Trends
Challenges of the Integration of Lighting Systems and Components in IoT
LpR 68 Article, page 50: Following the rapid penetration of LEDs, lighting is now becoming integrated into the Internet of Things. Over the past three years a consortium of leading European companies worked on the OpenAIS project, which was partly funded by the EU within the Horizon 2020 program, and now showing the results working at a full size demonstrator. In this follow up article to the introduction article of LpR 67, Ben Pronk, System Architect at Signify, and Stefan Verbrugh, Project Manager at Signify and Work Package leader in OpenAIS give deeper insight into the project. They explain the lighting specific challenges, describe the generic challenges for IP controlled lighting and present the approach to these challenges. They conclude by summarizing the findings from the pilot.
Read more »
Researchers Push Perovskite LEDs' Efficiency To Rivaling Best OLEDs
Compared to OLEDs, which are widely used in high-end consumer electronics, the perovskite-based LEDs, developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, can be made at much lower costs, and can be tuned to emit light across the visible and near-infrared spectra with high colour purity. Now, researchers have set a new efficiency record for LEDs based on perovskite semiconductors, rivalling that of the best Organic LEDs (OLEDs).
Read more »
Laser Technology for Lighting Applications: A Review and Analysis of a Promising Technology
LpR 68 Article, page 44: LEDs are currently the dominating light source: efficient and cost effective. But LEDs also have some drawbacks. Another interesting technology developed slowly in the shadow of LEDs and has become an interesting solution for some specific applications: GaN based blue solid state laser devices. Although this technology offers some very interesting advantages, it also has challenges. Nicola Trivellin, Matteo Buffolo, Carlo De Santi, Gaudenzio Meneghesso, Enrico Zanoni and Matteo Meneghini from the University of Padova and its spin-off LightCube have been working toward the development of experimental systems and demonstrators and disclose their findings of the comparison between LED and LD systems.
Read more »
Researchers from the University of Surrey Find that Blue Light Can Reduce Blood Pressure
Exposure to blue light decreases blood pressure, reducing the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, a new study from the University of Surrey and Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf in collaboration with Philips reports.
Read more »
A Study on Aerosol Jet Printing in LED Module Manufacturing
LpR 68 Article, page 38: LED module manufacturing technologies have certainly improved over the last few years but the requirements have also increased. More components are packed on today’s modules causing additional thermal stress, and, at the same time, the demand for lower cost challenges module manufacturers. So the (re-) search for new materials and new manufacturing processes and manufacturing technologies is still on. Paul Hartmann, Director of the Institute of Surface Technologies and Photonics at the Joanneum Research Forschungsgesellschaft m.b.H., and his team, Andreas Rudorfer, Martin Tscherner, Christian Palfinger, Frank Reil, Franz P. Wenzl with Ioannis E. Seferis, Eugeniusz Zych from the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Wroclaw investigated the opportunities of aerosol jet printing and proved the applicability for alternative ways of phosphor deposition and integration and to replace wire bonding of dies.
Read more »
Integrating Lighting in the Internet of Things
LpR 67 Article, page 80: Following the rapid penetration of LEDs, lighting now becomes integrated into the Internet of Things. Over the past three years a consortium of leading European companies worked on the OpenAIS project, partly funded by the EU within the Horizon 2020 program. Now showing the results, the consortium is working on a full size demonstrator. Ben Pronk, System Architect at Philips Lighting Research, and Frank van Tuijl, Project Manager at Philips Lighting show how OpenAIS creates an open ecosystem to enable a wider community to deliver the smartness of light and they explain how it is possible to adapt the system to cater to the diversity of people and demands.
Read more »
New Algorithm Can More Quickly Predict Phosphor Materials for LEDs
Jakoah Brgoch, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Houston, and members of his lab published a paper on Oct. 22 in Nature Communications describing how machine learning speeds discovery of new materials. By scanning a huge number of compounds for their key attributes they were looking for a new light conversion material that could be used in white LEDs.
Read more »
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.
Read more »
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.
Read more »
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.
Read more »
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.
Read more »
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.
Read more »
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 »
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.
Read more »
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.
Read more »
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.
Read more »
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 »
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).
Read more »
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.
Read more »
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 »
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 »
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.
Read more »
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.
Read more »
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 »
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?
Read more »
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.
Read more »
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.
Read more »
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.
Read more »
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.
Read more »
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 »