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Philips Acquires Luceplan in Italy
SSLighting Design News Staff
February 17, 2010...Royal Philips Electronics of The Netherlands has reportedly agreed to acquire Italy-based Luceplan SpA, a consumer luminaires company in Europe's lighting design market. Under the terms of the transaction to take place in the second quarter of 2010, subject to certain conditions, Luceplan will become part of the Consumer Luminaires business in the Philips Lighting sector. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Luceplan’s portfolio of luminaires includes table, suspension, wall, and ceiling products for residential and commercial applications. The company was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Milan, Italy where it employs about 110 employees. Royal Philips Electronics News Release
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GE Wins Five Awards in Department of Energy Competition
SSLighting Design News Staff
February 17, 2010...GE was among the award winners in the U.S. Department of Energy's Next Generation Luminaires design competition. In fact, GE says that the NGL Competition recognized five of GE's LED systems this year and two last year.
Recognition of five GE LED systems in this year's DOE/IESNA/IALD Next Generation Luminaires(TM) Competition and two GE LED systems last year demonstrates the company's deep commitment to lighting technology innovation, understanding applications, and delivering quality
GE Lighting Solutions, a unit of GE Lighting, says it has earned more awards than any other company in this year's Next Generation Luminaires(TM) (NGL) Competition, including a Best-in-Class award for the GE Evolve R150 LED Cobrahead Luminaire, a new LED street and roadway light. Four other GE LED lighting systems for refrigerated display, architectural and outdoor applications were recognized. The competition, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, and the International Association of Lighting Designers, cited GE for its excellence in the design of energy-efficient LED luminaries for general illumination lighting. GE Lighting Solutions News Release
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VizorLED Luminaire from Philips Electronics Named "Best in Class" in NGL Competition
SSLighting Design News Staff
February 17, 2010...Philips Electronics reports that its VizorLED luminaire, a parking, lowbay and under canopy lighting solution, was named “Best in Class” in the ‘Next Generation Luminaires’ (NGL) competition, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, and the International Association of Lighting Designers.
According to Philips, the new VizorLED delivers a unique optical solution that minimizes glare, improves volumetric lighting uniformity, maximizes efficiency, and creates an inviting and comfortable environment for people to park and walk through.
The NGL competition recognizes and promotes excellence in the design of energy-efficient LED commercial lighting luminaires.
Philips points out that the VizorLED was one of only four products out of 126 entries to receive “Best in Class” recognition from the Department of Energy. The award was announced at the Strategies in Light conference, a leading event for the LED Lighting industry.
Philips contends that most direct-view LED-based parking garage luminaires produce extreme glare and create a claustrophobic ‘cave-like’ effect, which can limit visibility and make people feel uncomfortable and unsafe. To address these concerns, Philips Wide-Lite’s engineers set out to develop a solution to provide uniform lighting not only on the ground and on vertical surfaces as well. The engineers incorporated Luxeon Rebel LEDs from Philips Lumileds to achieve the light output and reliability required. Philips developed a proprietary Non-Direct View (NDV) optical system that it says allows VizorLED to operate in a wide variety of ambient environments, reduce energy consumption and operating expenses, while providing a visually attractive and inviting environment.
“At Philips we are constantly trying to enhance life with light, to deliver new LED lighting solutions that can address energy efficiency desires while simultaneously enhancing an environment through more attractive lighting. With the VizorLED we have been able to deliver innovation that does just that, and we are pleased to have received such high praise from the U.S. Department of Energy,” said John Campsmith, General Manager, Philips Wide-Lite.
The U.S. Department of Energy also recognized the Evolaire Street and Area LED Luminaire by Philips Hadco and the Calculite Solid-State Downlight from Philips Lightolier in this year’s NGL competition for achievement in energy-efficient lighting systems.
Philips Electronics News Release
Toshiba Introduces Tiny High-power White LEDs
LIGHTimes News Staff
February 17, 2010...Toshiba Electronics Europe has introduced three new high-power white LEDs. Operating with a drive current of 350mA, the new TL12W03-D white, TL12W03-L warm-white, and TL12W03-N neutral-white LEDs provides typical luminous flux ratings of 90 lumens, 75 lumens and 100 lumens respectively.
The company says that they provide efficient, reliable alternatives to incandescent, fluorescent and halogen bulb technologies in general lighting designs.
The new LEDs are supplied in miniature surface-mount packages measuring just 10.5mm x 5mm x 2.1mm. All of the devices are suitable for both indoor and outdoor lighting applications operating at temperatures between -40C and 100C.
The company notes that the package technology was designed to ensure a low thermal resistance and improved heat dissipation characteristics. This simplifies thermal management in the target lighting design.
All of the new LEDs are rated for a maximum forward current (IF) of 500mA and a typical forward voltage (VF) at 350mA of 3.3V. The company rates the maximum power dissipation for the LEDs at 1.95W. Toshiba News Release
Dialight Retrofit Fixtures Installed for Scotland’s First LED Street Light Trial in Edinburgh
SSLighting Design News Staff
February 11, 2010... After 18 months of consultation, a team of LED specialists from Dialight retro-fitted four units of its latest generation of LED light head into the existing street light fixtures.
Dialight Worked with Edinburgh's City Council, the World Heritage Trust, and Lothian and Borders Police to identify Princes Mall as an ideal location for the LED street light trial.
Dialight News Release
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Dialight worked in co-operation with the Edinburgh, Scotland's City Council to make Princes Street the location for Scotland’s first LED street light trial. Princes Street, considered by some to be among the most beautiful city streets in the world is a World Heritage site.
To date there have been just a handful of LED trials in the United Kingdom making the Princes Street trial the most high profile deployment of smart and cost effective LED lighting technology in the UK.
Luminus Devices' PhlatLight LEDs Now Available in Warm White
SSLighting Design News Staff
February 11, 2010...Luminus Devices, Inc. of Santa Clara, California USA, has made warm white versions of its PhlatLight LEDs available. Warm white is a critical color for indoor commercial and residential lighting applications.
Warm white PhatLight LEDs are part of the company’s SST-50 and SST-90 product lines. The new offering of LEDs have a minimum CRI of 80 and a typical CRI value greater than 85. The company contends that these CRI standards for the new PhatLight LEDs will ensure that the color quality standards set by Energy Star can be achieved.
“Today, our rapidly expanding product line now includes high quality warm white PhlatLight LEDs well suited for commercial and residential lighting applications, including retrofit bulbs and indoor lighting fixtures,” said Keith T.S. Ward, president and CEO of Luminus Devices. “Luminus is committed to providing market-leading performance and the ability to use fewer warm white PhlatLight LEDs in the new lighting applications of the future.”
Company News Release
Arizona State University Commits to LED Lighting Use
SSLighting Design News Staff
February 11, 2010...Cree, Inc., reports that Arizona State University (ASU) has made a commitment to help accelerate the adoption of energy-efficient LEDs across their campuses. ASU has equipped six parking structures with more than 2,000 LED fixtures and has replaced 6-inch incandescent downlights in the Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law rotunda with energy-efficient LED downlights.
The Princeton Review in its Green Rating Honor Roll, an annual rating of environmentally friendly institutions, named ASU one of the nation’s “greenest” universities for the second year in a row. The university of approximately 80,000 students, faculty and staff, has continued to excel at energy conservation and sustainability programs. Adding LED lighting solutions across its campus is the university's latest sustainability program. Cree News Release
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Commentary & Perspectives...
Strategies in Light still the premier US LED event
Tom Griffiths - Publisher
February 19, 2010...When it comes to the broader LED industry and supply chain, Strategies in Light, held February each year in San Jose, California, is the place to be in the US for the latest market updates and technology. From its humble beginnings as a "here comes the LED technology" conference focus back in 1999/2000, Strategies has definitely shifted its strength into an exhibition platform (80+ exhibits this year). As the LED market has matured, the event has followed the trends "up market". Not that many years back, it was about the materials, processes and technologies that created LEDs. As the supply chain has consolidated and narrowed (as they always do), the 2010 event continued the trend to be less about "how you do them" and more about "how you put them to use", with a particular focus in the lighting space. If you engineer LED luminaires/fixtures, and are looking for the latest trends in "the ingredients" that make a better solid state light, or LED backlight, there was plenty to hear and see. We'll outline just a few of the nuggets for the broader LED industry and its applications.
As with any Strategies, major highlights always come from Strategy Unlimited's "Dr. Bob" Steele, and his High-Brightness LED Market Review and Forecast. True to the focus, his market numbers, which we always consider to be the best in the industry, are tallied from the package LED level. The 2009 numbers were, in a sense, no surprise. From Q3 2008 to 1Q 2009, the LED industry pretty much fell off the cliff. Bob's look at 18 publicly traded LED manufacturers showed a 29% drop during that period, and likely those represented more stability than the market in whole. The exciting thing was the bounce-back that occurred from Q1 2009 through the rest of the year, as numbers climbed 89% from their lows, finishing 2009 a modest 9.5% above the overall 2008 numbers. A near-death experience isn't so traumatic when the hindsight shows growth. Lighting and display-containing segments reflected good double-digit growth (24% and 17%), while traffic signals experienced an 18% downturn, which we would attribute to the combination of application saturation (most signals are now LED-based) and the tighter capital equipment budgets that most municipalities are working with.
While mobile phone handsets and smart phones showed an overall decrease, those stalwarts which have driven the LED market growth for much of the last decade have been replaced in their preeminence by LED backlights and displays. In 2008, only about 10% of the laptops on the market had LED backlighting. For 2009, that number had shifted dramatically up to 50% penetration of the technology in the new models. For 2010, predictions have ranged towards expecting 90-100% penetration into the notebook/netbook space. LED-based backlighting in monitors and TVs is shaping up to be a massive market-maker for 2010 as well. Numbers vary, ranging up to forecasts of 39 million LED-backlit TVs for 2010, but Bob felt more comfortable with something in the 22 million unit ballpark, representing about 15% penetration, and the start of a move that could be expected to lead to near 100% adoption over a fairly short span.
LED lighting is rightly generating a lot of buzz, and the market isn't disappointing. While anything but big in terms of its penetration, it is clear that momentum has arrived with 24% segment growth in 2009 and 32% predicted here in 2010. Overall, Strategies Unlimited is forecasting a 44% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the lighting segment looking out the next 5 years. That represents a growth in LED sales from less than $1B now to something more in the $5B range by 2014. General lighting, and especially TV and display backlighting, will be driving the LED industry to $8.2B, a predicted 53% growth, here in 2010. Even more exciting is Bob's expectation of a overall 30% CAGR for the HB-LED industry, reaching over $20B worth of 'packaged LED value' in 2014. Significantly, those TVs and displays will represent half of that 2014 industry revenue. With LEDs continuing their drop in "dollars per lumen" there would appear to be no doubt more than a little increase in some key capacity areas will be required, including substrates and in the LED chip production equipment arena. Companies like Aixtron and Veeco (the A to V's of MOCVD reactor-suppliers, which underpin the LED manufacturing technology) are seeing this ramp now, and reporting the revenue growth to match.
Interesting tech... There were also some technology highlights that caught our attention in the LED arena. The first was in a discussion with Eran Fine, CEO of Oree (not to be confused with "Cree" when looking at the name badges). Oree, which means "My light" in Hebrew, was showing "planar LED" technology that could find its way into a number of applications in the future. In the simplest description, Oree starts with existing commercial LEDs, and redirects the light across a reflective surface a little smaller than the size of a business card. The result is a glowing RGB-driven panel, that is initially targeted to bring direct-backlit capabilities, most notably local dimming, to the LED TV manufacturers, at a cost-point closer to edge-lit solutions. It also provides the manufacturers with the ability to deliver the thinner TV solutions that are the edge-lit technology has also made popular. We had the pleasure of meeting Oree's chairman, former CEO of Philips SSL business unit, Peter van Strijp. Mr. van Strijp's involvement pretty clearly indicates Oree's plans to move the technology into the "glowing panel" arena of general purpose lighting. Given the recent advances in LED efficacy, it's not unreasonable to assume that an approach like Oree's will be able to give OLEDs a run for their money for a number of years while that technology develops.
We also took advantage of the opportunity to spend a little time with both Bridgelux and Luminus Devices, two LED companies that are well positioned to keep a healthy pressure on the current top players in the arena. Bridgelux has just rolled out a wide offering of multi-chip packages that take a number of individual unpackaged LED die, and places them on a single compact board (think dime to half-dollar size). The packages take the "bright egg" approach that covers the full array with the yellow-orange toned phosphor, making it look somewhat like the yolk of a small egg. The company claims to be only one of two significant players that is still making progress on 'lateral chip' designs. Virtually all the others are focused on vertical designs, which are not yet as cost effective as the laterally oriented chips. With warm white efficacies of better than 75 lumens/watt, their new ES line is targeted at enabling LED replacement lamp developers to exceed the approximate 45 lm/w system efficiency requirements that are bundled into the latest Energy Star requirements. Bridgelux' RS series moves up the brightness curve, and is rated to provide 3000 lumens in warm white, and 4500 lumens in cool white from a roughly 50w input. They've taken the a design approach to maintain those lumens in a hotter platform (referred to as "hot" lumens), to allow luminaire developers to design their systems with LED test point temperature of up to around 60-degrees C (ouch... don't touch), which trickles down to real-world luminaire case temperatures instead of the more idyllic, but seldom achieved 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. To round out the line, they're also offering the LS series, which uses the "L" for "little", producing 240 lumens in warm white an up to 360 cool white lumens from a 4 to 4.5w input, and is targeted at MR-16 and decorative replacement lamps. Notably, their approach is promising pricing in reasonable quantities in the 1 to 1.5 cent per lumen range as a result of their lateral-chip manufacturing efficiencies. That compares favorably with some of the new offerings out there, including Cree's new MPL-EasyWhite multi-chip package which ballparks in the 2 cents per lumen range. Obviously, each will claim their advantages, but a competitive market is a healthy market for growth.
We've always been appreciative of technologies that have a clear market niche that can create immediate profits, and which can then be leveraged into broader and potentially more lucrative arenas. Luminus Devices has always been one our favorite examples of this, with their extraordinarily large "photonic lattice" chips that lent themselves marvelously to the DLP-TV arena. The PhlatLight brand smoked that market, commanding impressively quick market share, with performance to match. Unfortunately for Luminus, the DLP projection TV market completely dried up as the LCDs used in flat panel TVs and displays plummeted in price, with consumers voting for the thinner solutions as the prices neared equalization. While Luminus LEDs continue to capture market share in the "pocket" and now standard projector market, they had a bit of a rough road as one market dried up before their technology had really reached an adoption stage in the up and coming general lighting market. While well suited for the 'multiple kilo-lumen' oriented market that will eventually supplant those metal-halides hanging from our gymnasiums and factory ceilings, they hadn't gotten there yet and have suffered for it. Their new CEO, Keith Ward, is a big believer in how "LEDs will change everything about how we 'do' lighting' as the rate of innovation picks up speed." Amen to that. Keith's experience is in the "real" lighting industry, and he's keenly aware of the gaps that exist between the so-called "chipheads" the "lighting folks". It also turns out that Keith is heading a NEMA task force called Enlighten America that is 2 years into a 5 year plan to reach out to US building owners and operators with the "enhanced lighting energy efficiency = enhanced competitiveness" message. Keith is featured there on an introduction video that sums up the message succinctly (and notably, reaches towards the same audience that our SSL Summit series is beginning to bring in... more 2010-2011 series updates coming soon).
The future is bright indeed...
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