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ISSUE 56
features
21 CONFERENCE PREVIEW
SIL 2013 will celebrate 50 years of LEDs and chronicle columns/departments
SSL proliferation Ella Shum, Strategies Unlimited
4 COMMENTARY Maury Wright
25 Strategies in Light Europe focuses on growth opportunities
CONFERENCE REPORT SSL 2012: The year in review
43 LIGHTING
LED market spurs transformation in Europe's professional
Philips HUE lamp offers tunable color
63 DESIGN FORUM
Accurately model LED sources for optimal SSL product
designs Mark Nicholson, Radiant Zemax
___________
LEDsmagazine.com NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012 3
commentary
emergence of LEDs in mainstream lighting. It able assemblies, while the highest-volume EDITORIAL OFFICES PennWell Corporation,
seems that solid-state lighting (SSL) is soaring, lowest-cost products will not be serviceable. LEDs Magazine
98 Spit Brook Road, LL-1
and sometimes its difficult to remember how The issue of service and maintenance begs
Nashua, NH 03062-5737
early we are in the revolution. A review of 2012 a discussion of product lifetime. Weve seen Tel: +1 603 891-0123
can provide insight into where we are headed. much better SSL product designs that should Fax: +1 603 891-0574
www.ledsmagazine.com
The retrofit lamp market is a good place to last longer combined with industry standards
SALES OFFICES
start, because logistically its easy to install such as LM-80 and TM-21 that yield realistic SALES MANAGER Bob Collopy
an LED lamp in an existing socket albeit expectations of life. Cree Lighting now offers (US EAST COAST) bobc@pennwell.com
hard to justify the purchase in many cases. a ten year warranty on its commercial prod- Tel. +1 603 891 9398
SALES MANAGER Allison OConnor
As we went to press, the race to deliver a ucts (www.ledsmagazine.com/news/9/9/17).
______________________ (US WEST COAST) allison@jagmediasales.com
100W-equivalent LED A-lamp ended with RAB Lighting rates its products for 100,000 Tel. +1 480 991 9109
Osram Sylvania nosing out Philips Lighting hrs equal to 27 years based on 10-hr usage SALES MANAGER Joanna Hook
(EUROPE) joannah@pennwell.com
(page 10). By the time you read this you will days (www.ledsmagazine.com/news/9/10/5). Tel. +44(0)117 946 7262
be able to buy products from either supplier. But how long is too long? In an insightful SALES MANAGER Manami Konishi
(JAPAN) konishi-manami@ics-inc.co.jp
Practically speaking you can now buy presentation at the Street and Area Light-
Tel: +81 3 3219 3641
an LED retrofit lamp for most any legacy ing Conference (SALC), Mark Hand, direc- SALES MANAGER Mark Mak
socket. The MR16 socket has been tough to tor of new products and technology at Acuity (CHINA & HONG KONG) markm@actintl.com.hk
Tel: +852 2838 6298
fi ll with LEDs, especially due to electronic Brands, said that 10,000-20,000-hr lifetimes
SALES MANAGER Diana Wei
__________________
transformers (www.ledsmagazine.com/fea- are more appropriate in many applications, (TAIWAN) diana@arco.com.tw
tures/9/6/8).
_______ But there are good products on and can result in lower cost (page 34). Tel: 886-2-2396-5128 ext:270
SALES MANAGER Young Baek
the market. And even though LED lamps for Speaking of street lightingthats an (KOREA) ymedia@chol.com
T8 linear fluorescent sockets arent perfect application where LEDs have succeeded Tel: +82 2 2273 4818
wildly. SSL is delivering energy savings that CORPORATE OFFICERS
replacements, we have published a number
CHAIRMAN Frank T. Lauinger
of case studies that indicate the SSL option make relatively expensive luminaires a PRESIDENT AND CEO Robert F. Biolchini
is a valid choice in many applications. good investment, while also delivering bet- CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Mark C. Wilmoth
But just how viable is the lamp market in ter light quality. The city of Los Angeles has TECHNOLOGY GROUP
the long term? Some SSL proponents see ret- installed more than 100,000 lights. A study SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Christine A. Shaw
& PUBLISHING DIRECTOR
rofit lamps as a transitory segment that we use by the Northeast Group said that 95% of
SUBSCRIPTIONS: For subscription inquiries:
to move toward lighting products with built- the buyers are pleased with the purchase Tel: +1 847 559-7330;
Fax: +1 847 291-4816;
in non-replaceable sources. At The LED Show, _______________________ But
(www.ledsmagazine.com/news/9/10/26). e-mail: led@omeda.com;
Tempo Industries president Terry Walsh said the report reminds that in this segment where ledsmagazine.com/subscribe
the socket market would saturate in five years LEDs are succeeding wildly, that less that 1% We make portions of our subscriber list available to carefully screened
companies that offer products and services that may be important for
(www.ledsmagazine.com/features/9/10/8). of the street lights in the US are LED based. your work. If you do not want to receive those offers and/or information
via direct mail, please let us know by contacting us at List Services
Still, many people like the concept of Heres to SSL 2013. Hope you all have a LEDs, 98 Spit Brook Road LL-1, Nashua, NH 03062.
replaceable sources. Indeed, the Zhaga wonderful Holiday season. Copyright 2012 PennWell Corp (ISSN 2156-633X). All rights
Consortium has made significant progress reserved. Contents of this publication may not be reproduced in any
form without prior written consent of Publishers.
this year publishing multiple Books with a
number of companies now offering interop- Maury Wright, EDITOR
erable light engines, optics, luminaires, and mauryw@pennwell.com
Lightfair International
April 23-25, 2013
Philadelphia, PA
Editorial Digests
China Lighting Expo
Lighting networks and controls, April 25-27, 2013
and intelligent LED drivers Beijing, China
www.ledsmagazine.com/digests/6 Singapore International LED/
OLED Technology Show
May 7-9, 2013
Singapore
ADVERTISERS index
Beautiful Light Tech ............................ 13 Lumens Co. Ltd. ................................. 51 Shenzhen Baikang Optical Co. Ltd. ....... 5
Carclo Technical Plastics ..................... 41 Lutron Electrics Co. Inc. ......................48 Shenzhen Bang-Bell ............................ 22
Electronics Co. Ltd.
Cree Inc. .......................................... CV4 Matrix Lighting Limited, Hong Kong ... CV2
Shenzhen Refond ...............................12
CSA International ................................62 MBN GmbH ........................................ 19 Optoelectronics Co. Ltd.
Eptronics ............................................ 52 Mean Well USA Inc. ............................ 23 Sichuan Jiuzhou Electric ......................45
Evergreen International Corp. ..............33 Nusil .................................................. 31 Group Co. Ltd.
G-S Plastic Optics ..............................18 Optronics Laboratories ....................... 10 Signcomplex Limited ........................... 14
HighVac Corporation ...........................53 Para Light Corp. ................................. 47 The Korean Consulate General ............ 16
Indium Corp. ...................................... 61 Philips Lighting BV .............................. 15 The Stresscrete Group ........................54
Instruments Systems GmbH ................20 Philips Lumileds ................................... 2 Thomas Research Products .................. 7
Inventronics (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd. ......... 37 Proto Labs Inc. ................................... 24 UBM Trust ..........................................58
Keystone Certifications Inc. ................ 52 Samsung LED America ......................... 1 Underwriters Laboratories ..................29
Ledlink Optics Inc. .............................. 11 Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd. .............. 8 USHIO America ..................................53
pleds@trpssl.com
www.trpssl.com SSL Solutions Faster
11548 Smith Dr. Huntley, IL 60142 Than The Speed Of Light
Available From Digi-Key: digikey.com/thomasresearchproducts
____________
views
news
ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING
___________________________________
______________________
__________
_________
news+views
ors, but Philips Lumileds developed the lime-
green LED that apparently overcomes the effi-
ciency obstacle to some degree.
Hue can produce 600 lm, making it gener-
ally equivalent to a 50W incandescent lamp.
The LED-based Hue uses only 8.5W. Philips
said that the lamp design is based on the Zig-
Bee Light Link standard that was conceived
to allow plug-and-play interaction between
lamps, dimmers, outlets, sensors, switches,
and other lighting-related products from
multiple vendors (www.ledsmagazine.com/
news/9/4/19). Reliance on ZigBee Light Link
_______
should ultimately mean that Hue will inter-
operate with products from other vendors.
Philips will encourage third parties to
for read, concentrate, energize and relax Philips hasnt revealed the full design develop additional apps for Hue and associ-
modes. Buyers can program additional details behind Hue, but has said that it uses a ated products. The company is publishing the
presets. Certainly as researchers discover mix of three colored LEDs lime-green, red- application programming interface (API) that
the positive impact of the light spectrum orange, and royal-blue LEDs. Philips said that software developers use to communicate with
on our health, Philips can argue that Hue the lime-green LED is crucial to the lamps the lamps. Moreover, it is releasing a compre-
can enhance peoples wellbeing while also ability to deliver a CRI of 91. Traditionally, hensive software development kit (SDK).
offering conveniences. green LEDs are less efficient than other col- MORE: www.ledsmagazine.com/news/9/10/25
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funding
programs
Zhaga publishes
specification for LED
spotlight modules
Zhaga, the international lighting-indus-
try consortium that is developing speci-
fications for the interfaces of a variety of
LED light engines, has unveiled its first
specification for public viewing.
Zhaga Book 3, which defines the
DOE Gateway report indicates LED interfaces for spotlight-type LED light
engines, is now available on the Zhaga
post-top lighting performed efficiently website. The current version is edition
1.2, and updated versions will be posted
in New Yorks Central Park periodically.
Book 3 defines the interfaces between
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has a luminaire and a non-socketable LED
published the evaluation report from a light engine (LLE) with separate elec-
Gateway demonstration in New York Citys tronic control gear (ECG). The light
Central Park, conducted in collabora- engine has a round disc shape, with a
tion with The Climate Group and the New maximum height of 7.2 mm and a typi-
York City Department of Transportation. cal diameter of 50 mm. One example is
Four complete LED post-top luminaires Osrams Prevaled Core Z2 LED Module.
from Spring City, King Luminaire, Philips During their development phase and
Lumec, and Osram Sylvania were installed, when first finalized, the Zhaga specifica-
along with one retrofit post-top luminaire tions are confidential and available only
kit from Sentry Electric. The LED luminaires to members of the Zhaga Consortium.
were evaluated for energy savings, lifecycle However, Zhagas policy is to publish each
cost, and light quality relative to the exist- specification once certification is avail-
ing metal-halide (MH) luminaires. able (from third-party providers), and
The LED products demonstrated signifi- once the first products with the Zhaga
cant energy savings and four of the five had logo have been sold by Zhaga members.
lower lifecycle cost than the MH incumbents. In late August 2012, Zhaga said that
A new method was developed to compare hor- 40 products have been certified to be
izontal and vertical illumination given var- compliant with either Book 2 or Book 3.
ied pole spacing. Following this report, an Four of the LED products off ered lower These products include
updated version of the Spring City luminaire lifecycle costs than the incumbent lumi- LED modules, LED
was chosen for the retrofit of 1588 post-top naire. The Osram Sylvania luminaire light engines, LED
luminaires in Central Park, which began in had the lowest lifecycle cost, followed luminaires, and
May of this year and is still in progress. by Philips Lumec, King Luminaire, holders.
Two of the LED products provided bet- and Spring City, then the MH baseline Book 3 defines
ter horizontal illuminance values and three and Sentry Electric luminaire. t he i nter fa ce
products provided better vertical illuminance The New York City DOT selected an specifications for
values than the MH incumbent. Four LED updated version of Spring Citys Central an LED light source
products had better backlight, uplight and Park luminaire to install throughout Cen- that is used for spot
glare (BUG) ratings than the MH luminaire. tral Park. The newer version is 15% more lighting and other applications that
All of the LED products evaluated pro- efficacious than the one evaluated in the need a point light source. The LLEs
vided significant energy reductions rela- Gateway study. The Spring City luminaire covered by Book 3 have a round disc-
tive to the MH baseline, measured at 51% in the study was the only one of the fi ve shaped aperture, called a light-emit-
for the King Luminaire, 55% for the Sentry evaluated luminaires with a warm-white ting surface, with a diameter between
Electric, 58% for the Philips Lumec, 67% for color temperature (3000K CCT) and it also 9 mm and 23 mm.
the Spring City and 83% for the Osram Syl- offered the highest CRI at 85. MORE: www.ledsmagazine.com/news/9/10/8
vania luminaire. MORE: www.ledsmagazine.com/news/9/10/2
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T
o get a feel for the theme at Strategies recognized that the audience is mainly inter- and will affect our world for generations to
in Light (SIL) 2013, simply consider ested in the market and technology so we come. We cant wait to hear what he has to say
the presentation planned by the have created the LED & Lighting Technol- about what the LED will look like in 2020.
inventor of the blue LED Shuji Nakamura that ogy Track and LED & Lighting Market Bob Steele will be hosting the Pioneer
will explore what we expect in LEDs in 2020. Track. Some technology topics are applica- Awards, recognizing some of the key peo-
Indeed the February 12-14 conference (www.____ ble for lighting and other applications and ple who have influenced the development
strategiesinlight.com) that will take place at companies in lighting may branch out into of our industry. Nick Holonyak, George Cra-
the Santa Clara, CA Convention Center will other markets. ford, and Roland Haitz and will join Naka-
include presentations that cover the gamut We will still offer a Manufacturing Track. mura, in being recognized for their contri-
of LED manufacturing to solid-state lighting But unless you register solely for the Manu- butions to the industry.
applications (SSL) focused on broader deploy- facturing Track, you can attend talks in all
ment of the technologies and the trend that tracks. So pick your talks, not your tracks! Hot topics
LEDs will become our primary light source. While LED lighting has made a significant
The conference will celebrate the 50 th birth- Plenary Session move into the market, many issues remain
day of the LED, but the pioneers that will be Back to the Plenary Session, we will be cele- to broader deployment. Moreover applica-
recognized at the event will speak about the brating the 50th Anniversary of the invention tions beyond general illumination are open-
future of the technology. of the visible LED at SIL 2013. Besides talks ing broader opportunities for LEDs.
from leaders of the indus- At SIL 2013, we will get to
New for 2013 try like M J Jou of Epistar hear visions for LED light-
As always, SIL 2013 will provide a compel- and Nobert Hiller of Cree, ing from influential leaders
ling conference, an Investor Forum, and an we have invited Professor in the industry. We will learn
exhibit hall packed with innovative new Shuji Nakamura, inven- about how LEDs will affect
products. But there are notable changes in tor of the blue LED, to give the way we live our health
store that promise to make the 2013 event us a visionary talk on the and the food we grow. Indeed
the best ever. future of the LED. how LED lighting affects our
For the fi rst time, everyone attending Twenty years ago, Dr. health is becoming a hot topic.
the conference can attend the Plenary Nakamura had a vision that Based on her research, Pro-
Session. And that session is star studded gallium nitride (GaN) could fessor Mariana Figueiro of
__________________________
(www.strategiesinlight.com/plenary-ses- yield a high efficiency blue the Lighting Research Cen-
sion.html).
______ We have invited the leaders and emitter and, by combining ter (LRC) will be speaking
visionaries of the industry to address the it with Nichias phosphor about the truths and myths
Shuji Nakamura, research
conference and we want everyone to be able technology, could replace surrounding LED lighting
director of the Solid State
to hear the talks. the Edison light bulb. With and our health. We will also
Lighting & Energy Center at
We have also changed the track struc- his breakthrough blue LED be hosting a 4 hour workshop
the University of California at
ture, abolishing the hard line between the in 1993, and his first white dedicated to Human factors
Santa Barbara, and inventor
old HB-LED and Lighting Tracks. We have LED a few years later, he & lighting design.
of the blue GaN LED.
unveiled his vision to the Talks will further report on
ELLA SHUM is the Director of the LED Practice world leapfrogging all the performance of LEDs thus
at Strategies Unlimited and Chair of Strategies the established players and stunning the world. far in real life application. We have speakers
in Light Conferences. And now, his vision has become our reality, reporting on adaptive controls in outdoor
lighting, and the challenges of replacing tations from Finelite, the DOE, and utility minute slot to present. Last year, one CEO of
office lighting. Speakers will compare avail- Southern California Edison. That session a start-up was immediately surrounded by
ability, diversity and pricing of LED-based will conclude with a panel discussion that interested parties upon leaving the podium.
products relative to other lighting technol- promises to be very lively. He received $9M three months later and it all
ogies and the role of designers in the LED As previously noted, the presentations started with his presentation at this forum.
lighting transformation. will go beyond general lighting. We are for- The start-ups this year are almost all
One major challenge In LED lighting is tunate to have Wolfgang Lex of Osram Opto focused on LED lighting ranging from
the growing number of tests involved. Test- Semiconductor speak this year presenting control to drivers to luminaires. We also have
ing and standards have been a positive fac- Is there light beyond lighting? Lex will dis- four longer talks to anchor the day including
tor helping the industry develop higher qual- cuss a number of applications beyond dis- the keynote from Christian Schraft, senior
ity products. Still the number of tests, the play backlighting and general lighting that vice president of Osram, speaking about
amount of time that elapses during tests, the will consume significant volumes of LEDs. the lighting industry. Dan Coyne, managing
cost of all the tests, and the need to repeat Director of Canaccord Genuity, will discuss
tests due to small product changes have bal- The Investor Forum the industrys liquidity and valuation trends.
looned. It is getting to a point where it is suf- We will again host an Investor Forum at SIL A lively panel at the end of day will be
focating the innovation in LED lighting. 2013. Many investment professionals, finan- moderated by Robert Walker, previously a
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has cial analysts, venture capitalists, and merger venture capitalist and LED industry execu-
opened the discussion on ways to miti- and acquisition groups in large companies tive who is now the CEO of a stealth-mode
gate the testing problem while still ensur- are interested in start-ups in the LED and startup. The panelists will include venture
ing product quality. We will help move that Lighting sector. We have invited 12 start- capitalists from Kleiner Perkins, Capricorn,
discussion further at SIL 2013. We have a ups, selected from different stages of devel- NGEN Partners, and from and the invest-
dedicated session called Testing & speed opment, to discuss their companies and ment bank Canaccord Genuity.
of innovation where there will be presen- new technologies. Each company gets a 15
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S
ince its inception, Strategies in metric is rapidly becoming more
Light (SIL) Europe has focused on important than lm/W, which has
the issues affecting the regions LED dominated technological prog-
lighting industry, looking both at the trans- ress in the last decade. Manuel
formation of the market and also the key Zarauza of LED supplier Seoul
technology issues. This year, SIL Europe Semiconductor said that OEMs
took place in mid-September in Munich, are already talking about figures
Germany, and the conference was split into as high as 2000 lm/$ (as well as
two parallel tracks on market transforma- 180 lm/W) by 2015.
tion and technology. The opening day fea- Switching to the LED lighting
tured well-attended workshops on European products themselves, Bhandarkar
standards for LED lighting, and the biologi- said that the combined market for
cal aspects of light, as well as the Solid-State LED lamps and luminaires will
Lighting (SSL) Investor Forum (see sidebar, grow at a CAGR of 17% from 2011
page 26). A selection of photos can be viewed to 2016. Luminaires will grow at
at www.ledsmagazine.com/features/9/11/3. 19%, while the replacement-lamp
market will grow at 11% and will
Slow market growth saturate after 2014 at just over $4
Vrinda Bhandarkar, a research analyst with billion per year.
Strategies Unlimited, opened the Keynote
session of the conference with an over- Market transformation
view of the LED and lighting markets. The Looking at the big picture,
year-on-year growth in the global market Bhandarkar said that commod-
for LED packages has fallen by an order of FIG. 1. Bernhard Dessecker of the Ingo Maurer itization is inevitable, partly as
magnitude in each of the last two years: the Studio presented a lighting designers view of LED a result of government incentives
market grew by 108% in 2010 and by 11.3% lighting, and SIL Europe attendees were invited and rebates. These encourage
in 2011, and Bhandarkar predicted that to an evening reception at the firms studio in large-scale adoption, leading to
2012s fi gure would be 1.5%. Th is would Munich. The LED wallpaper pictured is one of the commoditization and ultimately
put the total LED revenue at $12.7 billion company's many creative uses of LEDs. delivering the substantial energy
in 2012. Unit sales have of course grown savings that provide payback for
far more rapidly in percentage terms, but those incentives. The industry is
this has been off set by a rapid decline in increasingly being used for ambient light- heading for a substantial shake-up,
the price of both LED chips and packages. ing applications, said Bhandarkar. Prices said Bhandarkar. Consolidation to increase
One factor has been the over-capacity of for 4000K white LEDs are, on average, likely scale is inevitable, she said. Also, the indus-
mid- and low-power LEDs, particularly to drop below $4/kilolumen (equivalent to try will take advantage of control systems
among Korean and Taiwanese manufac- 250 lm/$) by the end of 2012, she said, with to achieve greater energy-efficiency sav-
turers. These devices were intended for use 2700K LEDs being about twice as expensive. ings, although customized lighting design
in the TV and display market, but are now A number of speakers said that the lm/$ will also be required to make this happen.
nies including Samsung installed excessive Changes in the market also impact how
capacity for the TV backlighting market. lighting companies operate. Previously,
Schlejen said that MP LEDs have enabled ret- companies supplied either lamps or fi xtures
rofit lamps to hit acceptable consumer price (with Philips as a notable exception) but now
points, and that MP developments make LED the boundaries are blurred, said Schraft.
linear-fluorescent retrofits attractive. Osram already operates at many different
The third wave is in smart lighting, points on the value chain, ranging from its
using cost-effective integration of controls LED-making subsidiary Osram Opto Semi-
and intuitive user interfaces. The third conductors to recently-acquired fi xture and
wave will be enabled by IC makers that can system suppliers Siteco and Traxon. Overall,
integrate complex functions, said Schle- Osram AG generated about 25% of its rev-
jen. He added that many of todays stupid enue in fiscal 2011 from SSL, said Schraft.
professional lighting installations can be Of course, another impact of the inroads
converted using smart retrofits that will made by SSL is the emergence of smaller
enhance energy savings, safety and com- companies specializing in SSL technology.
fort. Schlejen concluded that the industry is Berenbergs Mackie commented that, while FIG. 3. SIL Europe exhibitor Cool
buoyant, but some companies will need to be industry leaders are having to manage leg- Polymers showcased a number of LED
careful in their approach. Continuing with acy and build bridges to the future, at the lamps with bodies fabricated using the
his wave theme, he advised: Surfs up. But same time fragmentation and technology companys thermally-conductive plastics.
dont lose your pants. creates opportunities for new entrants.
When you rely on UL for your lighting product needs, your future is bright.
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conference | STRATEGIES IN LIGHT EUROPE
following SIL Europe it was published in the focus on particular areas of technol-
OJ (Official Journal of the European Union). ogy. This policy could include funding
It will become directly applicable in all EU for key enabling technologies, such as
Member States from September 1, 2013. setting up pilot lines for SSL but this
The same start date is planned for the new would most likely be for OLEDs rather
Ecodesign regulation, but this is currently than LEDs.
within a scrutiny period (see Table 2). Michel Quicheron gave an overview
The revised version of the energy label for of the SSL-related activities conducted
lamps has new A+ and A++ classes, which by the ECs Joint Research Centre (JRC).
are specifically designed to allow LEDs to He covered a report on public procure-
demonstrate their capabilities. The label (or ment, which concluded that lighting
package) must also display a value for energy is often not among priority product
consumption in units of kWh per 1000 hours. groups for such activities. This is due in
The class is determined by the value of the part to the lack of standards, the wide
energy-efficiency index (EEI), with differ- variety of specifications in the market,
ent values applying to non-directional and and the rapid development of the tech-
directional lamps. The EEI is the ratio of the nology. Public procurement has high
power corrected for any control-gear losses potential for bringing more LEDs to
compared with the reference power. The the market, but public buyers remain
latter is obtained from the useful luminous cautious towards this technology, said
flux; this is the total flux for non-directional Quicheron.
FIG. 4. Suncom high-bay LED fi xtures from
lamps, or the flux in a 90 or 120 cone for
Suzhou EIC Electronic Co. Ltd. feature a
directional lamps. Market surveillance
phase-change heat exchanger in the large heat
Luminaires are also included in the new An ever-increasing number of stan-
sink to remove heat from the LED light source.
regulation, but there is no separate labeling dards and regulations are being put
requirement for LED modules that are inte- in place to control the performance of
grated into luminaires. Replaceable modules Zieglers most interesting slide was an invi- SSL products reaching the European market.
will require a label. tation from the EC to the European lighting However, authorities usually lack the money
industry which was well-represented in the and resources to enforce the rules. Otmar
EC projects and research SIL Europe audience to undertake various Franz of the ELC said that market surveil-
The ECs Michael Ziegler, representing the actions, such as creating win-win coopera- lance is necessary to ensure a level playing
Photonics Unit of DG Connect, spoke about tion platforms. This could include large light- field. Highest-quality, conforming products
the outcomes from the consultation on the ing companies working with SMEs (small and have their price, he said. Non-conforming
Green Paper on SSL, as previously discussed medium enterprises), or the lighting sector products have lower product-development
in LEDs Magazine (www.ledsmagazine. working more closely with the building sec- costs and lower manufacturing costs, which
com/features/9/9/3). Ziegler said that two tor, said Ziegler. The EC would also like to leads to price pressure.
lead markets have been identified to accel- see the lighting industry invest in Europe, Franz described some of the activities being
erate SSL uptake, namely cities and build- for example in SSL manufacturing, as well carried out by different EU Member States,
ings. In March 2012, the EC established the as contributing to the training of lighting and said: The ELC supports [these activities],
Task Force on SSL for Cities, with a goal to designers, electrical installers and resellers. but the action from different governments is
provide guidelines for SSL deployment in Ziegler also discussed the ECs cohe- not focused enough. Because of this, the ELC
municipalities. The effort will run through sion policy that will encourage smart spe- has decided to take complementary action by
to the end of this year. cialization and help nations or regions to starting a dedicated market-surveillance proj-
TABLE 2. Update on two forthcoming EU regulations related to lamps and luminaires. Source: Andrs Tth, European Commission.
*OJ = Official Journal of the European Union (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOIndex.do?ihmlang=en).
ect in the EU. This will keep track of market-passive-infrared (PIR) detectors and dim- Biological dimensions of LED lighting
ming drivers.
available products initially the activity will As well as visual effects such as imaging and
focus just on lamps and will initiate third- Hanrath explained that the dimming motion perception, light also conveys non-
party measurements where necessary. Non- speed and duration is fully confi gurable, visual effects such as controlling the bodys
compliant products will be flagged up to the and the dimming is smooth and goes circadian rhythm, alertness and well-being.
relevant authorities for action. unnoticed by passengers. The cumulative Andreas Wojtysiak of Osram AG described
Franz was keen to emphasize that all mar- efficiency gains including the Wave sys- different sets of receptors in the eye, which
ket participants including ELC members tem are 68% compared with fluorescent, are either visual receptors (rods and cones)
would be treated equally. The European said Hanrath, and the payback is 2.9 years. or biological receptors (ipRGCs). These
market is an open and mature market for all The light quality and distribution is also ipRGCs are responsible for, among other
participants wherever they may come from, improved. One important point to note, things, day/night detection to control the
he said, butplay to the rules! said Hanrath, is that the economic via- bodys inner clock. The ipRGCs are located
bility of the Wave system is enhanced sig- in the lower part of the retina and are stim-
Airport and office lighting nificantly in regions where labor costs for ulated most effectively by wide-area light
installation and maintenance sources from above in nature, of course,
are much higher. this means the sky. Wojtysiak said that
Andreas Cereghetti of Swit- broad-area ceiling lights would do a much
zerland-based Regent Lighting better job of boosting the alertness of the
compared office lighting using conference audience, rather than the spot-
three different approaches: lin- lights that were in use in the auditorium.
ear lighting (pendant, surface or Fenella Frost of PhotonStar LED extended
recessed), recessed planar light- this discussion by emphasizing that blue
ing, or freestanding uplighters. light at around 460 nm is the critical wave-
The latter approach, developed length that controls biological effects. Blue
by Regent (Fig. 5), has advan- light suppresses melatonin production and
tages such as flexibility and promotes wakefulness, said Frost. Thus, it
individual control of each fi x- can be beneficial in the morning to have a
ture. Installation and network- light source with a high blue content (such
ing are also straightforward. as a cool-white LED source), but in the eve-
Regent performed a case ning this source can disrupt the natural
study in an open office with cycle and make sleep difficult. The latter
22 uplighters, each with pres- effect is seen when people use LCD screens
ence detection, daylight sen- late into the night, and are affected by the
sors, buttons to set the dim- blue-light content of the backlights.
ming level and to switch on/ In contrast, correlated color tempera-
off individually, and ambient ture (CCT) on its own has limited biologi-
brightness control. This lat- cal effect, although people often select cool-
ter feature prevents a situa- white light in the morning to boost alertness,
FIG. 5. This LED uplighter from Regent can provide tion when one luminaire is lit and warm-white light in the evening to help
flexible lighting options for offices. and the rest of the office is in with relaxation. However, explained Frost, if
darkness. Instead, the nearby this warm-white source is LED-based, it may
Several speakers discussed the use of LEDs uplighters are also illuminated at a low still have a high blue-light content, which is
in different lighting scenarios. Alexander level, enabled by a wireless communica- not conducive to sleep. The solution could be
Hanrath of Nualight, a Ireland-based LED tion network. This improves well-being a variable LED source that can be adjusted
lighting supplier, described a lighting proj- and comfort, and reduces fatigue due to to produce warm-white light with a low-level
ect at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. This excessive background contrast levels, said blue component, for evening use.
massive complex has more than 85,000 fi x- Cereghetti.
tures, and the maintenance cost for replac- The case study showed that overall power
ing a single lamp is in the EUR 25-100 ($32- consumption was considerably lower than Join us at next years Strategies in Light
$129) range. Nualights Lumoluce subsidiary estimated, partly because of the ambient Europe conference (www.sileurope.com),
replaced fluorescent fi xtures with linear brightness control, partly because desk which takes place on November 19-21, 2013
LED lights that were fitted with the propri- occupancy was lower than predicted, and at the MOC Event Centre in Munich, Germany.
etary Wave system. This uses motion-based partly because of the influence of large win-
dimming, enabled by custom-designed dows and daylight sensing.
__________ _______
lighting | OUTDOOR
A
nother Street and Area Lighting
Conference (SALC) has come and Perhaps some of the most solid informa-
gone, and as has been the case of tion on controls at SALC came from Kelly
late the presentations were LED heavy. But Cunningham, the outreach director at the
the need for adaptive controls was the preva- California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC)
lent message at the conference although the located at the University of California at
outdoor lighting industry is desperate for Davis. Cunningham first shared some results
guidance on energy savings that controls from a California street light research study
can deliver, the safety of controls in appli- she conducted and concluded with some
cations such as street lighting, and logis- details of a case study of an adaptively-con-
tics problems such as utility tariff rates. The trolled, wirelessly networked lighting instal-
crowd left with some answers, yet questions lation on the Davis campus.
about controls persist. During 2011, Cunningham surveyed 212
The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) cities across California that in aggregate
held SALC this year September 11-12 in Miami, have 1.1 million street lights. The survey did
FL with a full conference agenda and small but not include the city of Los Angeles, which has
packed exhibit area (Fig. 1). The controls theme been noted for its large street-light project and
came to the forefront early and often. Keynote which we will discuss a bit later in this article.
speaker Niels Van Duinen, global market- Cunningham reported that as of 2011, 76% of
ing director at Philips Lighting, led off Mon- the lights covered by the study used high-pres-
day morning with a forward look at LED light- sure sodium (HPS) lamps. Between 2-3% of the
ing and projected how smart city projects will lights used LED or induction sources. And note
ultimately connect lighting on Internet Proto- that figure is high relative to the rest of the US.
col (IP) networks. Van Duinen sees connected Recent research by the Northeast Group that we
solid-state lighting (SSL) as a necessity given reported on in a news story said the penetration
the growing energy concerns around the globe. of LEDs into street lights is below 1% in the US Of the municipalities that Cunningham
Van Duinen said that LED-based lighting (www.ledsmagazine.com/news/9/10/26). surveyed, 54% own and maintain their street
can offer 50-70% energy savings, but added The purpose of the survey, however, was lights. The good news is that its in the same
its not enough to meet global sustainabil- more to project what happens going for- group that Cunningham found the most sup-
ity targets. Adaptive controls can bring the ward rather than to report on the status port for investing in energy-efficient street
savings to 80% according to Van Duinen. quo. Cunningham said that in conversa- lights and perhaps controls. She also said
Ultimately he envisions a unified network tions with municipalities cost is a com- that municipalities with a climate action
connecting street lighting and other city mon theme. She said communities need plan or similar sustainability initiative in
infrastructure. For more on the keynote, see commercial payback periods of a few years, place were more likely to invest. She said
our earlier news story (www.ledsmagazine. not the 10 years that have been common in Savings alone may not be enough to push
com/news/9/9/4). many municipal products. this market forward.
FIG. 1. The SALC exhibit floor (courtesy of IES: Bob Horner, photographer).
Cunningham briefly addressed light- Controls questions of potential safety concerns. She said that
source technology, declaring that LED, Moving to a discussion of controls, there are places where adaptive controls will
induction, and light-emitting plasma were Cunningham reported that most commu- never be used such as airport roadways and
all energy-efficient options. We covered nities she surveyed about controls think in that there are areas where controls can be
some of the alternatives to LEDs in an SALC general that controls are a good idea. At the applied in roadway lighting.
report that we ran in the fall issue of our Illu- same time, she said that the municipalities Cunningham acknowledged that no one
________
mination in Focus publication (www.illumi- wonder about how much they will really save has a solid handle on how much controls can
____________ About the CLTC, Cun-
nationinfocus.com). and whether the technology is really safe. add in savings, but the CLTC is working to
ningham said, We go for the right source About safety, Cunningham said that help deliver data on the topic. The CLTC has
and the right controls for the application street lighting is the most contentious of installed a campus-wide networked-light-
and said the center was technology neutral. applications for adaptive controls because ing system after experimenting on a small
scale with controls. Coincident with SALC, doesnt work. Cunningham said that an needs to come to full brightness.
they released the fi rst results for the proj- installation has to address the occupant Cunningham said that the same situation
ect that includes 1400 lights. The focus has directional of travel. For example, she said would apply to street lights. A networked
been on wall packs, post-top area lights, and that having a dimmed light come to full system might need to predict that a car was
pathway lights that were considered a safer brightness after a bicyclist has passed is not making a turn onto a roadway and react with
place to start than street lights. useful. So the network is a key enabler of the a lighting change, before the turn happens.
The CLTC learned a lot quickly. For exam- system being able to predict travel direction The CLTC system has delivered surpris-
ple, relatively static occupancy sensing just before someone reaches a luminaire that ing results dealing with what Cunningham
called a mix of pedestrians, scooters, bicy-
cles, segways and other forms of transport.
She said that the network includes more
than 200 wall packs. In the case of the wall
packs, the LED lighting saves 87% in energy
over the prior lights and the adaptive-con-
trol system adds an additional 20% in sav-
ings. She said the network added 16% sav-
ings in post-top area lights, and a larger 34%
savings in pathway lights.
Case studies
Outside of the controls area, there were a
couple of other case studies presented at
SALC that we should discuss a new one
and an update from the Los Angeles LED
street-light installation that weve covered
previously. Lets start with the new one,
because its also the first instance of munici-
palities using the DOE Municipal Solid-State
FIG. 2. Networked LED-based post-top lighting at the University of California at Davis. Street Lighting Consortium (MSSLC) "Model
Specification for LED Roadway Luminaires. ingly fast, driven in part because some of Los Angeles LEDs
Moreover, it demonstrates how that MSSLC the municipalities were using funding from Moving from a relatively small state to one of
work helped communities in Iowa move the American Recovery and Reinvestment the worlds most populous cities, Los Angeles
very quickly on a project. For background Act that had to be spent by September 2012. is also home to the largest LED street-light
on the spec see, www.ledsmagazine.com/ Using a customized version of the MSSLC installation in the world. We covered the Los
________
news/8/10/29. specification, the IAMU issued an RFP on Angele project after Ed Ebrahimian, direc-
The Iowa presentation came from Jona- December 29, 2011. Proposals were due Jan- tor of the Bureau of Street Lighting in Los
than Roberts, an energy services engineer uary 18, 2012, and the supplier that won the Angeles, made a presentation at SALC two
with the Iowa Association of Municipal Util- bid was notified January 25. years ago. At that time the city had installed
ities (IAMU), and Michael Lambert, senior on the order of 20,000 LED lights. At SALC
lighting designer at KCL Engineering. The Group buying this year, Ebrahimian (Fig. 5) said the num-
duo worked on a project in which 15 munic- The group sought bids for SSL luminaires ber was up to 99,000 and as of November 13
ipal utilities joined together to purchase LED meant to replace 250W, 150W, and 100W the number had climbed to 105,000.
street lights to obtain better pricing through HPS luminaires. There were as many has The scale of the Los Angeles project, and
a larger purchase. five brands that distributors proposed the energy and carbon emission reductions,
The time line for the project was amaz- for the project and in some cases multiple are stunning. Table 1 summarizes the savings
Lessons learned
But its the lessons learned from Los Angeles
that are arguably of greatest importance.
The city has settled into a regular cycle of
reviewing new luminaires every six months.
The continuous cycle is necessary to get the
latest technology. Ebrahimians team has FIG. 5. Ed Ebrahimian, of the Los Angeles Bureau of Street lighting, discusses the
increased its warranty requirement to seven worlds largest SSL project (courtesy of IES: Bob Horner, photographer).
years from six early on.
The city has performed a detailed com-
parison of failure of new luminaires using inventory. But the city plans to ultimately more efficient LEDs. Yet some municipalities
HID data it had gathered previously and data retrofit those lights as well. are requiring luminaires with TM-21 projec-
from the fi rst 98,000 LED fi xtures installed. tions that show such lifetime, and engineer-
The HID lights had an average failure rate Measured expectations ing such products adds cost to the fi xture.
of 10% whereas the LED lights have a fail- Moving to a discussion of fi xtures, and fea- Hand took the position that for 24-hour,
ure rate of 0.2%. turing a refreshing change of pace from typ- 7-day operation 50,000-60,000-hr lifetimes
The realized 63% in aggregate energy sav- ical SSL presentations at trade shows, Mark make sense. He said that for 4-hour, 5-day
ings is far better than the projected 40% goal. Hand, director of new products and technol- operation such as an office restroom with an
And the light quality is better than expected ogy at Acuity Brands presented Managing occupancy sensor, that 10,000-20,000-hr life-
also. The city had worried about uniformity LED luminaire costs. And Hands focus was times make sense.
but discovered that the LED lights far out- on the customer not the luminaire manu- By specifying a more realistic lifetime
perform HPS lights in that area. facturer performing the cost management. spec, buyers can allow the luminaire maker
The transition to better lighting has At first the concept seemed backwards more f lexibility in product design that
occurred at the same time that the city has but quickly came into perspective as Hand directly results in lower prices. A shorter
witnessed a decrease in citywide crime sta- described how the lighting community essen- rated life means that you can run the LEDs
tistics. Comparing 2009 with 2011, vehi- tially over specifies luminaire requirements. hotter delivering more lumens with fewer
cle theft, burglary/robbery, and vandalism The trend of specifiers setting all parame- LEDs or eliminate a heat sink.
was down across the board between 7:00 ters artificially high can be especially true in
PM and 7:00 AM. In aggregate, the decrease street lighting, and Hand attacked elements Realistic CRI
was 10.5%. Ebrahimian stopped short of pro- of a specification one at a time. Next Hand attacked CRI. He said, Just
claiming the lights as the sole difference, but Hand started with lifetime. He asked Is because the existing lighting has it doesnt
they clearly seem to be a factor. 150,000 hours a realistic or reasonable life- mean its truly needed. Hand acknowl-
The city is also installing a wireless net- time? That lifetime equates to 34 years in edged that some applications such as high-
work on the lights. For now it is using the typical usage scenarios. Hand showed pho- end retail need high CRI but that many such
connectivity to automate maintenance. But tos of a telephone, a TV, and a car that could as street lighting dont. Specifying high CRI
in the future it could be used for adaptive have been from about 30 years ago, and rhe- invariably reduces efficacy meaning a lumi-
control and dimming. torically asked if anyone would still want to naire needs more LEDs and has a higher
Los Angeles still has more street-light use the products today. The point Hand was total cost of ownership.
inventory for which it will consider an making is that municipalities will likely want The CRI discussion led to one on binning
upgrade. The initial project didnt cover the a different lighting technology in less than and the trend of specifying product that fall
70,000 decorative street lights in the city 30 years even if the replacement is simply within a 3 MacAdam ellipse in terms of chro-
maticity. Again some applications need tight naire choices. And luminaire makers will which individual products are qualified.
binning, but Hand said that street lights have more options to buy lower-cost LEDs. Longer term, the answer is metering in the
are generally acceptable with 7 MacAdam Ultimately SSL becomes more affordable luminaire with accurate billing data gath-
ellipse binning. without compromising on what's needed in ered over a network. But there are appar-
The extremes are also important when an application such as street lighting includ- ently legalities that utilities face in terms of
it comes to specifying operating ambient ing uniform, broad-spectrum light. metering capabilities designed in by lighting
temperature range. Hand asked Do you manufacturers.
really need a product that works at -40C Utility logistics
and +40C?" He said Alaska may need prod- The most frustrating presentations at SALC Closing the show
ucts that operate at one end of that spec- were again from utilities that see LEDs SALC closed as it started with a focus on
trum, and that Las Vegas might need prod- and controls as having unsolvable logis- controls and networks. Michael Poplawski,
ucts that operates at the other end. But tics problems. For example, John Walter, senior lighting engineer at the DOE's Pacific
relaxing ambient operating range can principal engineer for outdoor lighting Northwest National Laboratory, led a
result in lower-cost products. and attachments at the National Grid util- Wednesday panel discussion on controls
While controls were favored prominently ity that serves part of the US northeast and adaptive lighting. The advice was in part
by most speakers at SALC, Hand took a more addressed the issue. to learn about networks. Indeed, we've wit-
measured approach to that subject as well. Ward said that HPS has six billing points. nessed the same need and have run numer-
He used a large parking lot to make an exam- Even lamps and ballasts from different ven- ous articles about network technology that
ple. In a factory with a relatively small night- dors fall into the same ranges for energy con- may be second nature to computer profes-
shift work force, he said simply having night sumption. He said that with LEDs everything sionals but not to lighting professionals. The
workers park in a specific area of a lot, and adds variability including color temperature panel concluded that we need better stan-
turning the remainder of the lights off is and driver electronics. He added, "Controls dards for networks in lighting.
a far better solution than using sensors to further complicates the situation." He said The MSSLC is moving to help in the area of
detect activity in all areas of the lot and con- that National Grid looked at LED luminaires controls. The consortium announced a draft
trolling the lights in real time. from eight different manufacturers and of the "Model Specification for Adaptive Con-
Hand's last topic was serviceability. found they would have to account for 1202 trol and Remote Monitoring of LED Roadway
He point out that a serviceable luminaire different models in terms of energy usage to Luminaires" document at SALC (www.leds-
______
cost much more in terms of extra inter- calculate bills the way the utility does with magazine.com/news/9/9/13).
_________________ The MSSLC has
connects and other hardware. He asked, legacy lights. been taking comments on the draft. But be
"Could replaceable be a better alternative?" Some in the audience saw the situation in forewarned, the controls spec may be more
The point of Hand's talk became simplisti- more simple terms. The prevailing thought complicated than the luminaires spec that
cally clear. He said that as buyers loosen the is that even with LEDs, utilities can estab- the IAMU used for the street-light project
specifications that they will get more lumi- lish some relatively small set of tariff s for discussed earlier.
Opticselect
carclo Optics
Specialists in Optic Design and Manufacture
___________
LEDsmagazine.com NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012 41
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GE 2012
lighting | BUSINESS LANDSCAPE
T
he European professional lighting
industry is one of the largest and Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
Good enough Penetration, logistics, New solutions,
most innovative lighting markets in (lm + lm/W) clearer form factors new channels
the world. With its transformation towards
LED sources and solid-state lighting (SSL),
this hive of activity is a very interesting mar-
LEDs in down lighting
ket to be in at the moment. But take a step
back, scratch the surface and observe what
is going on and it becomes apparent that
there is a clash of two fundamentally differ- LEDs in spot lighting LEDs in spot lighting
ent industries with totally different DNA, who (specifications) (market development)
do not actually understand each other very
well yet. A similar scenario in lighting is also
playing out in other regions around the globe.
LEDs in linear lighting
On one side, we have the lamp and luminaire
manufacturers, installers and lighting specifi-
ers from the traditional lighting industry. On
the other side there are the LED and component FIG. 1. The LED transformation of the general lighting market is a three-phase
suppliers from the semiconductor industry. process, and the current extent of progress depends on the specific application.
The latter group is highly dynamic, ratio-
nal, volume-oriented and used to continu- 20th century lighting industry opment of the T5 fluorescent tube was still
ous change. It makes its living out of fast- The lighting industry has long been a sta- a two-year process for Philips, and it took
moving, ever-evolving technology steps and ble, traditional and conservative industry. another five years before the European lumi-
short product lifecycles. The other group is Stretching back to the 1890s, when the first naire manufacturers decided to accept T5 as
slow to adopt change, and is used to sta- incandescent lamp was commercially pro- the new fluorescent standard.
bility, traditional methods of working and duced, there has been a steady but slow Therefore, it should come as no surprise
gradual improvements in a technology rate of innovation throughout the 20th cen- that there was a strong reaction among the
which has been around for over a century. tury. Three main light-source technologies bulk of different players in the lighting mar-
Intentions and expectations on both sides were invented and manufactured by four ket in 2008, when high-quality white-light
about LED adoption and penetration in the main global lamp suppliers, supported by var- LED propositions started to become commer-
general lighting market are genuine and ious control-gear manufacturers and multi- cially available for general lighting. In general,
realistic. But do both parties actually appre- ple thousands of luminaire makers. Light there was disbelief, confusion, fear, skepti-
ciate the scale of the upheaval, the level of sources were heavily standardized, and the cism, inertia and even anger amongst lumi-
compromise and the changes in processes, common lamp bases of fluorescent tubes, HID naire manufacturers and lighting designers.
behavior and thinking that will be required lamps and halogen lamps were always inter- They saw their whole familiar lighting world
to realize this? It begins with understanding changeable. Lamps with a single-source sup- threatened and the possibility of it being torn
the world in which the other party operates. plier were usually doomed to failure. apart in a very short timescale.
The rate of innovation and market adop-
ANNETTA KELSO is Senior Marketing tion of innovation in lighting was painfully Semiconductor industry challenges
Manager, LED Systems, with Philips Lighting, slow compared to the emerging electronics Now, in 2012, after several years of experi-
Eindhoven, the Netherlands. industry. In the 1990s the design and devel- ence with high-performance white LEDs for
general lighting, it is possible to see more The bulk of the lighting market is, how- increasing, such as linear fluorescent, metal
clearly the scale of the challenge for the ever, not geared up yet for some of the key halide lamps and certain HID outdoor light
LED semiconductor industry. Tinged with a characteristics of doing business in the sources. Clearly, luminaire manufacturers
touch of arrogance, the expectations of the semiconductor world. Such characteris- have not yet abandoned all of the conven-
LED suppliers were that general lighting tics include speed, flexibility, rapid prod- tional light sources.
would be an easy market to penetrate with uct phase-out and phase-in, high volumes There is, as of yet, no discernible change
LEDs and that this would be achieved by a on limited product codes, and rational in European lighting behavior. The lumen
simple switchover of existing light sources decision-making. packages of LED modules and LED lamps
to LED light sources. This may well work in LED suppliers need to understand this and match the lumen packages of the conven-
the consumer retrofit lamp area, but not in to be realistic about the time it takes to build tional lamps they replace. There are no
the professional lighting market. up volumes. They would do well to devise real breakthroughs seen in LED luminaire
design. LED modules are still
LED module 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 designed into existing, tradi-
Gen 1 Gen 2 Gen 3 Gen 3+ Gen 4 tional 600-mm-square lumi-
50 lm/W 73 lm/W 92 lm/W 95 lm/W 100 lm/W naires, and spotlight and
Fortimo LED DLM 2000Lm
downlight luminaire shapes.
The only notable change
Gen 1 Gen 2 Gen 3 appears to be the rise in LED
63 lm/W 85 lm/W 105 lm/W dimming solutions; these are
Fortimo LED SLM 2000Lm at a level that is three times
higher than for new fluores-
cent and compact-fluorescent
Gen 1 Gen 2 Gen 3
luminaires.
Fortimo LED LLM
The emotional element
Lighting has always been a
Gen 1 Gen 2
combination of rational and
Fortimo LED Twistable emotional elements, which is
reflected by the diverse value-
chain involved. Color tempera-
ture is an emotional choice, often
FIG. 2. Philips' LED module portfolio has moved rapidly through a series of new generations.
subconsciously made, based on
what people like. Designers and
The product push that has occurred in the strategies for helping to facilitate the market end users are not swayed into making ratio-
last five years has been relentless. However, transformation to LEDs, in the form of more nal decisions about color temperature, based
the initial volumes and speed of the profes- market pull, rather than product push. At the on the higher efficacy of LEDs at 6500K!
sional part of the lighting industry in adopt- same time they need to identify and be realis- A warm, soft light makes people in colder
ing LEDs have probably been a little disap- tic about the elements that are non-negotiable countries feel more relaxed. The ratio of
pointing from the LED supply point of view. points for the lighting industry. 3000K versus 4000K Philips Fortimo LED
Volume expectations had been higher. downlight and spotlight modules, sold in
LED suppliers would do well to take some Lighting market still lacks speed Europe, is still exactly the same as it is with
time to understand the characteristics of Sales of LED light sources and modules are fluorescent or compact-fluorescent lamps.
todays successful European lighting manu- rising sharply by lighting-industry stan- Similarly, the selection of the color render-
facturers. These lighting companies recog- dards for new product launches. However, ing index (CRI) is an emotional choice the
nized the impact that LED technology was the average speed of a luminaire manufac- CRI choice of LED light sources remains very
going to have at an early stage, built their strat- turer to produce a new, updated LED port- similar to that of conventional light sources.
egy and organization around it and started to folio is still up to one year and that is before The lighting world is full of diversity.
invest in the right levels of technical expertise any sales have actually taken place. The abil- In the Philips lamps portfolio alone there
and R&D staff. The successful companies are ity of lighting manufacturers to absorb and are 33,000 product codes. Th is quantity is
mainly those that operate in the project busi- translate the latest LED advances into sale- deemed necessary to service the needs of
ness: they discuss lighting options with the able products still lags far behind the speed this market, where the element of choice is
end user and they can sell value-added light- of technological advances. very much an emotional factor and any lack
ing solutions. They understand the dynamics And, while there are several legacy light of it can be a deal breaker.
of the market, and the importance of selecting sources which are firmly in decline, for new Today, the European lighting industry
and training the right staff. luminaires there are still quite a few that are has generally accepted that LEDs are going
to be an integral part of the lighting future. etration and mass adoption, the fi rst issue configuration and processes. In addition, the
The technology has lived up to its promises the lighting industry needs to address is how transformation will require full collabora-
in the area of energy efficiency and overcome to adapt its processes to handle speed and tion between departments such as logistics,
many early issues with quality of light. The flexibility. LED modules are already being purchasing, development, product manage-
early days and attitudes of the LED hype seem upgraded on a yearly basis to take advan- ment, sales and after-sales service.
to have altered into a more serious, rational tage of the latest performance of new LEDs There are, in effect, two fundamental sup-
approach towards LEDs yes, this is going inside and therefore LED luminaires will ply-chain challenges. The first is the nature
to be the lighting technology of the future, but also require regular updates to remain com- of the capital-intensive, often Asia-based,
only if it makes sense. High energy efficiency petitive in the market. semiconductor-process-based LED indus-
and long life are great, but not at any expense The Fortimo LED DLM portfolio, one of try with long and inflexible lead times that
and not at any compromise to light quality. the first LED modules to be introduced back are often in excess of 12 weeks. The produc-
fore the upstream logistics of suppliers will be sources in-house. However, this will increase larger focus on continuous professional devel-
tightly controlled and made to order. Manag- the burden, costs and pressure on the whole opment, education and keeping up to date
ing ones stock could be the key to making or internal organization, while this is not the with the latest technological advances. Com-
losing money in the LED transformation. companys key area of expertise. munication lines will need to be slick and tar-
The LED light source with the lowest ini- geted to the right audience at the right time.
Making smart choices tial cost is not always the best longer-term At the same time, lighting companies
The yearly financial reports of major solution. Manufacturers should be aware of should have a vision of what the third phase
European lighting companies show a clear potential hidden costs over lifetime, which of LED lighting will look like and blend this
trend towards sharply increased fi xed costs, are not always so obvious in the beginning. seamlessly into their strategy. The scale of the
due to their LED activities. In many cases The choice of a future-proof LED module, for changes ahead for the lighting industry should
the R&D expenditure has doubled in the instance, will entail stable electrical, optical, not be underestimated, as they will have an
last three to five years. Th is can be attrib- mechanical and thermal LED module inter- impact on every part of an organization. At the
uted to both the faster innovation cycles and faces, and the possibility of interchangeability same time, the product-push approach from
the growing complexity of LED products and of suppliers. It will also require minimal pro- the semiconductor industry needs to make
systems, which require an ever-evolving duction changes, or investment in new tool- allowances for certain technical aspects of
level of specialism and expertise. ing during upgrades further down the line. lighting that are not up for discussion. Both
To remain successful, companies will need Companies in the lighting industry who parties would benefit from listening more and
to make smart choices on what they will do want to be successful in the next phase of understanding each other better.
in-house and what they will outsource. The mass penetration of LED technology should There is a storm raging through the light-
choice of LED light engine, for instance, has ensure they have a suitable strategy in place. ing industry at the moment, but with a lit-
an impact on these costs. To a luminaire man- They will certainly have to adapt their inter- tle give and take and mutual understanding
ufacturer, it may sound like an extremely nal processes and systems to reflect the speed the dust will start to settle, the horizon will
attractive proposition to take the design, and flexibility needed for LED market intro- become clearer and we can move forward
development and manufacturing of LED light ductions. They will also need to place a much into the volume phase in a smart way.
_______________
Lutron 1% dimming,
now available for up to
50 W LED loads
The Hi-lume A-Series LED driver featuring For a list of fixtures using the
P/N 306-0005 REV A
T
here has been much interest in Chinas InGaAlP the profit. Many people outside China focus on
efforts in the LED manufacturing InGaAlP high-power the third group of companies that are literally
mid-power 2% InGaN
industry and a debate on whether it is dying, and conclude that China has failed in
2% super high-power
a failure or not. I believe that China will have InGaAlP 1% the effort to build a viable LED industry.
one of the top 10 LED companies in the world low-power In examining the Chinese LED companies
7%
within the next five years. With the enormous that are most likely to be successful, we will
Chinese domestic market primed to consume RGB InGaN focus on SanAn and ETi.
9% low-power
LEDs, the market momentum behind low- 33%
and mid-power LEDs (Fig.1), the unrelenting SanAn at a glance
support of the government, the proven speed InGaN SanAn was founded in 2000 and went public
of progress in the last two years, and the abil- high-power InGaN in 2008. It is one of the pioneers in the Chinese
30% mid-power
ity to spend money freely, Chinese LED mak- LED industry and is focused primarily on
16%
ers have a recipe for success. making LED chips, but does not sell packaged
Without question, the Chinese LED man- LEDs. It has aggressively amassed talents
ufacturing effort has stumbled thus far. The FIG. 1. Worldwide packaged LED revenue from Taiwan and US in epitaxial and chip-
article by Luke Johnson on Chinas approach by type of LED in 2011, totaling is $12.5 manufacturing technology. There are 80-100
to commoditization in the September issue billion (Source: Strategies Unlimited). ex-Epistar engineers and a former high level
of LEDs Magazine offers one theory on the
___________________
struggles (www.ledsmagazine.com/fea- Xiamen Sanan Photoelectric Co.,Ltd.
tures/9/9/15). But there are Chinese compa-
________
2011 First half of 2012
nies with the potential for success, so lets
discuss the players, the status of the China Total revenue RMB 1.75B (US $277M) RMB 1.378B (US $218M)
manufacturing effort, and how Chinese Profit RMB 936M (US $148M) RMB 466M (US $74M)
companies can still succeed. LED-related revenue RMB 1.6B (US $253M) RMB 1.259B (US $199M)
Subsidies RMB 805M (US $128M) RMB 198M (US $31M)
Chinas LED background
Company mainly engaged in R&D, production and sales of all-color
China has been eyeing the LED industry since Products GaN and GaAs LED epitaxy and chips, and compound solar battery,
the early 2000s. For the longest time acquir- PIN Photoelectric detector chip etc.
ing MOCVD technology and building reactors
was the key target. However, after fruitless and TABLE 1. SanAn at a glance (Source: GG-LED and Strategies Unlimited).
frustrating years watching the LED industry
take off outside China, the central government free land and other incentives for the estab- engineering manager from Bridgelux work-
decided to encourage industry to purchase lishment of LED plants and companies. ing at SanAn. The company is the largest in
MOCVD systems in parallel with its own devel- There were three main types of companies China in terms of scope and capacity with 144
opment effort in 2010. This encouragement that took up these offers; Chinese LED com- MOCVD systems and 60 more on order.
effort escaped the central governments con- panies that the government had anointed Table 1 summarizes SanAns operations
trol with local municipal government agencies including Xiamen SanAn Photoelectric Co in 2011 and the first half of 2011. Note that
offering subsidies for MOCVD systems, and (SanAn) and Elec-Tech International Co Ltd the subsidies received from central and local
(ETi), Taiwanese LED companies like Epis- government agencies were RMB 805 million
ELLA SHUM is the Director of the LED Practice tar and Forepi, and the rest who saw the land ($128 million) in 2011 and RMB 198 million ($
at Strategies Unlimited and Chair of Strategies as the most valuable part of the deal, or that 31 million) for first half of 2012. According to
in Light Conferences. aimed to go public as soon as possible and reap Chinese accounting practice, these subsidies
are counted in company profits which means Elec-Tech International Co., Ltd.
that the company didnt perform quite as well
2011 First half of 2012
as the profit row would indicate.
SanAn started a substrate business in 2012 Total revenue RMB 3.07B (US $486M) RMB 1.224B (US $193M)
and has other investments and subsidiaries Profit RMB 392M (US $62M) RMB 124M (US $20M)
in midstream and downstream sub segments LED-related revenue RMB 910M (US $144M) RMB 387M (US $61M)
of the LED manufacturing industry. In June Subsidies RMB 311M (US $49M) RMB 154M (US $24M)
2012, it opened a R&D center in the heart of
ETis main products are small appliances. Future plan for LED products
Silicon Valley in order to absorb talents from Products
include epitaxy, chips, packaged LEDa, LED lighting, LED display, etc.
the US. SanAns activities are not limited to
LEDs. In August 2012, it started a joint ven- TABLE 2. ETi at a glance (Source: GG-LED and Strategies Unlimited).
ture with Emcore and moved into terrestrial
concentrating photovoltaic (CPV)systems. nese market consumed 274 million handsets
with 213 million of them made by domestic
Others
ETi at a glance 17% Mobile vendors. Out of the 274 million, 138 million
ETi was founded in 1996 specializing in 23% were smartphones, 40% of which were made
small household appliances and went pub- Automotive by domestic vendors according to Nikkie
lic in 2004. In 2009, it decided to enter the 10% Tech. China will overtake US in smartphone
LED business. In 2010, it paid Epivalley of Backlight shipments in 2012 by consuming 26.5% as
Sign TV/Monitor
Korea to license its epitaxial and chip tech- 13% 21% compared to 17.8% for the US according to
nology via a joint venture. Various teams of Lighting IDC. Both Taiwanese and Chinese LED mak-
engineers from Korea, Taiwan and US were 16% ers supply the mobile market.
brought in but they did not work harmoni- In signage, China already makes 85% of
ously together. Currently, a team headed by all LED signage in the world and for the
FIG. 2. Worldwide packaged LED
an ex-Forepi engineering vice president has domestic market, most of the LEDs used
revenue by application in 2011 (Source:
stabilized the production process. Out of the are made in China. In automotive, analyst
Strategies Unlimited).
60 MOCVD reactors installed, about 20 are fi rm CSM says China is the largest producer
in production. Another 70 are waiting at cus- at 14.5 million units in 2011 and it also has
toms about to enter the country. China is one of the top producers and con- the largest single market for automotive. In
Table 2 summarizes ETis operations in sumers in all of these segments. The key ques- April 2010, Chinese auto maker Chery cre-
2011 and the first half of 2012. Again subsi- tion to ask is: Are Chinese made LEDs good ated a joint venture with SanAn called Wuhu
dies are counted in the profit figures. At this enough for the domestic market? AnRui Optoelectronics Co Ltd to enter the
point LEDs account for a lower percentage of In the large-display segment, iSuppli automotive lighting market. With over 100
ETis revenue than at SanAn. reported that China produced 69 million automotive manufacturers, there will be
ETi basically uses all the LED chips that LCD TVs in 2011 and 76% were made by many opportunities for new LED suppliers.
they manufacture inside their home appli- domestic brands. This number is forecasted However, it will be a while before China can
ances. The packaged LEDs they sell com- to grow to 96 million in 2016. Domestic con- fulfi ll all the LED needs for this segment.
mercially are made with chips from exter- sumption was about 40 million in 2011,
nal sources. They do have subsidiaries in up 15% from 2010. Beijing Optoelectronics Lighting segment
Japan, Germany and the US. The US opera- Technology Co Ltd (BOE) is the largest panel Still long term, the biggest market for LEDs
tions called ETi Solid State Lighting Inc. is manufacturer in China and fi fth largest in globally will be in general lighting. The
based in Ohio and specializes in solid-state the world. There had been rumors that BOE focus of the Chinese LED industry has been
lighting (SSL). ETi is seen more as a future would make an investment in Forepi of Tai- on lighting, and according to GG-LED the
force in the industry because of the capacity wan to to lessen its dependency on Korean Chinese domestic market for LED indoor
it has built up, the vertical integration and LED suppliers. But in mid November, SanAn lighting in 2012 will be RMB 25 billion ($4
the governments support. ______
stepped in and invested in Forepi (www.leds- billion). Many domestic LEDs have gone into
magazine.com/news/9/11/9).
_________________ Chinese LED lighting and the market is littered with poor
Chinese domestic market makers haven't yet been the preferred sup- quality items. However, the government is
One harbinger of future success for the plier in large-display backlighting, and we working hard to help sort out this chaos as
Chinese is the huge local market for products will have to see how that changes over time. we will discuss below.
that use domestically-manufactured LEDs. In the mobile segment, China made 621 Its in lighting where the question of the
The LED market, in China and globally, con- million handsets in the first half of this year quality of China-made LEDs comes to the
sists of lighting, mobile, large display, signage according to the Chinese Ministry of Indus- forefront. Critics consistently harp at the Chi-
and automotive application segments (Fig. 2). try and Information Technology. The Chi- nese LED makers for the lack of high-power
Performance, Quality,
and Incredible Pricing
HQ : -82-31-218-1345 / stlee@lumens.co.kr
US : 714-409-0378 / sales@lumens-usa.com
www.lumens.co.kr
manufacturing | CHINA
LEDs. But the lighting market favors low- (0.01-0.1W) and mid-power
(0.1-0.5W) LEDs for many products (Fig. 1). And technologically, those
LEDs are not as challenging for the Chinese to make. High-power
(0.5W-5W) and super-high-power (>5W) LEDs certainly have their
place in the market, for example in outdoor lighting applications.
However, Strategies Unlimited research showed that they only com-
prised of 33% in revenue (both InGaN and InGaAlP) in 2011.
In terms of efficacy, the Chinese manufacturers are a bit behind
the state of the art for low- and mid-power LEDs. But SanAn claims
140 lm/W and ETi is probably at 100 lm/W, and those are suitable fig-
ures for many applications.
We can look at SanAns success in Taiwan as an example of a
good enough level of performance. When SanAn opened an office
in Taiwan last year, the main effect was further depressing mar-
ket prices but no one seriously thought they would sell significant
volumes in this LED kingdom. For the fi rst half of 2012, however,
SanAn sold about RMB 40 million ($6.3 million) worth of chips
according to GG-LED. The forecast is for total sales to hit RMB 100
million ($16 million) for 2012. Granted, most of the buyers bought
the chips to be packaged for the Chinese domestic market. Still, the
fact that they have taken business away from the entrenched local
manufacturers on their home turf is shocking.
_____________
KEYSTONE
Certifications, Inc.
industry. The list of LED lighting companies that are eligible to receive
RMB 2.2 billion ($349 million) in subsidies consist of only two non-
Chinese companies, Philips Lighting and GE Lighting. The govern-
ments 12th Five Year Plan dictates that 70% of LEDs used in China
Contact us today to learn more about our expert guidance will be made domestically by 2015. That means a guaranteed market
and the EPA-recognized StarGuard Certification Program. for the Chinese LED makers.
IP lacking
IP and licensing agreements are an obvious missing link in the
Chinese LED makers becoming worldwide players. In the domestic
________
market, IP does not matter. Currently, Chinese packagers will use
foreign chips, made by manufacturers with IP portfolios, when they
know their products will be sold overseas. Alternatively, companies
with IP portfolios, like Osram and Philips, will OEM products from
China and their IP will protect the Chinese chips and packages inside. H I G H VA C C O R P.
One potential path for the Chinese LED makers to break through
the IP wall is to buy one of the companies with IP. The Chinese LED/MOCVD - Environmental
maker may be willing to pay more than just the financial face value Control Solutions
of the target company. For them, they will be buying a leg up in the
technology ladder, a door to the outside world and the future. HIGHVAC of Colorado Springs
For the target company, it is actually a good thing. The seller will introduces the ECOGUARD
net a handsome profit. The target company will have access to the PoU Exhaust Gas Abatement
Chinese market and more funds to support its future R&D effort. For Systems. The most efficient
the rest of the industry, it will be a shock that will have lasting effects. solution for rendering MOCVD
process toxins and dangerous
Whats missing? gases safely into the environ-
The major missing ingredients that money cannot buy in this the- ment. Highvacs vacuum pump
oretical plan are management maturity and R&D leadership. Both sales and support experience
SanAn and ETi are relatively young companies in the LED business allows us to understand the
that have grown very fast. To be able to buy a non-Chinese company complete exhaust gas line path
and manage it is no easy feat just ask Lenovo. Even if one buys a and the problems associated
world class LED company, how does one keep its talents? with them. Let us help you get
Buying complete engineering teams to set up a fab overnight is more up-time from your process system while remaining
one thing, choosing the right directions to follow in R&D is much safe and green. Proven abatement results for PH3, AsH3,
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ing infrastructure to provide input. Chinese companies are always
leery of marketing. To be successful, the companies will need to be Tel: 866-279-0024
more open and increase communication with the rest of the world. Fax: 719-260-1186
Still, I believe at least one Chinese LED maker will have a seat at the Email: abatementsales@
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table of top 10 LED companies in the world within 5 years. The com-
bination of the huge domestic market, subsidies, and low costs will Web: www.highvacgroup.com
enable success.
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Contact us at led@kingluminaire.com or
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check this list regularly for updates.
T
echnological advancements in light- ing and avoiding hot spots, to drive consumer ers, manufacturers and regulators (Fig. 1).
emitting diodes (LEDs), such as adoption. Finally, because LED costs remain Th is benefits package includes exceptional
higher lumen output and longer life comparatively high, it is important to protect mechanical properties and durability, light
spans, together with their expansion into the these expensive modules with impact-resis- transmission on par with PMMA, freedom
huge general lighting market require com- tant components. to design and mold configurations and build
mensurate advancements in specific diff usion levels, and most criti-
in materials used in solid- cally, compliance with safety and sustain-
state-lighting (SSL) prod- ability mandates.
ucts. Polycarbonate (PC) These PC resins are engineered with
resins in various optical improved monomers and are produced using
applications for LEDs such a technologically advanced process. This
as lenses, covers, tubes, process results in high-purity resins that
pipes, diff users and reflec- provide significantly improved light trans-
tors offer a good comple- mission as molded and after heat aging, as
ment with improved clarity compared to standard- and optical-grade
and the ability to with- PCs, as well as other performance enhance-
stand high temperatures. ments. Improved-clarity resins are helping
LED technology is rap- to drive the growing prominence of PC in the
idly changing to meet mar- LED market, particularly the general- and
FIG. 1. The latest PC resins offer improved clarity, better
ket demands for higher automotive-lighting sectors.
aging performance, and less yellowing in LED lighting
brightness, improved aes- Lets consider some of the major advan-
applications.
thetics, lower costs and lon- tages of improved-clarity PCs over tradi-
ger useful life. These trends tional acrylics and glass for LED optical
have raised concerns about components.
components of LED lighting fi xtures. One Improved-clarity PC technologies offer
issue is how to increase the durability of potential solutions to all these issues. PC life span
these components to match the exceptional Although polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) One of the chief advantages of LEDs is their
and growing life span of the LED mod- and, to a lesser extent, glass, have tradition- extended useful life of >30,000 hours (more
ules themselves. Another is improving lumi- ally been chosen for LED optical applica- than 10-15 years). While this long life span
nous efficacy (using less energy to achieve the tions, both materials have drawbacks that means LEDs are more environmentally
same brightness), which is being addressed these new PC materials avoid. Further, as responsible and cost-effective than previous
in part by increasing the light transmission LEDs continue to evolve and raise the bar types of lighting, it raises concerns about
performance of optical lenses and covers. Still on requirements for optical components, the the durability of LED lenses, tubes, reflec-
another challenge is enhancing the quality of high-performance attributes of PC accom- tors and covers. Will these parts last as long
LED light for residential applications, mak- modate new demands higher temperature as the LED itself without degrading from
ing it softer and closer to incandescent light- ranges, longer exposure to heat and tougher exposure to heat and ultraviolet (UV) light?
flammability requirements. Will covers and lenses effectively protect the
BALA AMBRAVAN is Global Product The latest PC technology provides a com- expensive LED light source from impact and
Marketing Director, Lexan Copolymers, prehensive value proposition to meet cur- damage, particularly in residential retrofit
Innovative Plastics, SABIC rent and future requirements from mold- applications where consumers handle, and
1-4
March 2013
China Import and Export Fair Pazhou
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drivers | LED TUBES
W
e are on the brink of an LED revo-
lution. Since high brightness LED
technology has reached efficiency
levels comparable with those of fluorescent
lamps and the price-point has lowered sig-
nificantly, organizations are recognizing
the benefit of solid-state lighting (SSL) as a
commercially-viable, energy-efficient light-
ing solution. One high-profile target for SSL
manufacturers is the very large installed
base of linear fluorescent tubes. Ultimately
the switch to LEDs in tubes may become a
no-brainer but the best way to implement
the driver is still very much up for discussion.
As the uptake of LEDs for general-purpose
use has escalated, so has the industry debate
around the way in which the SSL technol-
ogy should be deployed. Many retrofit prod-
ucts have appeared on the market designed to
replace the popular 4-foot fluorescent tube
they appear to be a simple, straight-forward
solution. But with the European Commission
Low Voltage Directive Administrative Co-oper- FIG. 1. LED tubes in a car park in Northampton, UK.
ation Working Group (LVD ADCO) expressing
serious concerns about replacement tubes and access to live parts where one end of the tube No retrofit standards
the modifications necessary to existing lumi- is left exposed as an easily accessible shock With no specific standards in place, the
naires in order for them to operate correctly, hazard, the report concluded that operators design of LED lamps varies considerably.
there remains a question mark over whether need to do more to assess the safety risks. They can be broken down into two main
the retrofit model is as clear cut as it seems. The 2011 findings were supported by a categories those with external drivers
Similar concerns exist with regulatory bodies more recent study carried out by the UK- and those with internal drivers. The inter-
in other parts of the globe. based Electrical Safety Council. Independent nal driver approach creates simple retrofit
The concerns described in the working research by the council into the basic safety opportunities, albeit with the accompanying
groups recommendation report in 2011 of linear T8 lamps from UK suppliers found safety implications outlined above.
related to safety and the unacceptable risk that a year from the LVD ADCO recommen- The issue is that, in principal, the integrated-
of electric shock presented to consumers and dation the situation had not improved, and driver approach appears straightforward.
professionals. They discovered that many of that potentially unsafe retrofit LED lamps Depending on the type of control gear that has
the LED T8 replacement tubes in particu- continue to be placed on the market. The been fitted, the contractor will simply need to
lar did not comply with safety requirements main issue being that currently there are modify the existing fluorescent control gear
including protection against electric shock. no specific standards for these products to by using a fuse link in place of the starter for
Having identified that a common failure was adhere to, and herein lies the problem. magnetic ballasts. Alternatively, the contrac-
tor can bypass electronic ballasts completely
JAMES CHORLTON is the Business Director of Honeywell Electrical Devices and Systems (ED&S). and wire the lamp end caps directly to mains
voltage rather than having to mount and wire inefficient triac-based, phase-cut dimming being significantly heavier than the fluores-
up a new LED driver module as well. approaches. Not only that, but the retention of cent it replaced, and too heavy for the old
However, apart from the safety implica- the existing fluorescent ballast can dramat- lamp holder it now sits in. Furthermore, the
tions and the compliance issues caused by ically reduce the lifetime of the fi xture. Flu- lamp holder is not designed to take a contin-
uncontrolled luminaire modification, the orescent ballasts last a few thousand hours uous mains voltage of 230V or 115V, which
internal driver approach also requires that but an LED lamp is designed to last for tens the retrofit LED tube demands.
all the electronics must be By comparison, an exter-
housed within the confines nal driver system, that is
of the LED tube. based on the flu-
The lifetime of the orescent con-
LED driver will be cept where a sin-
directly negatively gle external LED
impacted by using driver runs one or
smaller de-rated more LED tubes,
FIG. 2. An external LED tube driver can support various control schemes including 0-10V or DALI.
components to fit in can comfor t-
the restricted space. ably include any
In addition, the excess heat generated as a of thousands. By choosing a retrofit solution dimming and smart features required. Since
result of putting the driver into the LED tube that retains a used ballast of unknown qual- there is less restriction on size and form factor
raises the overall temperature of the tube and ity, the luminaire will continue to need costly there is greater flexibility. The design flexibil-
reduces the lifespan of the LEDs. and frequent maintenance. ity can minimize the effect of heat depreciating
It is also more difficult to incorporate the lumen output of the LEDs. The external-
smart features such as 0-10V or DALI-con- More safety issues driver approach should offer better reliability,
trolled dimming. In fact many of these ret- There are also further safety implications a longer life span and a safer product. At Hon-
rofit LED tubes are non-dimmable or rely on with the weight of the new LED tube often eywell for example, where we deploy the exter-
______________
Solder
Materials for
LED Assembly
Solder Paste
Flux-Cored
Wire
Preforms and
NanoFoil
Thermal
Interface
Materials
nal driver design, we have an industry-leading consumption by as much as 75%, saving Gallium
5-year warranty and a 60,000 hour product life up to 17,800 ($28,400) annually. And the and Indium
impact is already being seen. A few weeks
Compounds
thats almost 7 years at 24/7 operation.
The 5-year warranty is the main reason after the switchover was complete, the car
that St Michaels Car Park in Northampton, parks energy provider phoned the council, Die-Attach
UK chose to switch from fluorescent lighting concerned that lights in the car park must
to LED tubes with an external driver (Fig. have stopped working as thered been such
1). The Councillor John Caswell, Northamp- a dramatic drop in energy usage.
ton Borough Council cabinet member for Finally, choosing a complete luminaire
the environment, said that given the need for solution with an external driver means any
more affordable and energy-efficient lighting safety or life concerns are removed. The
they were looking for a solution that offered entire system the lamp, the lamp holder
a long warranty period from an established and the driver are designed to work together. Learn more:
http://indium.us/F308
manufacturer. From our perspective, many of the ret-
rofit LED lamps in the market are unsafe.
Tube lifespan The retrofit tube model with integrated
One of the key benefits of this long lifes- driver just doesnt work in a secure or reli-
pan for the council is the only maintenance able way. Others would argue against the
required over the next 10 years is cleaning, higher initial investment cost needed for a
compared to fluorescent lamps which need full replacement and a switch to an external
to be replaced approximately every two years. driver model. We would say that the return
For St Michaels car park the result is far less on investment through energy savings, a
disruption to everyday operations. longer product life, plus the safer design not
The car parks existing 6-ft twin 70W flu- only makes that investment preferable, but www.indium.com
askus@indium.com
orescent units were replaced with Honey- essential. The discussion continues.
well 5-foot twin 23W LED Utility units to What is clear though, is that as the indus- ASIA CHINA EUROPE USA
give comparable light output while signif- try is about to witness the mass adoption of
2012 Indium Corporation
icantly reducing energy usage. The switch LED technology, standardization and fur-
is predicted to reduce the car parks energy ther regulation is necessary.
Third-party certification and verification are now If you prefer to perform testing using your own testing
ENERGY STAR requirements. CSA Group has earned laboratory, we can qualify your lab facilities under our
EPA recognition as an ENERGY STAR Testing Facility and
Certification Body. That means today we can meet all Testing Laboratory program, then verify your test results
of your lighting product safety and energy efficiency and submit them to the EPA.
testing needs with a single, seamlessly efficient testing
program that saves you time and money. Contact us today and learn how much time and
money a combined safety and energy efficiency
Look to CSA Group to meet ENERGY STAR requirements testing program with CSA Group can save you.
for lighting products including:
1-866-463-1785 cert.sales@csagroup.org
www.csagroup.org
I
n last months LEDs Magazine, Thomas
Davenport of Synopsys wrote about some
of the complexities of designing with
LEDs in solid-state lighting (SSL) products
(www.ledsmagazine.com/features/9/10/10).
_________________________
Optical modeling can help translate that
theory into real-word SSL product designs.
Indeed we will consider how modeling
and the creation of virtual prototypes can
ensure that a development project delivers
on design goals established at the beginning
of the project.
By modeling light as rays, which are thin FIG. 1. A phosphor-converted white LED integrates four emitters in an array with a
lines that follow the direction of light, and noticeable lack of energy in the center of the LED.
tracing these lines through an optical sys-
tem, we can produce a virtual prototyping
environment for optical and illumination
systems. LED sources are especially complex
in the rays they produce, and the virtual pro-
totype is the best way to deliver optimal SSL
products. Optical system design software
uses the ray tracing technique to simulate,
optimize and tolerance optical systems.
For example, in NASAs recent Curios-
ity mission to Mars, all the cameras and
other optical equipment on the Rover were
designed and tested virtually on computers
extensively before prototypes were made
and the fi nal system assembled. And while FIG. 2. An LED with four color emitters can produce white light or colors, although the
not everyone has NASAs budget, all optical close up image is quite different from what the eye sees.
and illumination system engineers can ben-
efit from virtually prototyping their systems LEDs as little hemispheres that glow uni- might think they would look like, based on
before committing to prototyping costs and formly white, doing so can be a very mis- their unlit appearance.
production tooling. leading, and costly assumption. In the first case, you might be surprised to
To understand the LED optical complex- discover that the round LED actually lights
The LED challenge ity, lets look at some examples. Figs. 1 and 2 up as four squares, with almost zero energy
LEDs provide a challenge because they have show commercially available LEDs in their fi ring straight out of the center. The lack of
the previously-mentioned very complex unlit and lit states. The LED in Fig.1 is a energy in the center is due to the fact that
optical properties. LED brightness changes phosphor-converted white LED, while the there are four separate emitters packaged as
depending on where on the LED you look, LED in Fig. 2 mixes color emitters to deliver an array in the white LED. You can also see
what angle you look at, and what colors you white or color light. For each LED, the lit that the individual emitters arent precisely
want. While it is tempting to think of white state is surprisingly different from what you uniform in light output or color.
FIG. 3. Software traces rays through a light pipe. FIG. 4. A deformed cylinder maximizes the forward light output.
The spatial variation of color in the LED in the RSM of the finished LED provides com-
Fig. 2 might also surprise you. The color mix plete information on the spatial, angular and
delivers white light to the human eye and you color properties of the LED without requir-
might expect the source to be a simple white ing an understanding of the complex semi-
LED. But there is little simple in LED lighting! conductor physics of the device.
RSMs are used in optical system design
Model creation programs like Zemax12 to produce sets of
These images were produced by a Scanning rays that exactly model the spatial, angu-
Imaging Goniometer (SIG) which rotates a lar and color output of the LED. Zemax con-
highly calibrated, linear camera around a tains measured data on over 700 LEDs and
hemisphere centered on the source under other light sources, and that library of data FIG. 5. A collimator optic controls the
test. These sources are typically LEDs, but is available to other ray tracing codes also. beam pattern.
can also be halogen sources, arc lamps or The ray tracing program then traces these
virtually any kind of source. rays through whatever the optical system is But the remaining rays are guided by the
By capturing pictures of the lit appearance to provide the desired final output. deformed light pipe shape to result in the
of the source at all angles and by including brightness gain in the forward direction. The
a spectrometer, at all wavelengths we build Light pipe example computer program designs the shape given
up a model of the real radiance of the source, For example, if you were designing a light the starting distribution of light represented
that we call a Radiant Source Model (RSM). pipe to project an LED beam that behaves by the RSM and the desired output based on
The RSM accurately describes the light out- like a flashlight, you could start with a the specification for the product design.
put and spectral distribution of the source. simple cylinder of plastic (Fig. 3). But were In another example, a design team might
set a goal of developing a collimator optic.
Such an optic is intended to reflect a major-
RSMs are used in optical system design ity of the rays directly forward in the direc-
programs like Zemax12 to produce sets of tion thats perpendicular to the surface upon
which the source is mounted, producing a
rays that exactly model the spatial, angular controlled column of light for directional-
lighting applications. The collimator optic
and color output of the LED. depicted in Fig. 5 captures all the light from
the LED to produce a brighter output over
The RSM is vitally useful to both LED man- the design goal to deliver ten times the the desired throw.
ufacturers and their customers, SSL product brightness in the forward direction, you By using measured data and virtual pro-
designers. For manufacturers, who make the need to change the geometry. Fig. 4 shows totyping software, optical and illumination
bare LED die and must then design the encap- a deformed cylinder achieved with free- designers can include all the details they need
sulant lens around it, RSMs provide a unique, form surface modeling than can deliver the to design with speed and confidence. The
comprehensive way of understanding the desired brightness gain. result is shorter SSL product design cycles, less
light distribution from both the bare die and Note how some of the high-angle rays are money spent on prototypes, and optimally-per-
the encapsulated device. For SSL designers, lost where the source and pipe are joined. forming production lamps and luminaires.
VIN
Input TG1 RLED
Current
Monitor
Output BG1
Current
Monitor
RSENSE
LT3791
SHORTLED
BG2
OPENLED
Analog TG2
Dimming
PWM Dimming PWMOUT
GND
4.7VIN to 60VIN, Short Circuit Proof with LED Protection & Diagnostics
Heres the latest in our growing family of high power, high performance LED drivers designed to simplify power delivery to high
brightness LEDs. The LT 3791s 4-switch buck-boost controller topology operates from input voltages above, below or equal to
the output voltage while delivering constant currents from 1A up to tens of amps. The LT3791 also provides 4% LED current
accuracy and 1.5% output voltage accuracy to ensure the highest performance LED solutions.
Part www.linear.com/products/LEDdrivers
VIN Range (V) Topology Comments
Number 1-800-4-LINEAR
Synchronous
LT3741 6 to 36 LED Current up to 20A
Step-Down
______________
LT3756 6 to 100 Multitopology VOUT up to 100V
LT3791 4-Switch Synchronous VOUT from 0V to 60V with , LT, LTC, LTM, Linear Technology and the Linear logo are
4.7 to 60 registered trademarks of Linear Technology Corporation. All other
Buck-Boost Current Monitoring trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
CREE IS LED LIGHTING