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Arrow Electronics, Texas Instruments, and Cree to Offer Videocast Series About Drivers for Solid State Lighting |
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Nichia and Luminus Enter Cross Licensing and Manufacturing Partnership
LIGHTimes Staff
February 3, 2009...Luminus Devices and Nichia Corporation announced a cross licensing and manufacturing agreement. The companies noted that the agreement is an alliance based on crossed licensing intellectual property, technology sharing, and a manufacturing partnership. Nichia is presumably contributing its YAG phosphor technology. This is apparently the first time that Nichia has licensed its phosphor technology to a company that is not a member of the Big Five (Cree, Nichia, Osram, Toyoda-gosei, Philips).
Luminus Devices makes the PhlatLight LEDs which backlight displays, light projectors, and go into some lighting applications. The company hopes to make a big splash in the general lighting world with its newly licensed technology from Nichia.
Luminus brings to the agreement its technology for larger surface area LEDs.
According to Luminus, the companies have agreed to combine their expertise and resources in order to bring to the market a new breed of high power white LEDs.
Details of the business agreement are confidential. However, the companies did release the shared objective of the partnership, to accelerate the adoption of solid-state lighting. Luminus Devices News Release,
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NextGen Research Forecasts Total LED Sales to Top $33 Billion by 2013
LIGHTimes Staff
February 5, 2009...NextGen Research, the emerging technology branch of research firm, ABI Research, predicts that the total LED market will reach $33 billion by 2013. NextGen Research has published its new report, “LEDs and Laser Diodes: Solid State Lighting Applications, Technologies, and Market Opportunities”. The report forecasts that the overall solid-state lighting (SSL) market will achieve worldwide revenues topping $33 billion by 2013.
The researchers note that improvements in the technologies have produced dramatic increases in light output for both high brightness (HB) and color in addition to significant extensions of their life spans. NextGen also points out that LEDs have powerful and vocal proponents among local, state, and federal governments, commercial industries, and private citizens. Company News Release,
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Nichia and Seoul Semiconductor End Disputes and Agree to Cross License Patents
LIGHTimes Staff
February 2, 2009...Nichia and Seoul Semiconductor have brought an end to nearly three years of legal battles between the two companies. Nichia and Seoul Semiconductor jointly announced that the companies have settled their patent litigation and other legal disputes pending in the United States, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Korea. They have entered into a patent cross licensing agreement covering their respective LED and laser diode technologies. The licensing will reportedly permit the companies to access all of each other's patented technologies.
Under the terms of the settlement, all litigations (including the patent and other legal disputes in the various countries) will be terminated as promptly as possible by mutual withdrawals, with the exception of litigation in Germany involving patent DE 691-07-630 T2 of EP 0-437-385 B1. In Germany, the litigation involving patent DE 691-07-630 T2 of EP 0-437-385 B1 will reportedly be resolved following a February 2009 hearing. Seoul Semiconductor (SSC) says that it now sees its patent portfolio stabilized and as an equivalent to
Nichia's. SSC contends that the agreement will allow customers to purchase its products with confidence in the IP that is backing them up. Also SSC says that the settlement puts them in a stronger position with respect to IP actions directed at them or that they are initiating against other companies. SSC warns that it is planning to take stronger action against AC-LED manufacturers that
they feel are infringing upon their 200+ related patents.
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Philips Transforms Stadium for Super Bowl XLIII
SSLDesign News Staff
January 30, 2009... Design firm Infinite Scale Design was responsible for designing and branding the overall look of the city of Tampa for Super Bowl XLIII. The firm worked with with lighting designer Dall Brown. They chose to accentuate the stadium's exterior crown with colorful, customizable lighting. About 70 ColorReach Powercore fixtures were used in total, with just two required to evenly illuminate each 40 by 80 foot bay. Mounted on a concrete cross beam from within the stadium, the fixtures project light onto the underside of the stadium's upper 30 rows. Philips Color Kinetics News Release,
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As part of a city-wide beautification effort for the Super Bowl game on February 1, 2009, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa's host venue for the game, has been temporarily illuminated with LED technology. Philips ColorReach Powercore, a newly launched LED floodligh will illuminate the stadium from dusk till dawn from January 27 through game day. The stadium and its lighting will become a dynamic, visual focal point for Tampa residents and visiting fans.
Mac 1 Industries (MIRA) Provided LED Lighting for Ferrari/Lamborghini Showroom
SSLDesign News Staff
January 29, 2009...Mac 1 Industries provided the technology for the new Ferrari Showroom in Broward County, Florida. Mac 1's state-of-the-art LED lighting was used to light the showroom. Gene Morales, president of Euro Motorsports Inc insists that they have never been happier to be the first Farrari/Lamborghini dealer to use LEDs, and that the lower electricity and maintenance costs make the LED lighting well worth it. Mac ! News Release SSL Design PageTwo members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
Seoul Semiconductor Acriche Lights National Museum of South Korea
SSLDesign News Staff
January 29, 2009...Seoul Semiconductor supplied its interior lighting fixtures which were installed in the cultural center of a National Museum in South Korea. Seoul said it expects the installation to use 75~85 percent less energy than conventional halogen lamps. Seoul Semiconductor, also announced lighting fixtures with Acriche, its AC-driven solid state light, were installed in a bookstore inside of the cultural center and a souvenir in National Museum located in Seoul, South Korea. DELICIA, a brand of First System Korea Networks(“F/S Korea Networks”) supplied the LED lighting fixtures with Acirche,
According to F/S Korea Networks, replacement projects with Acriche lighting fixtures are planned in 12 other museums. Also, F/S Korea Networks gained the priority to install Acriche lighting fixtures in the facility of the Ministry of Cultures, Sports, and Tourisms of South Korea. Company News Release
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Commentary & Perspectives...
Report: US Department of Energy's 2009 Solid State Lighting Workshop
Guest Editorial - Shawn Keeney, LED Transformations
February 12, 2009...Our guest editorial is the first of a two-part report on the recent US Department of Energy "Transformations in Lighting", held this year in San Francisco, February 3rd through 5th. The event was well attended with over 425 people on the registration list and included representatives from various sectors spanning LED and luminaire manufacturers, academia, utilities, and government.
Highlights from the first day included a panel on "navigating the Solid State Lighting learning curve" which featured Bruce Kinzey of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Mary Matteson Bryan of Pacific Gas and Electric, Eric Haugaard of BetaLED and Kevin Dowling of Philips Color Kinetics, plus a presentation on LED-based lighting life cycle analysis given by Scott Matthews of Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Kinzey led off with an update on the DOE's Gateway Program, sharing the message that that for a successful installation, one needs "the right product for the right application." Details were shared on the I-35 bridge installation in Minneapolis, announcing that LM-80 testing was started in August of last year, with the results expected this April. We heard that the installation will be monitored for three years and will utilize a mobile light measurement system developed by Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.
Ms. Matteson Bryan spoke about PG&E's pilot LED streetlight installation in San Francisco. Four manufacturers, including BetaLED, Leotek, Cyclone and Relume, were selected to replace existing 100-watt HPS cut-off fixtures on four different streets in the Sunset District. She stated that the replacement fixtures ranged from $300-$700 giving an estimated payback of between four to fifteen years. One important point in her talk was to highlight the challenges of developing incentive programs due to variable product quality, high upfront costs, and the need to educate customers. Furthermore, since street lighting is typically not metered, new rate schedules would need to be developed to make use of the energy savings payback. One proposed scenario is to use wattage categories.
The third speaker on the panel, Mr. Haugaard, of Beta LED talked about the process of refining products for marketability using the example of the Oakland pilot program. Based on the feedback from this real-world installation, the company was able to reduce the number of LEDs required from 60 to 30, develop optics for a type II distribution, and provide flexibility in the driver so that the LEDs can be driven at three current levels (350, 525, or 700 mA). As a result, they are now able to deliver a product with lower cost and better performance.
Finally, Mr. Dowling concluded with his presentation on the LED lighting installation on North Dumpling Island, which is the home of famed inventor Dean Kamen. The goal was to replace all the lighting with LEDs and run them solely from wind and solar power. This was achieved using a combination of cove lights, surface mounted down lights and a new PAR38 bulb replacement recently developed by Philips, which he later demonstrated on the second day of the conference. In his conclusion he offered the opinion that not all lighting applications are suited to LEDs yet -- for example, the candelabra bulb. Also, he said that there is a need to rethink shapes and shift away from socket-based products to realize the full potential of the technology.
Scott Matthews update on his team's life cycle analysis study provided an in-depth look at "the big picture" of LED lighting, from manufacturing through disposal. One goal of the study is to compare the energy use of current SSL technology versus mature lighting technologies. They are working to model the energy consumed over the life cycle of a generic SSL product, though it was not clear yet whether this would be a bulb replacement or some other type of luminaire. The stages of the cycle involve raw materials extraction, processing and production of materials, manufacturing of the product, the time the product is in use, and the end of life. The team is still working on gathering more information and so far has been focusing on the middle three stages. Most of the data that was presented focused on the production of the LED chips and packages. The summary data so far is that a generic LED product is estimated to consume between 15 to 50 kWh of energy to produce; however, this does not factor in several variables including, most importantly, the aluminum typically used in heat sinks. For comparison a generic CFL requires 1.4 to 2.3 kWh and an incandescent lamp requires 0.2 to 0.9 kWh to produce. In spite of the higher energy required to produce an SSL product, the data indicated that it will consume less energy during its lifetime than the other two sources over the equivalent time period. Also, if one considers that an SSL product should last 5 to 10 times longer than a CFL and 50 to 100 times longer than an incandescent lamp, the current production numbers begin to even out.
After an action-packed afternoon of PowerPoint presentations, the delegates wandered down to Beale Street to see the BetaLED installation in front of PG&E's headquarters. Beyond the good looking fixtures, what was noteworthy about the installation was the incorporation of control technology from Echelon. Using a cell phone, the representative from PG&E was able to dim the lights to fifty percent and five percent brightness. In addition, he was able to have the all lights cycle on and off in a pattern. While we wouldn't call that a common application (which seemed to create quite a bit of confusion for the people passing by. I actually had someone come up to me and ask if I knew what was going on), it did demonstrate a level of capability that the incumbent technologies will never be able to achieve.
After this, the group hopped on the MUNI and rode to the other side of San Francisco to see the installations on 41st, 43rd, and 44th Avenues, featuring BetaLED, Leotek, and Relume, respectively. Apparently the Cyclone fixtures had been taken down already because of negative feedback from the residents. In general, the LED fixtures provided a more uniform and pleasant light than the harsh orange-yellow glow of HPS lamps, though of the three, two of the fixtures seemed to do a better job of spreading the light evenly. Regardless of the differences in photometric performance, the important thing we came away with is that SSL is now poised to provide a viable alternative to conventional street lights once the longevity can be verified.
The next installment of this report will share the findings from the second day of the conference, as well as offer some of the major "takeaways" for the industry and its potential customers.
Shawn Keeney is Vice President of LED Transformations LLC. and can be reached via email at skeeney@ledtransformations.com. Bringing to the table 30 years of experience in electronics, illumination, optics, thermal management and manufacturing, LED Transformations provides its solid state lighting clients with support for luminaire and lighting project design, development and deployment as well as education and training in LED fundamentals.
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