IoT-Bus forms a cross-media communication protocol and unites the two worlds of WPAN and fieldbuses without complex protocol conversion. The novel technology IoT-Bus is developed as part of the SEEDs project.
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LiFi - What It Is, How It Works, What It Provides, How to Apply, and Its Future Prospects
The acronym LiFi (Light Fidelity) was born at the beginning of the 2010s. Its name derives from the very
well-known WiFi (Wireless Fidelity). The term VLC (Visible Light Communication) is used in the restricted
instances of visible light. Mr. Luc Chassage who works for Oledcomm and the Versailles University is
also Scientific Committee President of the Global LiFi Congress that offers 20 lectures dealing with all
aspects of LiFi. He is a profound expert in this technology field. Mr. Chassage explains the functionality,
pitfalls and hurdles to overcome, the disadvantages and advantages, and best practice to apply LiFi.
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Thermal Issues Posed by Compact Packaging and IoT for Next Generation SSL
Besides general lighting, LEDs are penetrating many areas. At the same time, Internet of Things (IoT)
has been rapidly evolving. Added electronics are expected to add an additional 70% to overall heat
generation. Therefore, solving thermal problems will become more important again; on a par with
footprint area and cost. Prof. Mehmet Arik, Director of EVATEG Center for Energy Efficient Electronics
and Lighting Technologies at the Ozyegin University, and Umut Zeynep Uras, master student at the
Ozyegin University, present some of the current, local, hotspot thermal issues caused by tight
packaging. The severity of the problem for future lighting systems with added IoT will also be discussed.
Finally, possible technologies to meet those challenges will be shown.
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Measurement Seminar – from SSL to Displays
For the third consecutive year, Instrument Systems invited engineers from all industries that deal with light measurement of SSL products and different kinds of displays to their seminar. LED professional’s Editor in Chief, Arno Grabher-Meyer, was also pleased to receive (and accept) an invitation. In this article he shows what attendees can expect, who might find this event of interest, who would benefit the most and who should definitely not miss the next opportunity to attend.
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Hybrid Quantum Dot Light Emitting Electrochemical Cells
Several new light generation technologies that are overshadowed by LEDs and OLEDs are investigated.
Most of these technologies are in a very early stage of research. One such technology, the LEC technology,
was presented at LpS 2017. Light emitting electrochemical cells can be compared to OLEDs, but they are
based on a much simpler inorganic architecture. The innovation in the presented approach lies in the
combination with quantum dots, resulting in a hybrid solution. This novel attempt with all its consequences
and future prospects was the reason that the LpS Scientific Award jury voted to bestow the award on
Dr. Ekaterina Nannen, Group Leader of the Research Group „Solid State Lighting“ at the Nano-Energie-Technik-
Zentrum (NETZ) of the University Duisburg-Essen and her research team, Julia Frohleiks and Svenja Wepfer.
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