... Trust me, when it comes to LED lighting, and the solid state lighting industry in general, we don't have all the answers. But we do have the opportunity to listen, absorb and synthesize the information that is coming our way from all levels of the industry, whether it is... Jump down to the full story
The SSLdesign Summit Agenda is posted August
26-27 2008 Weehawken, NJ NY/NJ Metro Area
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Philips Looking to Taiwan Companies for Manufacturing Assistance LIGHTimes Staff
August 26, 2008...Philips will reportedly be launching LED lighting for general lighting applications this September, a Digitimesarticle indicated. Lite-On, Everlight, and Epistar are likely to benefit from OEM orders, according to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News. The Digitimes article cited Edward Po, general manager of Philips Lighting division Taiwan, who said that Philips is looking into three or four Taiwan-based LED makers for future manufacturing assistance once the new products enter into mass production.
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Mouser Electronics to Distribute Avago’s Moonstone LEDs SSLDesign News Staff
August 26, 2008...Mouser Electronics, an electronics distributor based in Mansfield, Texas USA, reports that it will stock Avago’s half-watt cool and warm white LEDs. Mouser notes that the ASMT-Mx60 LEDs are the latest in Avago’s Moonstone power LED series. Avago says that the LEDs come in one of the industry’s thinnest packages, and that they are also reliable and robust. According to Avago, the LEDs provide high brightness illumination and easy installation. Additionally, the power LEDs boast high efficacy and an output of 30lm (typical) and up to 43lm cool white light at 150mA. Avago notes that the ASMT-Mx60 LEDs are capable of withstanding a high maximum allowable junction temperature (up to 145°C). They have an exposed pad design featuring a wide 110° viewing angle, smooth radiation pattern, and excellent heat transfer from the package to the motherboard.
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BEKs Adds Red LEDs BriteWhite Teeth Whitening System to Boost Healing After Surgery LIGHTimes Staff
August 26, 2008...BEKs Inc. previously introduced the BriteWhite Teeth Whitening system which uses blue LEDs and a light activated bleaching agent applied to teeth. The company says it was the first such system to use blue LEDs made available to health spas. "Now we've taken the same technology used in the spa version and went a step further for the dental industry," says Joyce Osborn, President and CEO of BEKS Incorporated, and inventor of the BriteWhite Teeth Whitening System. "The BriteWhite Medical uses both Red and Blue LED while the spa version uses only Blue LED. Blue LED whitens teeth and kills black bacteria that cause periodontal disease. Adding Red LED to the BriteWhite Medical provides treatment that will boost healing after surgery."
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Dongbu HiTek Jointly Develops LED Driver IC for Laptop BLU Applications LIGHTimes Staff
August 26, 2008...Dongbu HiTek announced the joint development of an LED driver chip for back light unit (BLU) applications in laptop computers. The LED driver was reportedly developed in collaboration with ADDtek, a Taiwanese fabless company specializing in analog and mixed-signal chip solutions, the new LED driver is being manufactured with Dongbu HiTek’s advanced BCDMOS (Bipolar CMOS DMOS) process.
Jae Song, EVP of marketing for Dongbu HiTek commented, “We will ultimately focus our BCDMOS expertise on developing System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions that meet the demanding power management requirements in the high-growth mobile and display markets.” He added, “We also look forward to expanding upon our collaboration with ADDtek in other areas.”Dongbu HiTek News Release
Nichia Files Infringement Complaint in Michigan Against Seoul Semiconductor LIGHTimes Staff
August 21, 2008...Nichia has again brought a patent infringement complaint against Seoul Semiconductor in the United States. Nichia filed the latest complaint against the company in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
The complaint is against Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd. of Korea, Seoul Semiconductor Inc., its U.S. subsidiary, and Avenet its U.S. distributor. Nichia is seeking an injunction from future infringements and an award of damages.
Nichia alleges that LEDs incorporated into SSC’s products including SSC’s Acriche products infringe upon Nichia's U.S. Patent No. 6,870,191.
Nichia has filed other patent litigation against Seoul Semiconductor, its subsidiarys, and its distributors in the U.S., Japan, Korea, the U.K., and Germany.
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New Study Suggests that OLEDs May Have Only up to 25 Percent Efficiency LIGHTimes Staff
August 21, 2008...Researchers at the University of Utah have found that OLEDs (at the very least those based on the compounds tested) will not likely go above 25 percent efficiency. Meaning that at best, only 25 percent of the electricty going into an OLED will turn into light.
Earlier experimental estimates put an OLED’s possible efficiency at up to 63 percent.
Christoph Boehme, an assistant professor of physics, and John Lupton, an associate professor of physics, both of the University of Utah published the study in the journal, Nature.
Their experiment combined organic semiconductor electronics with spintronics. They found that at least for the organic compound that they studied (pure MEH-PPV), OLEDs may have an upper limit of 25 percent efficiency.
The group acknowledged that theoretically, “doping” organic semiconductors might lead to OLEDs with efficiencies greater than 25 percent, but Boehme says he is skeptical.
University of Utah News Release
SSLdesign Summit Agenda Tells an Industry Story Event coverage
August 21, 2008...Solid State
Lighting Design, the leading news publication focused on LED lighting applications
and technology in general and architectural spaces, today confirmed that the 2008
SSLdesign Summit will make available the option of on-site registration for
it's August 26-27 event. The conference is being held in Weehawken, New Jersey,
at the Sheraton Suites-on-the-Hudson, conveniently located across from mid-town
Manhattan. Co-chairs for the 2008 Summit include Jeffrey I.L. Miller, Principal,
Pivotal Lighting Design and Govi Rao, CEO of Lighting Sciences Group (OTC Bulletin
Board: LSCG). Mr. Miller is also the current
president of the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD).
A keynote presentation is being given on the 26th by Matthew Tanteri of Tanteri
Associates, who spearheaded the LED-based media facade design of the widely
recognized Chanel buildings in Asia. In
addition to talks from the co-chairs and keynoters, speakers for this first-of-its-kind
high-level networking event represent the the spectrum of quality luminaire and
enabling technology providers.
According to the organizers, “The
SSLdesign Summit has been specifically targeted to address the information needs
of both lighting specifiers and luminaire providers in the general lighting space,
as well as sharing their needs and connecting those groups with SSL module and
technology innovators. Our conference co-chairs, Pivotal Design’s Jeff Miller
and Govi Rao of Lighting Sciences Group, are acutely aware of the knowledge gap
that exists for today’s specifiers and have been early encouragers of an
event that will bring those specifiers together with key innovators in the SSL
general lighting space. Attendees at
the specifier level will leave this event with the tools they need to discern
the quality solutions from the mass of SSL offerings in the market today.” (See related editorial below). Companies joining the event as speakers or sponsors
include Luminus Devices, Lighting Science Group, Renaissance Lighting, BetaLED,
Cree LED Lighting, DOE/PNNL, Nichia, Philips Lumileds, Universal Display Systems,
Greenlight Initiative, Arrow, Carclo, Heatron, Future Lighting Solutions, and
others. The full agenda and location details are available online at www.SSLdesignSummit.com.
Near-Infrared LEDs Aid in Contrasting Tumors During Surgery LIGHTimes Staff
August 19, 2008...Cancer surgeons have had to operate blindly with no real-time images of where tumors are. They can use MRI’s for reference, but they cannot take MRI’s during surgery. They therefore do not know whether a tumor has been completely removed or not. Researchers in Massachusetts have created a device and a method which can provide real-time images of the tumors. The research was presented at the 236th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).The device is in early clinical trials.
The device is called the Fluorescence-Assisted Resection and Exploration (FLARE) device. The portable system has reportedly been under development for the past decade. It consists of a near-infrared (NIR) imaging system, a video monitor, and a computer. According to the researchers, the system uses chemical dyes, called NIR fluorophores, that are designed to target specific structures such as cancer cells when the dyes are injected into patients. The contrast agents light up the cancer cells when they are exposed to NIR light from LEDs. The lit up cancer cells are shown on a video monitor, and images of these "glowing" cancer cells are then superimposed over images of the normal surgical field.
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by the LIGHTimes staff writers.
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Commentary & Perspective...
What We Would Do Tom Griffiths - Publisher
August 21, 2008...Trust me, when it comes to LED lighting, and the solid
state lighting industry in general, we don't have all the answers. But we do have
the opportunity to listen, absorb and synthesize the information that is coming
our way from all levels of the industry, whether it is materials and equipment,
LED chips and lamps, or modules and luminaires; so here are some semi-cohesive
thoughts that are passing in, through and around us on how to get to some of the
answers.
If you have clients or prospects, get them informed. If
they are within driving distance of New Jersey, for instance, tell them they need
to be at the SSLdesign Summit for
August 26 & 27 (next Tuesday and Wednesday, as of the time of this writing).
Is this merely a shameless plug for this first of its kind conference whose goal
is to bring together the top tiers of the SSL "food chain" (lighting
specifiers/designers, luminaire manufacturers and enablers)? Nope. It's a plug
for the industry. If an LED luminaire or module provider is worth their
stuff, they need better informed customers who will demand the complete answer,
and by so doing, will separate "the wheat from the chaff" and avoid
committing to inferior products or suppliers.
Our speculation, backed up
by everyone we've discussed it with, is that probably less than 10% of the LED-based
luminaire models that are offered for sale right now could be considered "high
quality". Ouch. In many instances, the issue might be how the luminaire is
used, or how a perfectly great SSL "module" ends up being implemented
in the full-up luminaire (starved for cooling air, missing consideration for its
directionality, etc.). Regardless of the reason for the miss, consider this analogy:
How would a key specifier, such as an automotive fleet buyer, approach the situation
where 90% of the cars offered weren't going to last the first year? Would they
simply not buy cars (and shut down their fleet operations) or would they get more
educated than they really prefer to be, and take market share from the companies
that stuck with the horse and buggy?
Latch on to understanding and implementing
what is happening with the US Department of Energy-driven portion of Energy Star
program for SSL. Late last week, the DOE did what they had said they were
going to do by adding in specification elements that covered more general purpose
and residential types of fixtures. Here's a quick timeline for those that missed
out on some of the most recent happenings: September 12, 2007- DOE announces a
finalized spec for SSL products in the commercial/industrial market, stating "DOE
will monitor the technical progress of the technology, steadily adding additional
Category A products in future versions."; Mar 21 - DOE announces the additional
categories to be added; May 15 - DOE hosts a stakeholder's meeting in Washington
DC to discuss the additional proposed specs; June - EPA announces a hastily drawn
up, secretly contrived, "technical amendment" to the existing CFL-based
residential lighting fixture spec in apparent hopes of capturing some territory
in the SSL arena that the DOE had already stated it was addressing; July
- the industry objects and undertakes a number of complaints to the EPA over the
lack of an open process, wasteful practices and overlapping and ineffective specifications;
August - the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) investigation of the EPA's
actions is launched (and we still haven't gotten a promised call back from the
EPA folks); August 15 - DOE announces the draft amendments to the SSL specification
that add criteria for residential light fixtures and opens the formal comment
period, just like they said they would. Shorter summary: After the DOE announced
it's general plans last year, and followed up with the specifics early this year,
the EPA tried to preempt those plans with a hack specification they could call
their own. The only way to accomplish that was to keep it hidden until it was
announced "as a final specification with immediate effectivity".
So
how to sort out the new criteria? Perhaps finding a way to be in New Jersey August
26 & 27 to hear from Jeff McCullough, who is a key part of the implementation
team for the DOE Energy Star SSL specifications with Pacific Northwest National
Labs would help...
Understand where the middle market is going, so
you have a clear picture of the technology paths that will change how we light
our world. Partnerships are going to be forming up left and right as implementers
(luminaire providers) rush to connect with LED lighting enablers who have the
expertise and intellectual property that the "luminairies" need to succeed.
There's not a lot of room for additional LED manufacturers or packagers, but there
is plenty of innovation space available at the luminaire level, if you can find
a partner. So how do you find out the motivations, intentions and directions of
those mid-market enablers? Maybe finding a way to be in New Jersey August 26 &
27 to hear from Govi Rao, CEO of Lighting Science Group, which appears to have
a bit of an appetite for good IP and market channels, as witnessed by their recent
acquisitions, including Lamina Lighting. And whether you're a lighting artist
(designer) or a "metal bender", there will be plenty to shake up one's
preconceived notions of how lights need to work. After changing the game in the
projection TV and now projector and backlighting markets with their innovative
"Phlatlight" technology, Luminus Devices will likely mess with us some
more as they offer up new approaches to general lighting. Why put a light source
behind a shade when the shade could be the light source..? And it can change color
too.
Grab a piece of the bigger vision. You have to know the "why"
that's beyond simply the money. Filling real needs creates reward, but you don't
create the reward without the need. At this year's Summit, Jed Dorsheimer, who
serves as a lighting advisor to the Clinton Foundation's Climate Initiative and
is championing the "sustainable technology marketplace" as a Principal
with Canaccord Adams, will share some of the global "big picture" of
why we all need to care about solid state lighting. He'll bring specific numbers,
along with a heart for being involved in a technology space that has just scratched
the surface of its global impact.
It's a "wow" of an agenda,
and everyone there will come away with some key nuggets that will make a difference
in their business.
If you have questions about
the solid state lighting and compound semiconductor industries or
have news or views to share, we want to hear from you! Feel free
to contact us anytime. The main office line is +1
(512) 257-9888
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