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Lighting Systems that “Think” So You Don’t Have To

Long lifespan is one of the main selling points for LED bulbs, but it could also be their downfall. As market penetration rate rises and more people are willing to adopt LEDs, the market will become saturated. With such a long lifespan, there will be less need to buy new bulbs and manufacturers will lose business. Manufacturers are now starting to turn towards smart lighting to keep consumers coming back. Professor Robert F. Karlicek Jr., director of the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, discussed the need for a sustainable market for LED lighting during the Solid State Lighting Forum at Taiwan International Lighting Show(TILS) 2014. Karlicek believes that smart lighting is the future direction for manufacturers. Smart lighting is not a new concept. Manufacturers such as Philips Lighting, GE, and other lesser known kickstarter companies have developed color tunable smart lighting coupled with smart phone applications. However in the future, smart lighting will evolve to another stage which the industry will be seeing more control and communication features. Control systems are already smart, but are not smart enough and still have room to develop, said Karlicek. Manufacturers are looking into creating smart lighting that is able to work on its own and be self-sufficient without the need for any upkeep or recalibration. Karlicek brought up the concept of “google-ized” light as a possible future concept for smart lighting. “Whenever you type two words into google, usually google can finish your sentence and know what you what. What if lighting was the same. What if after two steps into a room, the lighting was able to determine your lighting needs and automatically adjust,” said Karlicek. Li-fi, wireless connection through visible light, is another area of smart lighting which is anticipated to expand in the future. Lighting systems will be able to transmit all the data that you need for apps and will no longer just be for illumination. Karlicek believes that this will be one of the fastest growing sectors for smart lighting, though it is still in the beginning stages of development. There is also development for illumination based “radar”, called time of flight where lights are able to detect movement in the room and sense whether the occupants of the room are walking, standing, or sitting. This information is use to determine each individual’s lighting needs and adjust accordingly. This technology is still in the development and testing phase and will not be on the market for some time, said Karlicek. Smart lighting in health care is one of the sectors that is gaining the most speed and is anticipate to be adopted the earliest compared to other forms. This is due to research conducted on the effects of light and color on human physiology. However, there is no adequate lighting meter used today for light based on circadian rhythm. Not enough is known and more research needs to be conducted. As LEDs overtake other forms of energy efficient lighting and become more commonplace, it is becoming increasing clear that new capabilities and functions are needs to keep the market sustainable. “The key will be the development of lighting systems that can think, provide exactly the right light where and when it is needed,” said...

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The Race Between OLED and LEDs

OLED technology might lag behind LED in terms of luminous efficacy and affordability, but technology advancements are shortening the gap between the contesting technologies, according to lighting experts at Taiwan and Japan Lighting Industry Forum at Taiwan International Lighting Show (TILS) 2014 at Taiwan World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall, Taipei, Taiwan. NEC OLED panels for instance will reach a luminous efficacy of 75-85 lm/W by 2014, while Konica Minolta and Panasonic are estimated to reach 100 lm/W this year, said Yasuki Kawashima, Manager, SSL Application Engineering and Development Department, NEC Lighting. In comparison, LED is expected to reach 160 lm/W efficacy in 2014. However, OLED luminous efficacy is projected to catch up with LED sometime in 2025. This is made possible as LED luminous efficacy growth declines, while OLED technological breakthroughs keeps it under high growth. The difficulty for OLED remains in luminous efficacy, as up to 80 percent of light is trapped in layered structures, only 20 percent of light is successfully released to the air, said Kawashima. The layer structures consists of different materials that have various reflective properties, which makes light extractive technologies fairly important. Light extractive technology, known as out-coupling has become a major focus in Japan. While LED might be winning the battle on the affordability front for now, Kawashima projected technological breakthroughs will bring down OLED prices in the next three to five years. OLED currently has an insignificant market penetration rate of four to five percent in the Japanese market, even though applications are expanding in architecture and design...

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Global Automotive LED Lighting Technology Trend and Market Forecast (2012~2020)

Global Information Inc. announces the addition of a new market research report “Global Automotive LED Lighting Technology Trend and Market Forecast (2012~2020)” at GIIResearch.com. As of 2013, the LED market is about to enter a new growth phase as the LED lighting market kicks into high gear. The LED industry has its first growth phase, as LEDs began to be used in cell phone keypads and LCD BLUE. After 2008, LED-backlight adoption in note PC, monitors and TVs brought the second growth of the market. As many companies are increasingly using LED lighting systems in place of existing lighting sources such as incandescent lamps and fluorescent lamps with the growing trend toward green policies, the market is entering the 3rd growth phase in earnest. Considering that the IT sector (BLU of TVs, monitors and handsets) has been the biggest market driver of the LED market but reached 90% market penetration in the first half of this year, it will see a gradual decrease in its market share from next year. As the European Commission requires all new cars produced and sold from 2011 be fitted with DRLs, the automotive lighting market is rapidly growing from 2012. On the other hand, the LED lighting market is increasing its competitiveness with the help of phase-out of incandescent bulbs, government supports, and improvement of efficiency with technical progress, and economies of scale, and expected to drive the growth of the LED market in the...

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