LED Magazine 2018-07+08

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JULY/AUGUST 2018
LEDsmagazine.com
Conference
report
LightFair 2018 P. 23
Bat-friendly
environments
LED spectra P. 35
Wireless
TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS OF LIGHT EMITTING DIODES
connectivity
Commissioning
Dancing atop SSL P. 39
a tower
SSL art P. 7
1807LEDS_C1 1 7/10/18 11:57 AM

Natural & Healthy Light
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• Closely matches the spectrum of natural sunlight
• Harmonizes light output with natural circadian rhythms
• Minimizes negative effects of conventional LED light sources
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1807LEDS_C2 2 7/10/18 11:57 AM

ISSUE 107
2018
July/August Cover Story
Dynamic LED-based architainment
installation delivers the soul of San
Francisco using 11,000 pixels on the
façade of Salesforce Tower (see p. 7;
courtesy of Hosfelt Gallery).
features columns/departments
20 INTERVIEW
3 COMMENTARY Maury Wright
Osram integrates emergency lighting support
and smart SSL features What has IoT value —
the pole or the light?
Maury Wright
23 EXHIBITION 7 NEWS +ANALYSIS

Skyscraper crowned with six-floor
SSL sector shows maturity at LFI, building
blocks simplify path to success LED art project in San Francisco
Maury Wright Future Designs details Light Work
Sleep tunable SSL experiment results
30 INDUSTRY INSIGHTS LED-based horticultural projects

continue to grow in scale
The time is now for the IoT to advance lighting
for wellbeing Zumtobel and Austrian energy
utility gear up their LaaS alliance
Mariana G. Figueiro, Lighting Research Center
LED business: GE and Current,
35 ECO-FRIENDLY LIGHTING Once and iLOX, Nichia, Zemax
Luminus Devices enters UV-C LED
Holland’s newest red-light district is a big
boost for bats market, targets sterilization applications
Mark Halper Smart lighting: Osram and Paradox;
Current, Intel, and AT&T; enModus
39 SMART LIGHTING
Commissioning connected lighting networks: 15 FUNDING + PROGRAMS
Theory and practice, challenges and opportunities LRC comments on the recent DOE
Simon Slupik and Simon Rzadkosz, Silvair horticultural lighting report
Lighting Facts re-emerges
44 DEVELOPER FORUM as a paid service
LED lamp waste: There’s
Polyurethane encapsulants offer enhanced
protection for LEDs in challenging environments good news and bad
Alistair Little, Electrolube DOE issues final report on Gateway
outdoor LED lighting in high-
48 LAST WORD temperature environment
NASA utilizes Osram LED horticultural
LEDs deliver quality, efficient lighting in
lighting for plants in space
hazardous environments
Ellen Helm, Appleton Lighting
LEDsmagazine.com JULY/AUGUST 2018 1
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commentary
What has IoT value — the pole or the light?

I
f you are a solid-state lighting facturers might one day have in their What does such a scenario mean for a
(SSL) manufacturer, then you software and services portfolio. The appli- lighting manufacturer? Potentially, light-
should hope it’s the luminaire cation would run right on top of the basic ing manufacturers’ participation in such
that will bring value to Internet intelligent-lighting central management projects is not required. In the case of Cur-
of Things (IoT) applications on systems enabled by street light connec- rent, it had developed CityIQ and part-
street light poles. It’s been quite tivity that has been implemented initially nered previously with AT&T, so it still
lucrative for outdoor luminaire to maximize energy savings through pro- would win part of the revenue in such a
makers to supply LED fixtures grammatic control and automate commis- project. But there is a significant chance
as retrofits for existing high- sioning and maintenance. that the lighting manufacturer could
intensity discharge (HID) products so But in the Portland case, the multi- be left out entirely.
that municipalities realize energy- and function sensors that were based on Intel Now I think the Portland project is very
maintenance-cost savings. But going for- microprocessors and manufactured by exciting. It will afford a great learning
ward, lighting manufacturers need new Current were installed on street light poles opportunity in a real smart-city scenario,
revenue streams that could come from because the poles afford the perfect loca- possibly proving actual return on invest-
smart-city applications enabled by intel- tion for the sensors and power is readily ment for connected sensors on street
ligent and connected outdoor lighting. available. Now the sensors were mounted light poles. But the SSL industry needs to
About now I have probably confused on the street lights as a matter of conve- work diligently to ensure that such appli-
you more than enlightened you, so let nience, but realistically that would not cations run on already-connected street-
me explain what prompted this column. have to be the case. Connectivity is pro- lights. Utility Georgia Power, among oth-
We recently covered a compelling project vided via the AT&T LTE wireless network ers, has proven that connectivity and
involving Current, powered by GE in Port- implemented purely for this traffic-mon- intelligence can be justified by sim-
land, OR (P. 13). There were several major itoring pilot project. The connectivity plifying installation and commission-
players involved including microproces- does not provide any smart-lighting func- ing, as we covered after the annual IES
sor giant Intel and telecommunications tionality or control and monitoring of the Street and Area Lighting Conference a
giant AT&T. Working as a team with the LED-based luminaires. few years back (http://bit.ly/2u7rZ5T).
city’s municipal agencies, the group has The Portland project is based on the For a successful business future, the SSL
installed intelligent sensors on street light Current CityIQ technology platform. When sector must participate in smart-city
poles that will be used to monitor vehi- we asked if the implementation enabled application deployment.
cle, pedestrian, and bicycle traffic to ulti- control of the street lights, Current replied
mately increase safety and optimize traf- that CityIQ is intentionally separate from Maury Wright,
fic flow for the residents. lighting control so as not to conflict in EDITOR
That sounds like a prototypical smart- cases where a municipality has already mauryw@pennwell.com
city application that many SSL manu- installed control on the LED luminaires.
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FEATURED events
| web exclusives Illuminating Engineering Society
Annual Conference
August 9–11, 2018
Boston, MA
Webcasts Shanghai International Lighting Fair
September 3–5, 2018
Secure smart lighting: Unlocking Shanghai, China
a building’s IoT potential LED Specifier Summit Denver
http://bit.ly/2tONMzb September 6, 2018
Denver, CO
Cutting through the clutter to OLEDs World Summit

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lighting in North America LED China 2018
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Light Middle East
Market Research September 23–25, 2018
Dubai, UAE
Lighting for health and wellbeing: LED Specifier Summit Seattle
September 25, 2018
The market for circadian light Seattle, WA
and lighting for disinfection Lighting for Health and Wellbeing
http://bit.ly/2tLUsOo Conference – Europe
September 26, 2018
London, UK
Correction LED professional Symposium+Expo

In our May/June issue, we incorrectly identified Bregenz, Austria
a photo contribution for the cover as Recolight/
Horticultural Lighting Conference – USA
Lumicom. The photo in question was provided by October 9–10, 2018
LIA/Lumicom. LEDs Magazine regrets the error. Portland, OR
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1807LEDS_6 6 7/10/18 11:54 AM
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news views
FAÇADE LIGHTING
Skyscraper crowned
with six-floor LED art
project in San Francisco
Photo credit: Hosfelt Gallery.

The tallest public art installation in the United States is
now live, comprising the top six floors of the new Salesforce
Tower skyscraper in San Francisco that is one of the two tall-
est buildings on the west coast of the US. Local San Francisco
artist Jim Campbell, represented by Hosfelt Gallery, designed Campbell wanted to top the Salesforce Tower with sub-
the LED-based dynamic artwork entitled “Day for Night.” The tle but still impactful lighting, and relatively-low-resolu-
11,000 LEDs said to comprise the solid-state lighting (SSL) tion video was integral to the concept. Indeed, the proj-
project will deliver dynamic but soft lighting and animations ect included Campbell placing cameras at strategic spots
that are meant to evoke the culture and pace of the city. around San Francisco capturing scenes that can be dis-
Often referred to as architainment lighting, large-build- played on the project façade.
ing façade lighting projects are always interesting in terms Still, Campbell was not looking to implement a bright
of both the inspiration behind the project and how that video display such as you might see in many city centers
inspiration was realized. For example, we covered a project mounted on buildings. Such dynamic screens face the LEDs
atop the crown of the John Hancock Center in Chicago last outward and directly emit bright light. Instead, Campbell
year that placed LED lighting in window frames inside the devised a way to mount the LEDs facing toward the building
building (http://bit.ly/2MNqRwb). so that viewers see softer, indirect light. » page 8
HORTICULTURAL LIGHTING HUMAN-CENTRIC LIGHTING
LED-based horticultural projects Future Designs details

continue to grow in scale Light Work Sleep tunable
Current, powered by GE has announced a new LED-lit vertical farm SSL experiment results
project in the UK that will include 5120m 2 of growing surface and
that is expected to yield 420 metric tonnes (about 926,000 lb) of Lighting manufacturer Future Designs has
leafy greens annu- announced the results of a 24-hour lighting for health
ally. Signify (formerly and wellbeing, or human-centric lighting, experiment
Philips Lighting) has that was performed at the company’s new Technology
announced an expan- Hub in the trendy Clerkenwell area of London, UK.
sion of its supple- Independent sleep researcher Dr. Neil Stanley (http://
mental SSL project www.thesleepconsultancy.com/) led the experiment
for tomato growing that was called Light Work Sleep and that took place
with Agro-Inwest to during the week of the summer solstice — the lon-
68.5 hectares. Plessey gest day of the year. Two female volunteers slept and
has announced that underwent experiments and evaluations in different
UK-based Sterling LED lighting conditions that yielded some expected
Suffolk Limited will and some surprising results.
install Hyperion 1750 luminaires covering 1.36 hectares of tomato Future Designs has said the testing environment
growing space. LumiGrow has announced some details of a tomato was imperfect, although it was in part created to
and cucumber growing operation in Canada where Lower » page 8 educate the public, and that had an impact » page 10
1807LEDS_7 7 7/10/18 11:54 AM

news+views
Tower from page 7 “The sculpture is a
visual diary of the San Francisco commu- Projects from page 7 Shannon Farms has improved growth predictability, plant
nity, and just like life in the city, every day documented a yield advantage. appearance, and yield, leading to fur-
will be different,” said Campbell. “Unlike a The common themes of the projects ther investment in LED lighting.
jumbotron that projects outward, this piece here are the size of the operations and/
is a soft dreamscape that subtly floats on or the success of LED lighting in the hor- Plessey and Sterling Suffolk
the night skyline, playing back the crash- ticultural application. In another tomato-growing operation in
ing waves on the beach, the rolling fog, Suffolk, UK, a new venture called Sterling
boats on the bay, street scenes, or the ris- Jones Food Company and Current Suffolk is building a tomato greenhouse
ing and setting sun.” The Current project is for Jones Food operation in which 25% of the space
We had asked for more details as to the Company Ltd (JFC) and is being con- will feature supplemental lighting.
type of SSL products used in the façade light- structed in North Lincolnshire, England; The growing operations will come on
ing project and how they were constructed. it will begin commercial growing oper- line later this year.
A spokesperson for Hosfelt Gallery said the ations this fall. Current said it will be “We decided that 100% LED was the
11,000 individual pixels that comprise the the largest indoor farm in Europe with way forward for the lit section of the
display are Osram LEDs that were inte- growing racks stretching to 11m or new greenhouse and wanted to choose
grated in custom housings and that use cus- three stories high. Current will ulti- an experienced and technologically-ad-
tom driver electronics. mately install 12.3 km of its linear Arize vanced partner who would provide a
It appears the pixel LEDs actually are from LED light bars — equivalent to 38 Eiffel total LED lighting solution,” said Rich-
LED Engin, a company that Osram acquired Towers laid end to end. ard Lewis, horticultural innovations
about one year ago (http://bit.ly/2MMQZHd). Apparently, JFC chose to work with and projects director at Sterling Suffolk.
LED Engin integrates LED chips from Osram Current because of the massive scale of “Plessey’s new Hyperion 1750 delivers the
Opto Semiconductors and other manufac- the project. “Nobody has been able to same amount of light as an equivalent
turers into multi-emitter arrays that target scale indoor, high-care intensive food 1000W HPS, allowing us to install just
a variety of specialty applications, includ- production to an industrial level that five units per trellis, which reduces shad-
ing façade lighting. In the case of Salesforce demonstrates real commercial viabil- ing and installation costs. These substan-
Tower, the project utilizes the LZ4 packaged ity,” said James Lloyd-Jones, CEO and tial product benefits, combined with a
LED that has a flat lens and that integrates co-founder of JFC. “We knew that light- long warranty, energy efficiency, ongoing
RGBW (red, green, blue, and white) emitters ing would be the lifeblood of the facility agronomy support, and competitive pric-
or individual LED chips. and we’d need a partner who could see ing made Plessey the right partner for us.”
“Over the past four years, we’ve been the potential and work with us to develop
working with Jim to provide the right light- the right lighting setup and spectrum to Lower Shannon Farms
ing solutions for various art projects,” said make our vision a reality.” Moving across the Atlantic to North
David Tahmassebi, CEO of LED Engin. America, Lower Shannon Farms in
“Based in the San Francisco Bay area our- Agro-Inwest tomatoes Saskatchewan, Canada has documented
selves, we’re particularly excited that he Moving to a supplemental horticultural yield increases for its tomato and cucum-
selected our LZ4 RGBW flat-lens emitters to lighting application in a greenhouse ber growing operations attributed to
help create his ‘Day for Night’ installation as or controlled environment agriculture LumiGrow LED fixtures. After install-
it is a unique work of art that our local com- (CEA) setting, Signify and Russia-based ing the LumiGrow 325e fixtures in
munity will get to enjoy on a daily basis.” Agro-Inwest have signed a deal to more January, the farm said Dijon cucumber
The project also uses some other SSL than double what the partners had said yields had risen 16–17% and that tomato
elements to complete the full effect. Wash was the largest horticultural lighting yields were up 18–20%.
fixtures from Lumenpulse provide accent project in the world last year. About one The grower is also using LEDs to grow
lighting. And Traxon Technologies, another year ago, we covered the project that ini- lettuce and reports that the plants have
Osram business unit, supplied supple- tially spanned 25 hectares or the size better color and the leaves are gener-
mental luminaires. A wired DMX system of 40 soccer pitches (http://bit.ly/2M ally 20% larger than under the prior HID
provides the control. MTZ6P). Now the growing operation will lighting. “You always fear with the rapid
The building is owned by the partner- expand to the size of 100 pitches. growth that you’re going to get bolting;
ship of Hines and Boston Properties. And With the initial project using both we didn’t see any of that," said owner
Boston Properties has a history of support- Philips GreenPower LED toplighting John Acton. “The plant put more energy
ing novel LED art projects in commercial and interlighting products, Agro-Inwest into the leaves, rather than going into
buildings. For example, we have covered said it had cut energy usage by 50% rela- survival mode. We have seen great results
a dynamic and interactive LED project in tive to the prior HID lighting. Moreover, across the board — no doubt about it.” ◀
the lobby of an iconic Boston, MA building the grower said the SSL installation had MORE: http://bit.ly/2MKI6y5
(http://bit.ly/2MN1U42).
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news+views
The team behind the San Francisco project, meanwhile, clearly
believes that it will become one of the truly iconic architectural
sights around the globe. “The Eiffel Tower was a product and symbol
of its time — an era of enormous advances in engineering and tech-
nical possibility,” said Todd Hosfelt, founder and principal of Hosfelt
Gallery. “Likewise, ‘Day for Night’ is a reflection of the importance
of digital technology and San Francisco’s place in that culture and
economy. Campbell’s piece atop the Salesforce Tower will not only
be an icon of the San Francisco skyline, it will come to be a symbol
of this place, at this particular moment in history.” ◀
LIGHTING AS A SERVICE
Zumtobel and Austrian energy utility

gear up their LaaS alliance
While the lighting industry is indeed busy seeking partnerships with
information technology firms to help chase the Internet of Things
(IoT), Zumtobel Group has served a reminder that another industry
— energy — can also provide synergies worthy of alliances, as it has
ratcheted up its lighting-as-a-service (LaaS) collaboration with an
Austrian energy utility.
Dornbirn, Austria-based Zumtobel said that its Zumtobel Group
Services (ZGS) unit and utility Vorarlberger Kraftwerke AG (VKW)
have now “signed an open-ended agreement for the joint provision

of light contracting services.”
As LEDs Magazine reported earlier this year, Vorarlberger was the
lead contractor working with subcontractor Zumtobel on a 6-year
lighting-as-a-service (LaaS) project at the Aluminium GmbH Nach-
rodt (AGN) factory in Dortmund, Germany (http://bit.ly/2Kt3YBb).
In that deal, lighting company Zumtobel replaced existing met-
al-halide lights with 400 new LED models across eight product halls
covering around 81,000 ft2. AGN is not purchasing the lights but is
paying a monthly service fee in an arrangement that doubles the
lighting levels to between 200 and 400 lx, and which is expected
to save 40% on energy bills. Vorarlberger is responsible for the
lighting operations, while Zumtobel oversees yearly maintenance
of the lighting, including annual inspections and replacement of
any faulty luminaires.
The two companies said that in a typical deal, savings from
reduced power consumption and maintenance exceed the monthly
light contracting charge. Zumtobel and VKW have implemented
seven projects in total so far and are now planning more together.
Another early customer has included the Harder Sport athletic com-
plex in Hard, Austria on Lake Constance (shown). ◀
MORE: http://bit.ly/2KuTrFF
LEDsmagazine.com
1807LEDS_9 9 7/10/18 11:54 AM

news+views
Sleep from page 7 on the environ- space was universally more alert. The vol- ent light environments on the same per-
ment. One of the volunteers was exposed unteer in the 6000K space did perform bet- son at different times might have pro-
strictly to warm 2700K-CCT SSL while ter on a cognitive card-sorting test but not duced different conclusions. Still, the
the other was exposed strictly to much on a timed reaction test called the Psycho- company said the experiments made it
cooler 6000K. The custom LED lumi- motor Vigilance Task. The volunteer in the clear that different lighting conditions
naires —wall-to-wall ceiling panels — 6000K space also felt more drowsiness in the had a significant impact on performance.
were installed in two identical rooms in afternoon and evening and a
the Technology Hub, with windows clearly greater feeling of clumsiness
visible to passersby. The rooms were lit throughout the day. Future
throughout the day and night and some Designs said those results
natural light entered via the windows. may simply be due to pro-
The experiment ran from 10:00 AM June longed exposure to the cool
19 until 10:00 AM the following morning. light during parts of the day
The volunteers were physically simi- where natural light would be
lar and followed the same routine of sim- getting progressively warmer.
ulated work during the day and sleep at Conventional thinking
night with the intent of discerning how would also indicate that the
different lighting environments can volunteer in the 2700K space
impact sleep and wake functions. Consul- would have better sleep pat-
tant Stanley performed cognitive tests on terns. Again, we have cov-
the second morning and evaluated other ered in prior articles the theory that such Consultant Stanley said, “While tunable
aspects of alertness and mood on a recur- warm CCTs at night are conducive to rest- white light may have the ability to modu-
ring basis over the two days. ful sleep (http://bit.ly/2MIhg9W). late alertness and performance, it is only
Conventional thinking would indi- The Light Work Sleep experiments one of many factors that affect our every-
cate that the volunteer in the 6000K-lit again yielded mixed results. Based on day life. The relative contribution of the
space would be more alert and produc- the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale, the effect of light on everyday alertness and
tive due to the greater energy in the blue volunteer in the 2700K space experi- performance needs to be elucidated.”
part of the spectrum. We covered some enced lower levels of sleepiness through- We spent a full day diving into the
of that theory in a recent feature article out the 24-hour period. science of human-centric lighting at
on the topic of human-centric lighting Future Designs concluded that the our Lighting for Health and Wellbe-
(http://bit.ly/2MIgeL6). application of light to impact wellbeing ing Conference. Stay tuned for a recap
The Future Designs experiments did may be a very individualized science. For from the conference. ◀
not find that the volunteer in the 6000K sure, experiments that studied the differ- MORE: http://bit.ly/2MNtLB5
LED BUSINESS October 2015 as what it then called a “bil- and then moved to other GE businesses or
lion-dollar startup” (http://bit.ly/2MIgLfY). externally as they continued to scale, allow-
GE strips Current of GE had for a while separated smart LED ing Current to focus on the rapidly growing
broad energy duties lighting from conventional, non-LED lighting, IoT lighting space,” a Current spokesperson
A funny thing happened on GE’s way to turn- treating them as different revenue groups, told LEDs, after some tea leaves prompted us
ing its smart LED lighting business into a with LED part of the once wide-reaching Cur- to ask for an update.
broad, data-connected energy services com- rent, and with conventional lighting remain- The idea behind Current’s service offering
pany called Current. Somewhere along the ing on its own. The two are now lumped back is to improve the operations and energy effi-
way — apparently early on — GE decided it together, as LEDs Magazine reported earlier ciency of buildings and cities by outfitting
wasn’t such a good idea after all and began this year (http://bit.ly/2MGJlOL). the LED lighting infrastructure with chips
quietly narrowing the company’s scope back GE has made no formal announcement and sensors that help collect data and con-
into smart lighting. about Current’s scaled-down mission, but nect to a smart control system. ◀
Thus, an experiment in treating Inter- it has steadily transferred some of Current’s MORE: http://bit.ly/2MJS8iP
net-connected LED lighting as a cog in a functions into other GE units while selling
business machine that ties together solar off others, such as when it unloaded its elec- Once acquires iLOX for
panels, energy storage, electric vehicle tric vehicle charging network to Campbell, livestock lighting
charging, and onsite power generation has CA-based ChargePoint a year ago. Once Inc, a company focused on LED light-
finished in a steady fizzle that started soon “The other energy-related technologies ing for animal-centric applications, has
after GE launched Current with fanfare in were part of Current in their early days acquired German company iLOX GmbH.
1807LEDS_10 10 7/10/18 11:54 AM

1807LEDS_11 11 7/10/18 11:54 AM
news+views
Once came on the SSL scene in 2014 at both companies were pleased with the UV-A LEDs that are primarily used in indus-
Strategies in Light with a presentation enti- outcome. Meanwhile, the action against trial applications such as curing. We cov-
tled “How to make chicks happy,” and it was Feit remains in effect. ered the basics of the UV bands in an article
focused on using LED lighting to boost pro- about presentations at Strategies in Light a
duction in poultry farms (http://bit.ly/2M Zemax sold in private-equity deal few years back (http://bit.ly/2MJ0Qhh).
J0Qhh). In fact, LED lighting and custom- Private-equity firm Arlington Capital Still, we have seen steady improve-
ized spectrum has been used in applications Partners has announced that it sold opti- ment in performance in the past few years.
ranging from dairy cattle to aquaculture to cal software specialist Zemax Software For example, Crystal IS announced prod-
increase yield (http://bit.ly/2MMf7tA). Holdings to EQT Mid Market US GP B.V. ucts earlier this year that it said offer the
Now Once has found a symbiotic acquisi- The company is one of the leaders in the power output/cost ratio that would lead
tion in iLOX that includes the company’s Pol- development of software simulation tools to high-volume commercialization. Those
ish subsidiary iLOX Sp.z.o.o. Once said the that can accurately project the optical products deliver in the range of 30–40 mW
combined organizations make up the larg- and photometric performance of LED of radiometric power.
est animal-centric lighting company in the and SSL systems under development. The The Luminus UV LEDs that were recently
world. iLOX was incubated out of Warnking company published a foundational arti- announced span a broad gap in terms of
Electric and has focused on lighting for agri- cle on the topic in LEDs back in 2012 emitter size and power output. As the model
cultural livestock facilities, and the Polish (http://bit.ly/2MLux1k). numbers imply, the smaller device measures
subsidiary brings a specialty in electronics Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But 1.3×1.3 mm in footprint while the larger
and controls. Once will also get reach into the transaction between private equity firms measures 3.5×3.5 mm. The smaller LED
European and African markets. will likely have little impact on Zemax oper- delivers 11 mW of peak output driven at 100
MORE: http://bit.ly/2MLvaYH ations in the short term. Clearly, EQT sees mA and the larger LED delivers peak output
growth potential for Zemax. of 60 mW at 350 mA. ◀
Nichia settles IP action “Zemax aligns perfectly with EQT’s focus of MORE: http://bit.ly/2MIDada
with Lowe’s investing in market leaders in attractive and
Packaged-LED specialist Nichia was the growing niche markets globally,” said Bren- SMART LIGHTING
first LED manufacturer to directly target dan Scollans, partner at EQT Partners and
a major retailer in a patent action when investment advisor to EQT. “EQT’s software Osram and Paradox install
it sued big box Lowe’s Home Centers, and expertise and international presence will help smart outdoor SSL in St.
Nichia has announced it reached a set- Zemax further expand its product offering, Gallen, Switzerland
tlement with the retailer. The settle- both organically and through acquisitions, to Osram Lighting AG and Paradox Engineering
ment with Lowe’s comes almost exactly best serve its global customer base. We are SA (part of the MinebeaMitsumi Group)
two years after the suit was initially filed excited to partner with the talented Zemax have announced an outdoor smart light-
against the retailer, SSL manufacturer management team to support the next phase ing pilot project in the city of St. Gallen,
Feit Electric, and distributor L G Sourcing of growth.” Existing CEO Mark Nicholson will Switzerland. Working with St. Gallen
(http://bit.ly/2MIAGeQ). The suit with continue to lead Zemax. ◀ Stadtwerke, a utility and public works
Lowe’s as a target was somewhat shock- company, Osram supplied around 60 SL20
ing when first reported. It was unusual for PACKAGED LEDS luminaires that have been installed along
an LED manufacturer to target a company Oberstrasse, a local street. The SSL sys-
that probably sold some products that used Luminus Devices enters
Nichia LEDs — an indirect customer. UV-C LED market, targets
But the LED manufacturers had gener- sterilization applications
ally become frustrated with lighting man- Luminus Devices has announced the XBT-
ufacturers shipping end products that inte- 1313-UV and XST-3535-UV ultraviolet (UV)
grated LEDs known to infringe on patents packaged LEDs targeting the disinfection
while they struggled to effectively target the and sterilization market segments. The new
manufacturers in regions such as China. LEDs emit at 280 nm — within the UV-C
And Nichia hasn’t been the only LED maker band where emitted energy can instantly
to take such an action. Later in 2016, Seoul kill pathogens. Applications could range
Semiconductor sued Kmart in a similar from water sterilization to usage in medi-
action (http://bit.ly/2MLu8vQ). Seoul also cal facilities to kill pathogens. tem is connected by Paradox wireless mesh
sued distributor Mouser, a company that We’ve been charting the progress of UV-C technology and managed by the Paradox PE
distributed Seoul’s LEDs in addition to com- LEDs for several years. The UV-C LED tech- Smart Urban Network platform.
ponents from other vendors. nology — in terms of cost, radiometric power Osram and Paradox have worked on proj-
The parties did not disclose the terms output, efficiency, reliability, and lifetime — ects together for several years. Back in 2016,
of the settlement; Nichia only said that has trailed the longer-wavelength UV-B and we covered news of their partnership that
1807LEDS_12 12 7/10/18 11:54 AM

news+views
would enable Osram to support smart city lights covering three dan-
applications on its outdoor lighting products gerous and busy streets,
(http://bit.ly/2KsobHm). hoping to ultimately reduce
St. Gallen Stadtwerke can manage all the the number of accidents
luminaires in the pilot area from a web- on the streets. The proj-
based control console. The operator can ect is being undertaken
switch lamps on or off or dim them individ- as part of the city’s Smart
ually or in assigned groups. And programs City PDX initiative that is
can control the lighting based on time of the focused on the use of data
day, day of the week, and/or time of year. and technology to improve
Meanwhile, the sensor integrated in the the lives of its citizens.
luminaires affords autonomous control. It The Portland Bureau of
allows the lights to further reduce energy Transportation (PBOT) and
usage when no traffic is present late at night. utility Portland General
The partners expect the implementation to Electric (PGE) are imple-
deliver 65% energy savings relative to legacy menting the IoT project.
outdoor lighting technologies. ◀ working with GE’s Current;
MORE: http://bit.ly/2KtC8F4 semiconductor giant Intel; and the AT&T be gained by a transition to LED sources,
wireless business unit. by dimming the street lights late at night
Portland installs traffic sensors Ironically, we often write about outdoor when activity levels are low, and further sav-
on street lights covering three smart lighting or smart city applications in ings are possible through automated main-
busy city thoroughfares the context of an installed connected LED tenance and commissioning. We have cov-
The city of Portland, OR has begun the street-light framework. Connectivity can ered such projects in articles written about
installation of 200 traffic sensors on street deliver energy savings beyond what can the IES Street and Area Lighting Conference
1807LEDS_13 13 7/10/18 11:54 AM

news+views
(http://bit.ly/2KHM4tS). And once connectivity is present, the smart
street light becomes a perfect host for smart city applications.
But in the Portland case, there was apparently no connectivity
present in the street lights prior to the new sensor project. The sen-
sors being installed will be connected over the AT&T LTE wireless
network. It seems the street lights were simply a good place to mount
the sensors and of course power was available for the sensor.
The 200 sensors are being deployed on Southeast Division, 122nd,
and Southeast Hawthorne Streets. The sensors will record counts
of vehicles and pedestrians and track vehicle speeds 24 hours a day.
The PBOT traffic engineers will mine that data looking to increase
safety and optimize traffic flow.
The sensors being deployed were manufactured by Current and
are part of the CityIQ smart-city technology platform that also
includes an application development platform, connectivity sup- The warehouse in Birmingham, England has deployed powerline
port, cloud APIs (application programming interfaces), and appli- communication (PLC) technology from Chepstow, Wales-based
cation programs supplied by Current or its IoT ecosystem partners. ◀ enModus to reduce electricity use by 96% compared to the previ-
MORE: http://bit.ly/2KNt6Cp ous lights. The savings come not just from the new batten-style LED
luminaires but also from enModus’ intelligent system called Watt-
Retail chain Claire’s slashes energy bill by wave, which monitors and controls individual lights from a central
controlling smart lights over standard cable hub, all through conventional power cables supporting an IoT con-
Fashion and accessories retail chain Claire’s has slashed energy connection to lights in the ceiling ranging in height from around 9–46
sumption in a section of a warehouse by connecting new LED lights ft. The UK’s LED By Vision provided the lights.
to data-based controls via existing standard electrical wires. Neither Claire’s nor enModus would reveal the size of the deploy-
ment, believed to be small, but which could serve as the first phase
of a wider deployment across the entire warehouse and its offices.
How is UV15FL different from EnModus, founded in 2010, has been in a prolonged startup mode
other UV curable epoxies? but has been scaling up recently, evidenced by a number of instal-
lations. As LEDs wrote, its technology has cut energy consump-
It’s an epoxy based adhesive, sealant and coating
tion by 99% at a Virgin Media technical center in the UK, which,
like the Claire’s job, is another small, low-hanging-fruit project
expected to lead to wider deployment (http://bit.ly/2KIT5dO). Ear-
lier installations have included a small deployment in shopping
Enhanced chains’ warehouse and offices in England (http://bit.ly/2KIT5dO)
Very low toughness & thermal and at the Terex Trucks manufacturing plant in Motherwell, Scot-
viscosity cycling resistance land (http://bit.ly/2KuVXvT). ◀
90—330 cps MORE: http://bit.ly/2KIgrjT
Fagerhult taps new CEO with strong IoT credentials

With the lighting industry heading resolutely into the IoT,
Fagerhult Group has landed a new CEO who looks set to bring solid
IoT experience — including sensors, data collection, and data anal-
ysis — when she joins the Swedish lighting vendor later this year.
Bodil Sonesson is currently vice president of global sales at Swed-
LOW ish security-camera stalwart Axis Communications, which claims
linear shrinkage to have been the first company in the world to have launched a net-
upon curing 1-2% SPIN COATABLE worked camera, back in 1996, the year Sonesson joined.
Sonesson will replace Fagerhult CEO Johan Hjertonsson, who
is stepping up to become CEO of investment firm Investment
AB Latour, which owns nearly half of Fagerhult, the public-
ly-traded, 5.17 billion Swedish krona ($592 million) LED lighting
and luminaire company.
Hackensack, NJ 07601, USA ∙ +1.201.343.8983 ∙ main masterbond.com Fagerhult released a short statement saying that Sonesson will
start by November 24 “latest.” ◀
www.masterbond.com
MORE: http://bit.ly/2zo5Mqn
1807LEDS_14 14 7/10/18 11:54 AM

+ funding
programs
LRC comments on the recent DOE
DOE issues final
report on Gateway
outdoor LED lighting
in high-temperature
environment
The DOE has released the final report in
its Gateway installation of outdoor LED
lighting along a section of the US/Mexico
border fence near Yuma, AZ. Neither
horticultural lighting report the DOE researchers from the Pacific

Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
Earlier this year, the US Department of Energy (DOE) published the report Energy Savings Potential nor Eaton’s technical team (involved as
of SSL in Horticultural Applications1 (covered by LEDs Magazine in February; http://bit.ly/2yOfEcx),
and more recently the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute pub-
lished the LED and HID Horticultural Luminaire Testing Report.2 These two reports came to differ-
ent conclusions about the energy savings potential of commercially-available LED horticultural
lighting systems. The DOE report concluded, “Based on current performance … LED lighting
offers 24% to 30% reduction in electricity consumption per ft2 of grow area” (p. iii).3 In contrast,
the LRC found that for a given growing area, energy savings were possible with some of the tested
LED horticultural luminaires compared to the tested high-pressure sodium (HPS) and metal-ha-
lide (MH) horticultural lighting products, when meeting the
same photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) criterion the commercial partner on the project)
(http://bit.ly/2tJs7II), but there was remarkably wide varia- have been able to identify exactly why the
tion among products (http://bit.ly/2yOfEcx). first products tested suffered unexpected
Why were the conclusions different? The main reason is levels of lumen depreciation, although the
that the DOE report did not compare horticultural light- desert heat remains a possible contribut-
ing systems from a grower’s perspective. The LRC report ing factor. But the lighting has still proven
compared HPS and LED lighting systems for a constant more reliable than legacy sources and
PPFD on the plant canopy. PPFD for plants is analogous improved light quality has made the job
to photopic illuminance on a work surface in an architec- of the Border Patrol much easier.
tural application. Just as it is only valid to compare the The DOE Gateway projects involve
power densities of alternate lighting systems at equal illu- testing commercialized SSL products in
minance levels on the work plane, the power densities of actual end-use cases to learn about how
alternate horticultural luminaires should only be com- well the LED technology performs in
pared when they provide the same PPFD on the plant canopy — and PPFD is what matters to specific applications and to gauge return
growers (http://bit.ly/2yRnget). The DOE report “assumed that LED lighting products used in on investment. The Yuma border Gate-
greenhouses can function as 1 to 1 replacements for existing HID fixtures” (p. 13). The LRC way project dates back to 2014 when the
found that, on average, approximately three times as many LED horticultural luminaires would DOE first revealed that it had installed
be needed to provide the same PPFD as a typical 1000W HPS horticultural luminaire layout SSL along a section of the border fence
(p. 35). Moreover, the DOE report notes that the “HPS and MH lamp wattages provided do not in that area (http://bit.ly/2z1QN5h). That
include ballast efficiency losses” (p. 13), while the LRC report considered the effectiveness of first article on the project discussed the
the entire lighting system in a controlled growing environment. installation and reported on the supe-
In that same vein, the DOE reached a different conclusion than the LRC because the DOE rior lighting that the move to LEDs
didn’t consider the intensity distribution from the luminaires. The DOE report simply states, afforded. But even then, the DOE said it
“[The] impact [of intensity distribution] is currently difficult to quantify” (p. 6). The LRC, in also wanted to study the impact of high
fact, measured the luminaire intensity distributions in its laboratory and through photomet- temperature over time.
rically accurate software was able to assess the lighting system energy requirements neces- In mid-2015, the DOE issued a sec-
sary to reach minimum PPFD and uniformity criteria, to ensure that all plants in the simu- ond report after the luminaires operated
lated greenhouse would receive sufficient radiant energy from the luminaires. The results show for 5000 hours (http://bit.ly/2tOiRD5).
that intensity distribution plays an important role, illustrated by the fact that two of the tested The researchers found » page 18
LED luminaires had higher luminaire efficacy than the HPS luminaires but still » page 16
1807LEDS_15 15 7/10/18 11:54 AM

funding programs +
Lighting Facts re-emerges as a paid service
Back in the spring, LEDs Magazine reported LightFair that D+R International, an envi- on manufacturers making families of similar
that the US Department of Energy (DOE) had ronmentally-oriented consultancy, would products (http://bit.ly/2tOBOpn).
announced it would be discontinuing the LED take over and keep the Lighting Facts pro- The DOE had removed replacement lamps
Lighting Facts program that was central to SSL gram up and running. from the Lighting Facts database at the end of
manufacturers providing accurate specs for Indeed, D+R will expand and improve the 2016, citing changes in lamp testing require-
product performance (http://bit.ly/2yOxewQ). program that sought to ensure “truth-in-ad- ments and market conditions. D+R has said it
That program has also been a foundation for vertising” in the upstart LED-based general will bring lamps back into the program. The
the advance of the DesignLights Consortium lighting sector, although the program will consultancy also plans to add QR code support
(DLC) Qualified Products List (QPL), which has become a paid service. and profiles on manufacturers and test labs.
been key to many utility rebates. D+R has been a partner in the Lighting Now, manufacturers will have to pay for
In early May, we at LEDs learned that the Facts program all along, consulting with the listing services. There will be options for
DOE had decided additions to the Lighting DOE and handling the implementation. It monthly and annual rates. Access to the
Facts database would stop and the website was D+R that presented major changes to the database for buyers will remain free. You can
would close down in June (http://bit.ly/2tKe Lighting Facts program at Strategies in Light follow what’s happening at the new website
oBx). It later came to our attention after 2013 — changes that eased the test burden (http://bit.ly/2tOdyU2). ◀
LRC from page 15 had a higher total power demand in the green- tion to growers because, as shown in the reported LRC survey results,
house application. Stakeholders can be misled by considering lumi- 75% of growers identified the cost of LED horticultural lighting to be
naire efficacy alone. Rather, the luminaire intensity distribution and a barrier to adoption (p. 9).
layout to reach a criterion PPFD are necessary for an accurate com- Readers of the two reports should be careful not to make simple
parison of lighting systems. generalizations about the energy usages and lifecycle costs of LED
In addition to not holding PPFD constant when comparing lumi- and HPS lighting systems used in controlled environment horticul-
naires, the DOE report did not adequately address luminaire shad- ture. Energy use and lifecycle costs can be lower for some LED light-
ing of daylight in a greenhouse. The DOE report notes, “[I]n general, ing systems relative to some HPS lighting systems. Importantly, as has
fluorescent fixtures, including induction fluorescent, have a large been known for many years in architectural lighting, growers must
form factor relative to their low photon output and are not favorable have accurate and complete system energy and cost analyses to make
in greenhouse lighting because they block natural sunlight and cast meaningful comparisons of lighting systems that might be used in
shadows on the plant canopy” (p. 6). The authors are correct, but shad- controlled environment horticulture.
ing for all luminaire types must be considered for assessing electric — Written by Mark Rea, PhD, professor, Lighting Research Center at
lighting energy requirements in a greenhouse. The LRC found through Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (http://lrc.rpi.edu). ◀
a shading analysis4 that the two tested HPS luminaires reduced day-
light on the plant canopy by about 5%, while the tested LED lumi- References & Notes
naires reduced it by 13—55% (p. 2). The increased shading from the 1. http://bit.ly/2tAH7ZY
LED luminaires is caused by both the size of the luminaires and the 2. http://bit.ly/2tyCsrJ
increased number needed to provide the same PPFD. The increased 3. The DOE report went on to say, “If all horticultural lighting today
shading from typical LED luminaires relative to typical HPS lumi- was converted to LED technology, annual horticultural lighting
naires means that more electric energy could be needed for lighting consumption would be reduced to 3.6 TWh, or 37 tBtu, which rep-
with the LED systems, depending upon the available daylight. resents energy savings of 40% or $240 million” (p. iii). The total
As a small point, the DOE report states that the lack of UV emissions energy savings is incorrect due to a multiplication error in Table 4.1
from LED horticultural luminaires is not an issue. The DOE report in the “Non-Stacked Indoor” column. Based on the DOE’s reported
states, “LED lighting products often lack UV radiation necessary for data in that table, the theoretical total energy savings would be
proper plant growth, which is not a significant issue for greenhouse approximately 2.0 TWh or 30%.
operations, where natural, broad spectrum sunlight provides the bulk 4. The shading analysis was performed using photometrically accu-
of the light requirement” (p. 6). In glass greenhouses and in most plas- rate software and typical meteorological year data for cities in two
tic high tunnels, there is no measurable UV from daylight, yet plants climate regions, Albany, NY and San Diego, CA, using both clear
grow quite well in these environments. So it is unclear why this point and diffuse glazing.
was made in the DOE report. 5. The lifecycle cost analysis accounted for the number of lumi-
Finally, it should be noted that the DOE report did not perform a naires needed; the amount of energy used per year; high and
lifecycle cost analysis. The LRC found that three of the tested LED hor- low costs of electricity; the cost of each luminaire, replacement
ticultural lighting systems had lower lifecycle costs5 and the remain- lamps, and replacement reflectors; the labor costs to install the
ing seven had higher lifecycle costs than either of the two 1000W HPS luminaires, replace lamps, and replace reflectors; and the lamp
lighting systems that were tested (p. 2). This is important informa- or LED failure rates.
1807LEDS_16 16 7/10/18 11:54 AM

NASA utilizes Osram LED horticultural
lighting for plants in space
Osram has announced that it is supporting an LED horticul-
tural lighting project at the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space
Administration) Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The space agency is
testing a multichannel SSL design that combines phosphor-converted
white LEDs, monochromatic red and blue LEDs, and ultraviolet (UV)
LEDs. The research into horticultural lighting is intended to enable
crews to more quickly grow produce in the future during space travel
or aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The intelligent system that
NASA is testing is a custom-
ized version of Osram’s Phy-
tofy RL system that consists
of connected fixtures with the
aforementioned LED mix and
software that Osram has devel-
oped to control light recipes
and generate irradiance maps
for researchers.
As we have written previ-
ously, the red and blue mono-
chromatic channels match
the photosynthesis absorp-
tion peaks of many plants
(http://bit.ly/2z41d43). The
white LEDs offer energy in
the green and yellow region
and allow workers to see the
Photo credit: NASA. plants clearly. The smart con-
trols can vary the intensity of the various channels based on cultivar
and/or growth cycle. The researchers will use the intelligence to pursue
light recipes that minimize crop cycles and maximize yield.
There are two reasons you might want a UV channel in such a fix-
ture. As was covered during a talk at our Horticultural Lighting Con-
ference 2016, UV can eliminate plant pathogens such as mold (http://
bit.ly/2tXCM2x). And at our 2017 conference, we learned that UV can
also be used to change the appearance or flavor profile of a plant by
stressing the plant (http://bit.ly/2z4wa8t).
Osram noted several important features of the horticultural light-
ing system NASA is using in its research. The fixtures use Osconiq
P2226 LEDs. For the horticultural application, Osram said the pack-
aged LEDs are resistant to corrosion and can reliably withstand what
can be a harsh environment in growth chambers. The compact foot-
print of the Osconiq LEDs allows for tight packing of the components
and more LEDs per fixture. The result is higher PPF, or more of the
energy plants need to grow.
The intelligence inherent in the Phytofy RL system is also crucial
in a research scenario where scientists need to study different light
recipes. And the Osram implementation can allow the scientists to
get precise irradiance maps instantly without having to take mea-
surements in the growth chamber. The lessons learned will first be
transferred to the Advanced Plant Habitat aboard the ISS. ◀
MORE: http://bit.ly/2zaJtE6
LEDsmagazine.com
1807LEDS_17 17 7/10/18 11:54 AM

funding programs +
LED lamp waste: There’s good news and bad
If the waste stream is any indication, then LED dence that LED products are generally hold-
lamps would appear to be living up to claims ing up pretty well so far. (Apologies to those
for longevity: In Europe, they are accounting of you who just binned one after 9 months;
for less than 2% of the discards. That num- it can indeed happen.)
ber comes from Eucolight, a group of organi- That’s the good news. But there’s a rub.
zations that oversee collection and recycling LEDs will comprise about 30–40% of the
of lamps and lighting products across Europe. waste within the next 10 years, and as that
The group claims to handle 79% of the lamps happens, the industry will have a bigger job
collected in the 18 countries in which its mem- to do in recycling them than what it has
bers operate, and reported on the state of LED faced in the past with simpler designs, noted
waste management after its annual confer- Nigel Harvey, CEO of UK lamp recycler and
ence, which took place in Sassenheim, the Eucolight member Recolight.
Netherlands in April. As LEDs Magazine reported in our recent
The better part of a decade has passed circular economy feature (http://bit.ly/2tM Photo credit: EucoLight member Recylum.
since LEDs started entering the mainstream fqwQ), whereas more than 90% of fluores-
— long enough for them to turn up in much cent tube material is recovered today in the them using mechanical processes very diffi-
greater proportion than 2% if they were fail- UK, LED lamp construction will make it dif- cult. You’ve got all types of materials in there
ing prematurely. Manufacturers informally ficult to hit even 50%. from plastics, glass, ceramics, aluminum,
bandy about claims of 20-year-and-longer “One of the benefits of LED technology is copper. You have PCBs. It’s a complete mix-
lifetimes (although it is hard to find a war- there’s been an explosion in the range of mate- ture. We have a problem that’s going to come
ranty over 5 years, and many are shorter). rials that are used, the designs that are used, back and bite us.”
Product labeling typically purports ranges of the shapes, the sizes, everything,” Harvey told Now, to get back to some good news: This
15,000–30,000 hours, which at 3 hours a day LEDs. “They allow for much more innovation pending challenge did not go unnoticed at
translates loosely to between 14 and 28 years. in the way product is made. But that heteroge- the Eucolight conference.
So while consumers still have not used neity of product comes at a cost when it comes “To this end, delegates learned about
enough LED lamps for long enough to out- to recycling. You’ve got so many more materi- the technical composition and options for
right prove the long-life claims, the waste als in there. They are bonded together, often the future of LEDs and LED recycling tech-
stream provides solid circumstantial evi- with glues and foams that make separation of niques,” Eucolight reported. ◀
Outdoor from page 15 illuminance varied more than expected, valuable, they do not tell the full story. LM-80 data for the LEDs in
but that change was shown to be due to the greater-than-expected the impacted luminaires suggested that the sources would suffer
dirt accumulation on the secondary optics (http://bit.ly/2tTJFSH). less than 2% depreciation after operating for 10,000 hours at 105°C.
The project also included installing second-generation LED prod- Even luminaire testing in the lab may not reveal the same results as
ucts along the fence for further testing. what may be found in actual installations, according to the DOE.
In the latest, and said to be final, report on the project the DOE The second-generation luminaires were tested after 4000 hours
has again revealed some surprising results. The DOE tested the of operation in 2017. Those products had lumen depreciation com-
first-generation outdoor LED lighting at 7000 and 11,000 hours. mensurate with what was expected from dirt. The luminaires had
After 11,000 hours, the researchers found unexpectedly that the suffered from unexpected variation in color over angle that the DOE
luminaires, in a clean state, delivered only 50% illuminance rela- said was very noticeable on the surface of the desert sand. That
tive to measurements when the lights were new. color over angle issue was not present in the first-generation prod-
The PNNL and partner Eaton have both tried to discern the pre- ucts. And color over angle may not be noticeable in a street or park-
cise cause without success. The new report notes that the luminaire ing lot application, according to the DOE.
design in question places the packaged LED with an integrated The second-generation luminaires were installed in 2016 as part
primary optic directly under a secondary optic and that contact of a large deployment that covers 7.2 miles of border fence and more
between the two could cause some deformation, but apparently than 400 luminaires. The results of the outdoor project have been
that could not have been responsible for the full reduction in illu- very positive as is explained in a video (http://bit.ly/2ySgNzJ).
minance. The report also speculates about heat and other environ- The Border Patrol had been making repairs on as many as ten fix-
mental conditions specific to the desert site, and possibly factors tures per month in that stretch of border fence with the legacy HID
specific to the luminaire design. ballasts and lamps. The SSL installation has slashed maintenance
The DOE report reminds that while test standards such as and energy costs. You can access all of the reports on the agency’s
LM-80 and lumen maintenance projections based on TM-21 are SSL website (http://bit.ly/2tLtExS). ◀
1807LEDS_18 18 7/10/18 11:54 AM

20TH ANNIVERSARY
FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 1, 2019 M A N D A L AY B AY C O N V E N T I O N C E N T E R , L A S V E G A S
A D VA N C I N G T H E
FUTURE
OF LIGHT
S T R AT E G I E S I N L I G H T . C O M
S AV E T H E D AT E !
O W N E D A N D P R O D U C E D B Y: OFFICIAL SUPPORTERS:
1807LEDS_19 19 7/10/18 11:54 AM

interview | SAPPHIRE SSL DRIVERS
Osram integrates emergency

lighting support and smart SSL features
SHASHANK NALLA discusses the design philosophy and architecture of LED drivers from Osram Digital
Systems with MAURY WRIGHT in an interview — specifically, the smart capabilities of the Sapphire
Award-winning Optotronic Programmable LED Emergency Driver.
L
EDs Magazine announced the win- Tell us first about the inspiration behind mal pattern in terms of concept, design, and
ners in the 2018 Sapphire Awards pro- the emergency lighting support. How did implementation? How much input did you
gram on February 14, 2018 in Long you make the decision to integrate it in the get from customers and partners? How did
Beach, CA, at a Gala that took place aboard driver and what was the development pro- you decide which features to add and maybe
the RMS Queen Mary. The Gala, held coin- cess like? which features just couldn’t deliver return
cident with the Strategies in Light trade- Shashank Nalla: Fixture manufacturers on investment?
show, included compelling entertainment, who provide emergency lighting solutions Nalla: Since the driver design is com-
fantastic networking, and a chance to cel- have always expressed their pain points pletely different from a traditional LED
ebrate the stars of the solid-state light- in dealing with the develop- driver in terms of accommo-
ing (SSL) sector. Osram Digital Systems ment of these solutions. Some dating battery charging cir-
took Sapphire honors on the night in the of those pain points include cuit, design of battery packs,
Constant Current LED Driver category with the selection of components, harnesses, it required us
the Osram Optotronic Programmable LED ensuring compatibility with to develop an entirely new
Emergency Driver (http://bit.ly/2yqNwfe). LED drivers and LED mod- approach. We had custom-
The judges applauded the integration of ules, manufacturing, and ers involved at every stage of
Emergency Mode (EM) support and the pro- post-sales servicing. the development to ensure
grammability and smart-lighting features Osram has decided that this we were meeting their needs
designed into the product. We recently had could be an opportunity for us and expectations.
a chance to talk with Shashank Nalla, prod- to help OEMs deal with these Osram is well known for
uct marketing manager of digital systems problems. This has led us to Shashank Nalla technical excellence and fea-
for the Osram Americas Region, about the start thinking and developing ture-rich products. We have
architecture of the driver and the philoso- the Emergency LED driver portfolio, which done a detailed analysis of features versus
phy behind the feature set. will help alleviate these issues and support cost and we are constantly inquiring with
LEDs Magazine: Hi, Shashank, and con- them with emerging smart building trends. the market to ensure relevance.
gratulations on winning an LEDs Mag- We started off with our core function- LEDs: Connectivity and smart lighting
azine Sapphire Award for your Osram ality of LED drivers: They are programma- are significant trends today in the SSL sec-
Optotronic Programmable LED Emergency ble and integrate an emergency functional- tor. The judges surely valued that your team
Driver. We’ve regularly written that driv- ity that will help OEMs increase flexibility included an optional auxiliary power out-
ers are as important as the LEDs in deliv- in addressing application and component put that could power a module with sensing
ering high-quality solid-state lighting (SSL) selection, ensure compatibility, and pro- and wireless/wired connectivity capabili-
products for the general illumination sector. vide the benefits of seamless integration ties. What was your thinking on how to sup-
That statement rings true both in terms of into connected lighting. port connected luminaires, and would you
product reliability and lifetime and in terms The development process was exciting expect connectivity to be soon integrated
of light quality including minimal flicker, and presented us with an opportunity to into drivers or does the fragmented market
smooth dimming, and other characteristics. understand more about the market and mean modular approaches will dominate?
Your Osram Digital Systems team went fur- the details of this application segment. The Nalla: We wanted to ensure that our
ther, adding features such as programma- teams were focusing on driver design and Hybrid Emergency LED drivers are not
bility and auxiliary power outputs — and battery pack designs, which represent the short of enabling connectivity in any oper-
then developed this model with both nor- high quality that Osram stands for. ating mode. This is the ‘mantra’ for our
mal and emergency modes. Clearly, our Sap- LEDs: Did the development process in entire LED driver portfolio. I expect the
phire judging panel valued the innovation. the case of this driver product follow a nor- modular approach will still be in the best
1807LEDS_20 20 7/10/18 11:54 AM

interest of the industry given the many • Through a dedicated and fool-proof har-
unknowns in the market. ness, the solution supports simpler man-
LEDs: Regarding the emergency mode ufacturing steps and post-installation
of your products, the documentation sug- service calls
gests that the driver automatically performs LEDs: In a facility, a specifier would
recurring tests of that capability as required install the emergency-capable drivers in a
by some regulations in different regions. small percentage of the overall luminaires,
Can you provide more details on exactly right? In terms of the normal illumination
how that testing works, and how the facil- mode, is the driver circuit identical in driv-
ities personnel would document the emer- ers with and without the emergency mode?
gency mode testing? Would characteristics such as flicker and
Nalla: Our drivers now have a fea- dimming performance be identical?
ture called Self-Test, which will allow for Nalla: We made sure that the per-
automatic testing of the battery packs as formance of emergency drivers in Nor-
required by the code, ensuring the health mal mode would be identical with our
of the EM Solution. These tests are run normal LED drivers for dimming and
monthly and annually, and the feedback of flicker performance.
“I expect the modular approach will still be

in the best interest of the industry given the
many unknowns in the market.”
this testing is given out through the LED LEDs: We know Osram has been success-
Test Switch, connected to the driver. This ful in the driver business both supplying
allows the facility manager to take care of internal customers and other lighting man-
fixtures which are showing issues through ufacturers. Indeed, in our visit to some of
this outward visible switch instead of send- the largest lighting manufacturers around
ing personnel to manually test every emer- the globe, we have seen test benches and
gency fixture. manufacturing lines with Osram drivers
LEDs: If you had a luminaire with a con- evident. Is it the performance of the prod-
nectivity module connected to the driver, ucts that most often wins you business?
could you remotely monitor the status of What do you do to minimize flicker? How
emergency mode testing? do you ensure smooth dimming? What are
Nalla: This feature is not available in our the critical features to your customers?
current offerings. Nalla: The reason our drivers are well
LEDs: What are the advantages of hav- accepted in the industry is that we pay a
ing the emergency mode integrated into lot of attention to the needs of our custom-
the same driver that powers normal light- ers. The features combined with best-in-
ing modes? Is it the fast switching time pri- class reliability makes us win. Flicker min-
marily? Is there a cost of goods advantage? imizing is a design feature that we ensure
Nalla: The major advantages are: is done across the portfolio, and this is
• Simplified fixture design true for dimming also. We have years of
• Simplified manufacturing for OEMs experience in mastering these circuits
• Reduced cost through fewer components and production.
— no need for a dedicated LED driver Critical features in our offerings that cus-
• Since it’s programmable in EM mode: tomers utilize and appreciate are:
• OEMs can build the fixture so the out- • Programmable currents
put during EM mode can be tuned for • Programmable AUX power channel
various application heights and meet- • Programmable dim to off — no need for
ing the code, thereby not wasting mechanical relay or power packs
extra lumens or underestimating the • Programmable dimming
lumen requirements • Programmable thermal protection
• OEMs can reduce their SKU count • End-of-life feature
1807LEDS_21 21 7/10/18 11:54 AM

• Constant lumen feature

• Dimming consistency stock fewer
and performance SKUs, right? But
• Wide operating voltage current clearly you are using the
and power ranges programming capability to
LEDs: We noted in your docu- offer luminaire manufacturers more
mentation that you offer a number of bat- control of their end-product feature set.
tery options for the emergency mode sup- Please describe the other features that can
Sapphire Award-winning Optotronic
port. Can you tell us about the options and be programmed such as LED thermal pro-
Programmable LED Emergency Driver
why there are choices? Is the flexibility in tection and constant lumen mode.
from Osram Digital Systems.
place to support different regulatory envi- Nalla: With programmability, we give
ronments? Does luminaire form factor come Nalla: The philosophy for our intercon- the luminaire manufacturers full control
into play? nect is to make both production and post- of product features (mentioned above) that
Nalla: The battery configurations are sale servicing simple and efficient for pro- they want to bring into market as part of
mainly for accommodating different fixture duction and field personnel who often have their offerings.
types. This is another example of our cus- a tough time dealing with multiple wires in LED thermal protection helps to increase
tomers’ involvement and feedback ensuring a traditional solution. the reliability of their fixtures based on
our solutions meet their demand. With this in mind, we made sure to have their application, and constant lumen mode
LEDs: In terms of connecting the battery, a single harness connection that is ensured ensures that the fixture always emits the
we understand that your team engineered to work each and every time. same amount of light throughout its life-
a novel harness that simplifies the process. LEDs: Last, we’d like to address the pro- time by increasing the current in the future
Can you tell us more about the philosophy gramming capabilities of the drivers. One to compensate the LED lumen depreciation.
behind that interconnect and exactly how reason that programmability is import- LEDs: Osram as a whole and Osram Dig-
it works? ant is so that luminaire manufacturers can ital Systems has a great reputation and a
compelling SSL portfolio, so winning an
award is probably not a surprise. Still, we
LED Horticultural Light Testing

would ask what it meant to your team to
win Sapphire. And why did the team decide
to enter the Optotronic Programmable LED
Emergency Driver in our program?
Nalla: Winning the Sapphire Award is
Get a complete picture of the effectiveness and efficiency of your lamp very exciting for the entire team; we feel
that our hard work and dedication have been
recognized, as well as our commitment to
bringing innovative solutions to market.
LINKS
Sapphire Awards now open for submissions

The LEDs Magazine Sapphire Awards is now
in its fifth year and will feature 15 product/
technology categories, as well as the
Illumineer of the Year recognition. The main
thing that really stands out in the Sapphire
Awards program is that it truly recognizes
the importance of a breadth of technologies
across the LED and lighting industry. The call
for entries is now open. Whether you’re a
“young upstart” or an established leader in
lighting, we’re looking for your contributions to
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the new era of SSL technology. Visit https://
l www.ledsmagazine.com/sapphire to learn
lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll more about the program and the Awards
lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Gala, find category descriptions, and submit
your SSL products or your nominations for the
Illumineer of the Year.
CSllGlllllSlllllllll(425)l605-8500lllllllllllllll@llllllll.llllll
1807LEDS_22 22 7/10/18 11:54 AM

exhibition | LIGHTFAIR 2018
SSL sector shows maturity at LFI, building

blocks simplify path to success
Smart lighting and the IoT remain the big headliners at all lighting industry events, but MAURY WRIGHT
explains that under the surface at LightFair International, it was the maturing enabling technology
infrastructure that will hasten time-to-market for high-quality lighting and support for connectivity at
the luminaire or SSL system level.
O
ne can still be bedazzled walking
the aisles at LightFair International
(LFI), with beautiful products and
vignettes aplenty and compelling smart light-
ing demonstrations ranging from indoor way-
finding to smart city applications. But that
eye candy has been at LFI for several years.
For the second consecutive year, however, it
was the maturing LED and solid-state light-
ing (SSL) sectors, which have learned about
product and system development from the
electronics industry, that stood out. From
LED component vendors to software devel-
opers, the compelling demonstrations were
mostly in the area of building blocks and
subsystems that will allow the industry to FIG. 1. The T-Series driver and ESN controller from Lutron
quickly develop luminaires with great light simplify tunable luminaire designs and ensure a simple user
quality, easily support the Internet of Things interface once such products are installed.
(IoT) trend in luminaires and systems, and
promptly add support for features such as tions of light quality both in new products Lutron is making a
tunable lighting that might just make for and over time in installed systems. More- major push into tun-
enjoyable ambience or perhaps will pro- over, that specifier community wants sup- able lighting both in
foundly impact human wellbeing. port for new features such as tunable light- enabling technolo-
What you will notice as you continue ing. The enabling technologies we will gies and in complete
through this article is that the head- discuss can support product and system SSL systems. Not long
line-grabbing developments such as the development across the landscape of what before LFI, Lutron
IoT are still important. The lighting indus- specifiers might desire. acquired Ketra — a
try must execute on these new applications startup company dedicated to tunable light-
for networked LED-based lighting to suc- Tunable SSL ing for health and wellbeing including the
ceed long term. But the industry largely got Let’s start with tunable lighting that, as we fixtures and complex control system. We
ahead of itself with companies developing implied previously, can lead to human-cen- recently published a two-part article series
proprietary systems and pushing applica- tric lighting installations, or what might be on a Ketra residential installation (http://bit.
tions before their customers were ready. Now called lighting for health and wellbeing. The ly/2yFGqDJ). And Ketra occupied a major part
we are seeing more partnerships, some slight tunability could instead be used for aesthet- of the Lutron LFI exhibit.
move toward standards, and the evolution ics. While the lighting-for-health science is But Lutron is at heart a lighting con-
of ecosystems that can make the IoT vision still developing, it’s getting much simpler for trols specialist. And the company has taken
more affordable. SSL product developers to deliver products its LED driver portfolio in the direction
Meanwhile, the lighting specifiers and with variable CCT or variable spectral power of tunable lighting. At LFI, the company
designers continue to ramp their expecta- distribution (SPD). announced the T-Series 2-channel driver and
1807LEDS_23 23 7/10/18 11:54 AM

the companion T-Series ESN controller (Fig. in precise dimming of LED luminaires via human-centric lighting. We did not see any
1). The driver allows luminaire manufac- its Hi-Lume driver family. At LFI, the com- new breakthroughs at LFI in terms of new
turers to easily develop tunable luminaires pany announced the Hi-Lume Premier line packaged LED concepts; rather, we saw the
because the driver can separately control the for architectural lighting applications with industry begin to adopt new components we
intensity of two individual LED strings. And dimming support down to 0.1% of full out- covered in the past year. Indeed, the product
with such control, a luminaire can deliver put and features such as soft on and fade to design cycle takes some time.
light with variable intensity and CCT. black. The driver includes support for the For example, Seoul Semiconductor was
Of course, the control side of the equation Lutron EcoSystem digital control intercon- featuring its SunLike series of LEDs that
isn’t simple. But the T-Series ESN makes it so nect that is DALI (digital addressable light- were initially announced in June 2017
because specifiers can pair existing Lutron ing interface) compliant. (http://bit.ly/2yGfJz3). The violet emitter
wall panels and smartphone controls with the and three-phosphor mix deliver an SPD that
T-Series ESN. Meanwhile, the T-Series ESN can LED light quality mimics the sun in the human visual range.
connect to one driver/luminaire or a room full Of course, great drivers would do the SSL sec- At LFI, Seoul announced a list of SSL man-
of them. So the combination can support tun- tor little good if we didn’t also have a steady ufacturers that have brought SunLike-based
ability on a small room or full facility scale. stream of high-quality packaged LEDs that lighting products to market and had many of
Lutron has also been among the leaders are supporting advancement of light qual- those products on display (Fig. 2). The cus-
ity at the system level and tomer list included LED Luks, FLOS Archi-
enabling applications such as tectural, LTS Licht & Leuchten GmbH,
LED Luks Spectra Yeelight, EssenziaLED LED Lighting, Fer-
rolight Design, and Alphabet Lighting (Ledra
EssenziaLED Brands). Seoul believes that SunLike will per-
vade general lighting, human-centric light-
ing, and horticultural lighting applications.
At the earlier Light+Building event in Frank-
furt, the company held a symposium on light-
ing for health (http://bit.ly/2tAD2o8).
Meanwhile, Nichia announced its Optiso-
lis LED line early this year with the compo-
nents delivering CRI above 90, including for
the 16 individual color samples (http://bit.
Alphabet ly/2yF9xah). Unlike Seoul attempting to
Lighting FerroLight
match SPD to the sun, Nichia is attempting to
match the Optisolis SPD to that of the stan-
dard illuminant that is the basis of CRI and
other metrics. Fig. 3 depicts the Optisolis SPD
relative to the standard illuminant; you can
see that Nichia minimized the blue peak and
also the dip in energy that often occurs just
after the blue peak in phosphor-converted
white LEDs. We’d expect to see Optiso-
lis-based products on the market soon. Also
on a related subject, Nichia and Future Elec-
LTS Lighting FLOS
tronics presented a very compelling webcast
recently on LED and SSL system reliability
and lifetime (http://bit.ly/2yGdUC9).
Osram Opto Semiconductors also demon-
strated its new Pure LED family at LFI that’s
intended for premium lighting applications
such as in high-end retail. The Pure archi-
tecture emits only from the flat top surface
of the LED and therefore offers extremely
uniform beams and great color over angle.
Those benefits are achieved via Osram’s
FIG. 2. Seoul Semiconductor has signed on several lighting manufacturers to make UX:3 technology where the LED chip is
products serving a range of applications with the SunLike LED family. lifted off the sapphire growth substrate at
1807LEDS_24 24 7/10/18 11:54 AM

Intensity (a.u.) more complex with mid-power and chip- manufacturers developing smart lighting
scale package (CSP) components requiring products. Consider TE Connectivity, a com-
Ra ≥ 80 automated surface-mount-capable assem- pany that had such modular products for
Optisolis bly lines. And the modular approach signifi- both outdoor and indoor SSL applications.
cantly shortens market windows. Now man- The company has long supported smart
Standard illuminant
@ 5000K ufacturers are adding features such as drivers functionality in street lights with its NEMA-
and control circuits on board. compatible receptacle that would allow a
Still, the Level 2 engagements were gener- luminaire maker to design the internal sen-
ally limited to high-volume commodity lumi- sor, control, or connectivity circuitry.
naire types such as troffers and round down- TE’s latest NEMA product further inte-
lights — but that’s changing as well. At LFI, grates a power supply and AC-power-switch-
for instance, Lumileds showed its modular ing relay, leaving less development work for
380 480 580 680 780
light-guide line that the company added to the luminaire manufacturer. Development
Wavelength (nm)
its Matrix portfolio just before the exhibi- engineers would simply design a secondary
FIG. 3. The Optisolis LED family from tion, which is based on planar lightguides and PCB that mounts on the three posts that TE
Nichia has an SPD that mimics that of enables elegant, sleek surface-mount fixtures designed into its base (Fig. 5).
the standard illuminant that is the basis in many shapes. For indoor, connected-SSL applications,
of popular color metrics. Lumileds refers to the Matrix TE offers the AmbiMateMS4 sensor mod-
additions as Integrated Light ule in PCB form. The PCB can easily be inte-
the backend of the production process and Guides. The planar technology has
Matrix platform integrated light guide
then is flipped and mounted to an opaque largely been used by large lighting
silicon substrate. You can get more detail in companies including Eaton; Cur-
a video interview that we shot in the Osram rent, powered by GE; and Cree. For
Opto booth (http://bit.ly/2tAu8qw). example, Cree entered the market
Moving along, Cree continues to offer what back at LFI 2015 with the WaveMax
is probably the broadest packaged LED port- family (http://bit.ly/2MVCLEY).
folio for lighting while developing parts for For the Matrix planar products,
specific applications. At LFI, for example, the Lumileds sources the light guide
company demonstrated the XLamp XP-G3 S that ensures uniform diffuse
line that is a specialized version of the stan- light and handles the mechani-
dard XP-G3 LED, with the “S” indicating cal design to couple the LED edge
improved sulfur resistance that would deliver lighting to the optic. The company
better lifetime in outdoor and other harsh builds the modules to specifica-
environments. The company also added LEDs tion in terms of size and shape. A
to its High Current CMT chip-on-board (COB) typical ceiling-mount round prod-
LED family with the newest products match- uct tells a compelling story at only
ing the form factor of Citizen Electronics’ COB 4 mm thick while delivering 1500
line (http://bit.ly/2MXwb0B). lm (Fig. 4). The driver would be
mounted in the ceiling with such
FIG. 4. The newest modular light engine
Modular light engines a thin product.
The enabling technology help for luminaire Level 2 products further afford manufactur- products in the Lumileds Matrix family
makers today goes far beyond LEDs. For sev- ers many options in driver circuitry today. For include integrated edge-lit light guides
eral years, we have covered the development example, Seoul Semiconductor demonstrated and, as the side view of the product
of modular light engines or printed-circuit AC-LED modules in square, circular, and lin- shows (left), an incredibly sleek form.
boards (PCBs) that integrate LEDs in form ear form factors that integrate the Acrich AC
factors that match the needs of popular driver technology. The company even has a grated into a luminaire and includes motion,
luminaire form factors. That modular busi- version that has passed 4-kV surge testing, temperature, humidity, and light sensors.
ness has been called a Level 2 engagement. enabling usage in luminaires for 277V commer- The company further plans to add sound and
Modular products have always been available cial applications, whereas most AC-LED tech- gas (CO and CO2) sensing in future models.
from third-party OEM suppliers and contract nologies have targeted residential applications.
manufacturers, but Lumileds was one of the Wireless sensors
first LED manufacturers to embrace the con- Enabling connected lighting Osram Digital Systems also demonstrated
cept back in 2014 (http://bit.ly/2MW60r6). There were also quite a few modular or some interesting sensor technology in the
The Level 2 approach has increased in pop- subsystem-level products demonstrated at SensiLUM product that is packaged in plastic
ularity as LED manufacturing has become LFI that can simplify the task of luminaire and small enough to hold in your hand. The
1807LEDS_25 25 7/10/18 11:54 AM

design includes some outward-facing sensors

such as a PIR (passive infrared) sensor for
occupancy in a space and a photo sensor for
measuring ambient light. Those elements of
the integrated multisensor product would be
mounted on the luminaire in a way that the
optic dome is exposed to the space. You can
get a look at the sensor in a video interview
we conducted at LFI (http://bit.ly/2MYzd55).
The SensiLUM product can further com-
municate with a compatible driver via either
a 0–10V connection or the Osram DEXAL
(data exchange for advance lighting) inter-
face — a non-proprietary bidirectional inter-
face for intra-luminaire communications.
The former would simply enable control of
driver output, while the latter allows Sensi-
LUM to report driver performance data such
as power consumption, operating time, and
FIG. 6. Signify’s OEM unit exhibited Philips EasySense wireless sensors that
thermal data.
communicate with the company’s SR (Sensor Ready) LED drivers for various
To connect to a wireless central man-
connected lighting configurations.
agement system (CMS) such as the Osram
Encelium IoT platform, the SensiLUM fur- modules. At LFI, Signify demonstrated the Bee support along with ambient light and
ther integrates a ZigBee radio with a 150- Philips EasySense family of intelligent wire- occupancy sensors and could be used with
ft range in line-of-sight conditions or 50-ft less sensors. Moreover, the company pre- or without a gateway. The SNS300 adds sup-
range through walls. Such a wireless link sented a recent webcast explaining its vision port for scheduling and demand response
would allow the CMS to capture data such for enabling manufacturers to easily develop and generally would be used with a gateway
as occupancy, track energy usage, and con- connected products (http://bit.ly/2tqBgGy). and perhaps a BMS. The SNH200 matches
trol the luminaires remotely. Signify supports three scenarios for the features of the SNS200 but has sensors
The Signify (formerly Philips Lighting) smart lighting: standalone fixtures with designed for high-bay lighting, whereas the
OEM business unit offers a similar archi- autonomous occupancy and daylighting other two products are targeted at commer-
tecture for smart luminaire designs. We controls, connected fixtures with no gate- cial office spaces (Fig. 6).
covered the company’s SR (Sensor Ready) ways or connection to a building manage- The Signify sensors have one other inter-
LED driver platform after demonstrations ment system (BMS), and connected fixtures esting feature. The NFC (near-field commu-
at LuxLive. Those drivers include a DALI- with gateways and a BMS link. Further- nication) capability in smartphones can be
based intra-luminaire interface that can more, Signify demonstrated three Easy- used to configure or commission the sensors
connect to sensor, connectivity, and control Sense products. The SNS200 integrates Zig- before luminaires are installed in the ceiling.
Or once installed, the IR feature in smart-
FIG. 5. TE Connectivity offers phones can handle that task. For more infor-
a NEMA module for street mation on the wireless commissioning prob-
lights that can jumpstart lem being experienced across the industry,
smart-city developments and see our feature article on the topic (p. 39).
a sensor module for indoor-
targeted luminaires. Disinfection through SSL
At its roots, the smart lighting trend is about
using the infrastructure being installed for
necessary artificial light to accomplish other
applications or services that may have lit-
tle to do with our ability to see. And LEDs
with easily tunable spectra can enable an
ever-broadening set of new applications.
One such application that was front and
center at LFI was continuous disinfection
through light in the violet and ultraviolet
(UV) spectral ranges, with Hubbell Lighting
1807LEDS_26 26 7/10/18 11:54 AM

and Current, powered by GE announcing FIG. 7. LEDvance has German origins,
such technology for the first time. Chinese ownership, and two US
The concept of continuous disinfection is factories producing LED lamps on
a compelling one, with pathogens lurking in automated manufacturing lines.
spaces ranging from athletic locker rooms
to food and beverage operations to health- the white light when no one is pres-
care-centric facilities — and more. Of course, ent in a space, leaving only the vio-
you can use UV-C (ultraviolet C-band) energy let light to work its magic.
to kill most any pathogen almost instantly. Vital Vio did not have an LFI
But that spectrum ranging from 100–280 nm exhibit, but the company has
will kill healthy cells as well and is dangerous licensed its technology to other
to the human eye and other organs. Light at lighting manufacturers in addi-
longer wavelengths takes much longer to kill tion to making some of its own
bacteria but can be used with people present. products. Visa Lighting and Acuity
Vital Vio is one of the pioneers of the contin- Brands are two prominent licensees
uous disinfection application. That company that were at LFI.
uses violet energy that it says will kill 90% of Still, it was the newcomers that
the pathogens within a room over the course made the application stand out.
of one day. The violet energy targets specific Hubbell Lighting announced that it signed The violet technology being used by Hub-
molecules in bacterial cells and delivers an a licensing agreement with the University of bell is from the same intellectual property
overload of oxygen that explodes the cells over Strathclyde for access to the Glasgow, Scot- source that underlies products from Kenall
time. The violet emission is mixed in with the land school’s continuous disinfection tech- Manufacturing. Kenall was the first to mar-
broader-spectrum light that humans need to nology; the company demonstrated an ear- ket with continuous-disinfection technology
see, although some luminaires can power off ly-stage prototype of a light engine at LFI. and earlier this year won its second LEDs
Time-efficient sourcing Spectral light

and education for measurement for lab
lighting pros – in a and production
location near you! Precise light measuring of
LED lamps and lighting
to international standards.
#LEDSUM
www.gloptic.com
SEPTEMBER 6, 2018
DENVER COLORADO CONVENTION
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SEPTEMBER 25, 2018
WASHINGTON STATE
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1807LEDS_27 27 7/10/18 11:54 AM

Magazine Sapphire Award for the Indi-

go-Clean ambient lighting product family
(http://bit.ly/2yqNwfe).
John DiNardi, general manager and vice
president of the Hubbell Lighting Components
Business, said the two companies have licenses
to service different markets. The Kenall license
covers products sold into the healthcare mar-
ket, according to DiNardi. Hubbell’s license
states that it can supply the markets for “areas
of congregation and the food and beverage
industry.” DiNardi said areas of congrega-
tion would include places like locker rooms
where bacteria is a dangerous problem in set-
tings from youth to professional sports. Hub-
FIG. 9. Cree’s dynamic, recessed Arcadia fixture represents a new era in indoor
bell refers to the technology as High-Intensity
lighting that mimics the changing qualities of natural daylight while looking very much
Narrow-Spectrum (HINS) lighting.
like a skylight in the ceiling.
Having licensed the technology, the Hub-
bell Lighting Components team will develop nm range, and that it developed the intellec- Light+Building (http://bit.ly/2yGvg1I), the
the light engines and technologies based on tual property in house. company offered a strong lamps message
the intellectual property, such as the linear Current appears focused on health- at LFI while still demonstrating numer-
light engine demonstrated at LFI. Initially, care-centric applications for the UV-A tech- ous luminaires. The company especially
the technology will come to market across nology. The company said hospital read- highlighted the lamps being made in its St.
the Hubbell Lighting brands in various lumi- missions due to healthcare-associated Mary’s, PA and Versailles, KY factories (Fig.
naire form factors. There is also the possibil- infections account for 28% of all readmis- 7). The US-made products include A-line,
ity that Hubbell Lighting Components could sions. And the company expects the contin- globe, BR, and PAR lamps, and the com-
eventually supply the enabling technology to uous-disinfection technology to positively pany said its investment in automation has
other luminaire manufacturers. impact that trend. The company could apply made manufacturing in the US economi-
Current, meanwhile, is the first company the technology in a variety of form factors. cally attractive. LEDvance also gets high
we have seen that plans to use UV energy for marks for the most creative party at LFI in
continuous disinfection. The company said Lighting products of note Chicago with a Speakeasy venue to which a
the approach relies on UV-A emission. Gener- Of course, we would be remiss if we failed secret phrase was required for entry.
ally, UV-A implies wavelengths ranging from to discuss any lighting products in an LFI We continue to struggle to understand
315–400 nm as we covered in an article on exhibits story. And yes, there was plenty to the long-term plans for cousins LEDvance
Strategies in Light presentations a few years see, although there seemed to be less in new and Forest Lighting to operate as separate
back (http://bit.ly/2MJ0Qhh). The top of the luminaires that really wowed — or maybe we entities when both are essentially owned
UV-A range is just below the violet 405-nm have just become jaded. by Chinese conglomerate MLS. MLS had
area used in visible-light products. Current The LEDvance booth brought surprises. launched Forest into the US before acquir-
said its products will emit in the 300–380- After stressing its presence in luminaires at ing a stake in LEDvance, and recently MLS
assumed 100% ownership of LEDvance
(http://bit.ly/2yGwtpM).
LEDvance remains a far larger and global
company, but Forest is following a similar
path in moving from being a lamps supplier
to a company delivering luminaires and
some more advanced technologies. At LFI,
Forest demonstrated 2×2- and 2×4-ft trof-
fer-style fixtures with flat-panel optics that
also delivered tunable-white capability, and
they can be controlled by a smartphone. In
the lamps area, Forest demonstrated LED-
based T8 retrofit lamps made from glass and
said those products can be manufactured
FIG. 8. Fulham hides emergency lighting in the seams of T-grid ceilings, but the more economically than the more common
fixtures can deliver significant light output for 90 minutes after a power failure. plastic tubes.
1807LEDS_28 28 7/10/18 11:54 AM

New ideas in luminaires photons to where they are needed or desired optic. But the four sides of the recessed area
New ideas in luminaires at LFI ranged from while also reducing the size of luminaires also delivered light in some manner.
functional to elegant. In the functional cate- and enabling new form factors. The effect of Arcadia was mimicking the
gory, consider the EZ Exit Lighting Kit from QuarkStar had several demonstrations experience of the sun in terms of intensity
Fulham (Fig. 8). The unobtrusive fixtures hide within the Avnet exhibit area including what and CCT or SPD over a chronological period.
in the seams of T-grid suspended ceilings with it is calling the Edge-X technology. In one The demonstration included a sense of com-
only an integrated test switch overtly evident. demo, a clear cylindrical optic descended pass direction in terms of the sun movement
But the 24-in. model can deliver 1480 lm and from the ceiling and is virtually invisible in over the course of a day. The static photo
the 48-in. model can deliver 2485 lm for 90 the off state. When powered on, the optic does not quite do justice as a representation
minutes after a power failure with Fulham’s only produces light from the circular bot- of the concept (Fig. 9). We have seen similar
HotSpot driver hiding in the ceiling. tom surface. QuarkStar also showed a lin- products before, including the CoeLux lumi-
Moving to the elegant, Focal Point demon- ear optic measuring 2 cm thick that emits a naires that were designed in Italy and have
strated its Skydome Edge product line. The selection of beam patterns from the bottom been deployed in a few instances such as in
round pendant luminaires utilize LED edge edge. The company is licensing the technol- a Copenhagen restaurant that wants to proj-
lighting for a uniform diverse beam. More- ogy to luminaire manufacturers. ect a California feel (http://bit.ly/2yGwyK0).
over, different models can yield both direct Cree also got into the conceptual area in its But the technology has been very expensive.
and indirect lighting. Direct output ranges booth this year with a cordoned-off demon- Clearly, the technology involved in
to 14,000 lm with diameters as large as 4 ft. stration room showcasing a technology the dynamically mimicking the sun has been
Now the most compelling demonstra- company called Arcadia. In the demonstra- very complex. But LFI would indicate that it
tions at a major event such as LFI are inevi- tion room, there were several square recessed may be realizable in more mainstream appli-
tably products that are in the concept stage. panels in the ceiling that looked very much cations soon. Indeed, Cree doesn’t typically
For example, we have been following Quark- like skylights. The system appeared to gener- experiment with low-volume product con-
Star for several years — a startup company ate lighting effects from behind the panels at cepts. In any case, it would be quite pleasant
focused on optics technology that can direct the top of the recessed area through a planar to live or work under Arcadia.
1807LEDS_29 29 7/10/18 11:54 AM

industry insights | LIGHTING FOR HEALTH
The time is now for the IoT to

advance lighting for wellbeing
LRC director MARIANA FIGUEIRO lays out the smart play for progress in human-centric lighting, or
lighting for health and wellbeing, which is to integrate intelligent data-collection functionality with
lighting to enable customized circadian lighting.
T
he Internet of Things (IoT) is here to FIG. 1. Solid-state
stay. Everyone is now connected to lighting (SSL) products
something —a phone, a tablet, a com- combined with the
puter, even a light bulb. And the number of IoT- behavioral data-tracking
connected devices is growing rapidly. A recent applications of the IoT
study by market researcher Gartner conserva- can deliver healthy home
tively estimates that the number of connected lighting that supports
“things” worldwide in 2017 will more than dou- circadian rhythms with
ble by 2020, increasing from about 8.4 billion appropriately-timed
devices to 20.4 billion devices, with more than morning (top) and evening
60% of the growth being attributable to con- (bottom) light settings.
sumer products and services (https://gtnr.it/
2J2nYGn). Lighting already plays a key role in
this networked world because it provides an
essential service in every space that is con-
nected to the IoT. Realizing that the luminaire
is perfectly suited to IoT infrastructure, the
Photo credit: Lighting Research Center.

lighting industry has capitalized on this devel- information, and that we light
oping opportunity. spaces for many reasons. Light
With the IoT in place, we can now track reaching the retina allows us to
individuals’ locations in buildings, discern see effectively and efficiently,
what they are doing, suggest products that helps us navigate through the
they might need (or don’t yet know they need), built environment, creates an
adjust the indoor environment to provide com- atmosphere, and helps to min-
fort (visual, thermal, air quality, etc.), calculate imize the risk of falls.
energy use, and a host of other tasks. The result More to the point at hand,
is that we now have multiple sensors following though, light also regulates
us in multiple ways, generating “big data” that the timing of our biological
can interface with myriad systems operating clock and thereby affects our sleep, alert- region of the brain. The master biological
on vastly different scales. But to what end will ness, health, and general wellbeing. Yet clock is stimulated by light received on our
the data be used, and for what real value? What light’s effect on these outputs of the biolog- retinas, and research has found that we need
can lighting contribute to these rapidly evolv- ical clock is perhaps the most complex and to be exposed to a sufficient amount of light
ing and increasingly complex systems? least understood aspect of lighting. in the right spectrum for a sufficient amount
Biological rhythms that repeat about of time and at the right time to remain syn-
Light and health: Biology basics every 24 hours are called circadian rhythms, chronized with the solar day.
We should keep in mind that lighting is not and light is the main stimulus that synchro- A lack of synchronization can have nega-
simply a conduit for gathering and conveying nizes them with the solar day. The human tive effects on our physiological functions,
circadian system is driven by a series of bio- neurobehavioral performance, and sleep.
MARIANA G. FIGUEIRO, PhD, is director of logical clocks located in cells throughout When experienced over long periods of time,
the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer the body, which are controlled by a master as can happen with rotating night-shift
Polytechnic Institute (lrc.rpi.edu). biological clock seated in the hypothalamus workers, desynchronization has been asso-
1807LEDS_30 30 7/10/18 11:54 AM

ciated with more serious health conditions

such as diabetes and obesity, and increased
risk for cardiovascular disease and cancer.
The lighting characteristics that affect the
circadian system are different from those that
affect visibility. Melatonin is a hormone we
produce at night and in darkness and tells our
Photo credit: Lighting Research Center.

body that it is nighttime. Circadian effects are
measured by acute suppression of melatonin
and shifts in the timing (or phase) of its pro-
duction. Even low levels of light, for exam-
ple, can affect the body’s melatonin produc-
tion, but those levels are still higher than the
light levels that are required to affect vision.1,2
Humans are “blue sky detectors” because the
peak sensitivity for acutely suppressing and
shifting the phase of human melatonin pro-
duction is close to 460 nm.3-5 FIG. 2. A small, wearable tracker like the LRC’s Daysimeter is a key component in a
The effects of light-exposure types impact tailored smart lighting system that delivers scheduled lighting schemes based on
the circadian system in various ways at dif- individual user data.
ferent times of the day. “Morning” light expe-
rienced after the trough of core body tempera- treatment for SAD. But conventionally-pre- stimulation in the morning reported better
ture (one of our circadian rhythms), which scribed light therapy boxes, which are very sleep and fewer depressive symptoms than
typically occurs in the second half of the night, bright and glary, can unfortunately reduce those who received low circadian stimula-
will advance the timing of sleep in the follow- patients’ compliance with the treatment and tion in the morning (http://bit.ly/2xv9k9a).
ing cycle. On the other hand, “evening” light thereby reduce its efficacy. Newly-developed, While the importance of reducing evening
experienced prior to the trough of core body more effective technologies such as sol- light exposures to maintain a regular sleep–
temperature will delay the timing of sleep.6 id-state lighting (SSL) have permitted the wake cycle is already widely known, this
Closely connected with the timing of development and use of better targeted, less study also demonstrated the benefit of pro-
exposure is one’s cumulative history of light glary solutions for relieving SAD symptoms. viding good circadian stimulation through-
exposures over the 24-hour day. Research Most of the other published laboratory out the entire workday.
has shown that measuring this history is and field research to date has examined Field research focused on older adults with
far more informative than simply taking a lighting for office workers, older adults with ADRD has shown that a lighting intervention
measurement of light exposure at one cer- Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias providing high circadian stimulation during
tain place and time.7,8 As the circadian sys- (ADRD), and adolescents. Multiple studies the day and low stimulation at night reduced
tem appears to closely monitor light expo- have attempted to demonstrate the bene- depressive symptoms among those living at
sure, tracking the unique patterns of light fits of lighting that provides higher circa- home. In nursing homes, where light expo-
and dark experienced over the past 24 hours dian stimulation in the built environment sures are more easily controlled, the same
can help determine the best lighting prescrip- during the daytime, with some studies also intervention resulted in improvements to
tion for the next 24 hours (Fig. 1).9 Therefore, employing a reduction in circadian stimula- sleep, depression, and agitation. In another
while the spectrum and timing of light expo- tion during evening hours. Researchers gen- LRC study conducted in a nursing home, a
sures are very important factors, lighting that erally agree that lighting schemes for daylighting intervention with very high circadian
aims to promote circadian synchronization time workers should be designed to promote stimulation was delivered to residents using
(also known as entrainment) should also keep circadian entrainment, which in turn should a specially-designed LED light table (http://
track of time and control the total circadian result in better sleep, mood, health, and bit.ly/2J1FV7H). Residents who sat around the
light exposure during waking hours. perhaps performance. Additional research table, as residents conventionally do in nurs-
has also examined how light can be used ing-home common areas, showed signifi-
Lighting impact studies to increase alertness, without regard to its cantly increased sleep duration and reduced
Initial studies of light’s therapeutic appli- impact on circadian phase. This is partic- agitation and depression scores.
cation focused on treating the symptoms of ularly relevant for night-shift workers, who Adolescents can be chronically sleep
seasonal affective disorder (SAD). While the need to be alert at work but also should avoid deprived because they are unable to fall
mechanisms associated with light’s beneficial disrupting their melatonin cycle. asleep early and face fixed wakeup times on
effects on SAD are not yet well established, A recent Lighting Research Center (LRC) school days, which has been linked to depres-
physicians nonetheless recognize light as a study in five office buildings showed that sion, behavioral problems, poor performance
therapy and recommend it as a sole or adjunct office workers who received high circadian at school, and automobile accidents. This
1807LEDS_31 31 7/10/18 11:54 AM

problem can be compounded by adolescents infants in a neonatal intensive care unit household member’s light exposure through-
spending most of their day indoors in dim- whose lighting needs are also distinctly dif- out the day and transmits the data for stor-
ly-lit classrooms, which inhibits the synchro- ferent. But how do we meet these needs? age on a smartphone or other portable elec-
nization of their circadian systems with the One example of how the IoT and lighting tronic device (PED; http://bit.ly/2xwho9K).
solar day, followed by the use of self-lumi- for healthy outcomes can work together is Upon arrival at home each day, the data are
nous electronic devices in the evening, which a current joint research project involving then automatically transmitted to the home’s
can delay their circadian phase. Studies by the LRC, Lund University, and the Swed- central lighting control system, providing the
the LRC have pointed to the importance of ish Energy Agency. For this project, called basis for an individualized home-based light-
controlling the entirety of 24-hour light– the Swedish Healthy Home, we assumed ing plan for each person. This system tailors
dark patterns to effectively promote circa- that individual homes are the most effec- and administers a personalized lighting treat-
dian entrainment and reduce sleep restric- tive places for making lighting adjustments ment from the time someone walks through
tion in adolescents. to promote healthy outcomes (http://bit.ly/ the door to the time they leave the next day.
Apart from sharing the circadian sys- 2J0a6w9). Because most people have lim- For the system to work effectively, the Day-
tem’s response to patterns of light and dark, ited control over the lighting they experi- simeter (or a similar device) must be worn at
these divergent populations have very little ence in public buildings such as workplaces all waking times, whether inside or outside
in common, and lighting interventions to or schools, the home serves as the hub for a the home. As the person moves from room to
improve their health and wellbeing defy a healthy life, essentially by default. However, room, the home’s lighting system recognizes
one-size-fits-all solution. Yet that is precisely using home lighting to promote good health the personal device and dynamically adjusts
why and how the IoT can play a vital role! requires that we track and record light expo- the lighting to provide an intervention spec-
sures throughout the day, understand how ified to counterbalance the light exposures
The IoT’s role in light and health that light interacts with our biological sys- received outside the home (Fig. 3). If the sys-
Current research shows that it is important tems, and then make the necessary lighting tem’s automatic controls are undesirable at
to tailor lighting systems to meet the circa- adjustments. All these measures would be any time and for any length of time, the sys-
dian needs of the people who occupy any virtually impossible to carry out on one’s tem can be overridden and configured to pro-
given space. Control schedules for adoles- own, even for the vast majority of people in vide notifications of lighting needs and mea-
cent students will be different from those for the world’s most-developed countries. sures to be taken via residents’ personal PEDs.
ADRD patients in nursing homes, and those A technology that can track, record, and As most Americans do not live alone,
for US Navy submariners will be different interpret light exposure lies at the core of the according to the US Census, it’s easy to
again from those for night-shift nurses, who project. A device — in this case, the Daysime- imagine a situation where conflicting light-
might themselves be attending to premature ter developed by the LRC (Fig. 2) — tracks each ing needs among multiple household mem-
bers might lead to situations akin to battles
Light logger ZigBee-enabled
LED lamps over the television remote control in the
Scene composer and
ZigBee coordinator days of single-television homes (http://bit.
ly/2J2gOSq). The lighting system designed
for this project, however, is configured to
adjust the lighting in a particular area of a
Hub
server room to best suit individual needs. Should
this not be possible because several people
Activity logger
are grouped in one area at the same time, the
system can use a preset hierarchy to select
a lighting intervention suited to the per-
Internet son most in need of circadian adjustment
or most sensitive to circadian disruption
(or the parents can have the final decision!).
The system would also send a notice to the
PEDs of those whose lighting needs might
be imperiled by the chosen lighting inter-
Location-sensing app vention, advising them to use personal light
Treatment scheduling app iBeacons “dosing devices” or filtering devices such as
light goggles or spectrally-filtered glasses.
Image credits: The Swedish Energy Agency, Lund University, IAI Inc., and LRC. In this way, the lighting intervention and
any appropriate countermeasures provided
FIG. 3. The Swedish Healthy Home project infographic provides one example of how by the Daysimeter system would help to
the various devices and hardware interact in an IoT-based system to adjust to the entrain the circadian system of every house-
user’s lighting needs. hold member, every day, and thereby promote
1807LEDS_32 32 7/10/18 11:54 AM

Further reading on human-centric lighting
The Lighting Research Center (LRC) certainly has a lot to offer on additional human-
their health and wellbeing. Because the sys-
centric lighting resources from its own website publications archives — some of
tem is dynamic and portable, it would also
which are included below — but LRC director and author Mariana Figueiro has also
be easily translated to one’s schoolroom
incorporated some excellent external resources in this reading list. ◀
or workspace.
• R. Blau, “The Light Therapeutic,” The • Lighting Research Center Light &
Obstacles to an IoT role in Economist: Intelligent Life, 2014; Health Website; http://bit.ly/2LXHOUQ.
health and wellbeing http://bit.ly/2LVIytE. • M.R. Smith and C.I. Eastman, “Shift
The principal challenge for the light- • M.G. Figueiro, “Illuminating the work: health, performance and safety
ing industry is to break free from think- importance of lighting design,” problems, traditional countermeasures,
ing about lighting a particular building as TEDMED, 2015; http://bit.ly/2LVIytE. and innovative management strategies
a static, standalone entity where one pri- to reduce circadian misalignment,”
marily needs to see for task performance • M.G. Figueiro, “Light Therapy for Better
Sleep,” Sleep Rev., 2015; Nature and Science of Sleep, 4, 111–
and perceive ambience instantaneously. 132, 2012; http://bit.ly/2LRXOI9.
Research suggests that conventional light- http://bit.ly/2LRWVzj.
ing schemes in the built environment that • M.G. Figueiro, “The Value Proposition: • F.W. Turek, “Circadian clocks: Not your
deliver dim, constant light over the course Where are the Products?” Lighting grandfather’s clock,” Science, 354,
of the 24-hour day can be associated with Design + Application (LD+A), 2014; 6315, 992–993, 2016; http://bit.
disruption of the human circadian system http://bit.ly/2M0bpgC. ly/2LZ5h8r.
and elevated risks for sleep disturbances • M.G. Figueiro, K. Gonzales, and D. • M.S. Vitaterna, J.S. Takahashi, and F.W.
and reduced general wellbeing. For circa- Pedler, “Designing with Circadian Turek, “Overview of circadian rhythms,”
dian health, lighting must follow everyone Stimulus,” Lighting Design + Alcohol Res. and Health, 25, 2, 85–93,
from building to building and make adjust- Application (LD+A), 30–34, October 2001; http://bit.ly/2LYQ4nv.
ments over the entire course of the 24-hour 2016; http://bit.ly/2LXHntG.
day. The IoT holds great promise for finally
realizing comprehensive, circadian-healthy
lighting systems that do just that. Successful for pharmaceutical sleep aids? What fam- for a novel circadian photoreceptor,” J.
circadian lighting systems are those that ily would hesitate to purchase a new table Neurosci., 21, 6405–12, 2001; http://bit.
can deliver and remove circadian-effective lamp that would help a beloved grandpar- ly/2qJvBHX.
light at the right time, not just those that can ent remain at home rather than move to 4. K. Thapan et al., “An action spectrum for
tune the spectrum. It is about time! an assisted living facility? What employer melatonin suppression: evidence for a
With the implementation of the appropri- would not upgrade the workplace light- novel non-rod, non-cone photoreceptor
ate hardware infrastructure and software ing system, knowing that it would increase system in humans,” J. Physiol., 535, 261–7,
applications that track light–dark expo- employee alertness and wellbeing at work? 2001; http://bit.ly/2xza8dk.
sures and administer light treatments for With the IoT in place and rapidly growing 5. M.S. Rea et al., “A model of phototrans-
maintaining entrainment or correcting cir- in terms of distribution and capability, the duction by the human circadian system,”
cadian disruption, the IoT could provide vir- lighting industry is in an excellent position Brain Res. Rev., 50, 213–28, 2005; http://bit.
tual, 24/7 personal light and health coaching to realize healthy lighting technology for ly/2J5wvs8.
for end users. Over time, thanks to constant all and to continue to improve IoT technol- 6. S.B. Khalsa et al., “A phase response curve
and consistent monitoring by IoT technology, ogy. If the industry does not articulate the to single bright light pulses in human
circadian lighting systems could eventually value of circadian-healthy lighting beyond subjects,” J. Physiol., 549, 945–52, 2003;
learn users’ behavior and automatically pro- the four walls of static spaces or beyond tun- http://bit.ly/2xCe64X.
gram the lighting over the long term, freeing able lighting systems, however, it will not be 7. M.S. Rea et al., “A new approach to under-
them from the need to wear their personal in the driver’s seat. standing the impact of circadian dis-
sensors. The sensors could be put away until ruption on human health,” J. Circadian
users feel that they need a tune-up or tempo- REFERENCES Rhythms, 6, 7, 2008; http://bit.ly/2xpGZ45.
rarily recycled for the benefit of other users. 1. A.J. Lewy et al., “Light Suppresses 8. M.G. Figueiro et al., “Comparisons of three
Melatonin Secretion in Humans,” Science, practical field devices used to measure
Why should the lighting 210, 1267–9, 1980; http://bit.ly/2xtfIh1. personal light exposures and activity
industry take the lead? 2. J.M. Zeitzer et al., “Sensitivity of the human levels,” Light Res. Technol., 45, 421–34,
The benefits of lighting that helps us sleep, circadian pacemaker to nocturnal light: 2013; http://bit.ly/2xthoHp.
improves our mood, reduces depression, or melatonin phase resetting and suppres- 9. M. Figueiro et al., “Daylight exposure has
makes us feel more alert on the job are, sim- sion,” J. Physiol., 526, 695–702, 2000; http:// a positive carryover effect on nighttime
ply put, priceless. What parent of an autistic bit.ly/2xyi3HQ. performance and subjective sleepiness,”
child would not pay a premium for a 24-hour 3. G.C. Brainard et al., “Action spectrum for Light Res. Technol., 46, 506–19, 2014;
lighting system that would reduce the need melatonin regulation in humans: evidence http://bit.ly/2IZlGaY.
1807LEDS_33 33 7/10/18 11:55 AM

Decision making
made easy.
Lighting market research to make
the right business choice.
Reports and more at STRATEGIES-U.COM
1807LEDS_34 34 7/10/18 11:55 AM

ssl projects | ECO-FRIENDLY LIGHTING
Holland’s newest red-light district

is a big boost for bats
Specially-tuned residential street lights from Signify will help certain species overcome their aversion
to light. But will humans be able to see in this spectrum? MARK HALPER reports.
S
ome people like to collect record
albums. Some people pile up audio
gems of other sorts. Take Kamiel
Spoelstra, for instance. He has 1.5 million
recordings of bat sounds.
Yes, bats. As in the planet’s only fly-
ing mammals.
No, he didn’t download them, and no,
they’re not ringtones. Rather, Spoelstra and
his team of scientists at the Netherlands
Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) made
them, in order to analyze the effect of out-
door artificial light on the nocturnal crea-
tures. Experts have long known that many
types of bats shy away from light at night.
Spoelstra and his crew wanted to delve
deeper into that knowledge.
So, starting in 2011 they mounted micro-
phones and memory cards on trees near spe-
cially-tuned LED lightposts they installed at FIG. 1. For bats, red means “go” on the streets of Zuidhoek-Nieuwkoop.
eight different sites in the Netherlands. Spoel-
stra’s ultrasonic equipment would pick up the Five years and many terabytes of data tial development of Zuidhoek-Nieuwkoop,
high-frequency bat calls that are inaudible to later, Spoelstra and his team — which also Signify — formerly Philips Lighting — has
human ears but that sound out at deafening included Holland’s University of Wageningen leveraged Spoelstra’s findings and switched
decibels that put Iron Maiden to shame. — had enough evidence to conclude that red on 53 new streetlight luminaires and 69
In each location, Spoelstra erected four light is the cure that will help bats overcome new pathway and parking area post lights,
rows of five poles, one row emitting red, their aversion to light (Fig. 1). all emitting red light. There are more lights
one white, one green, and one emitting no “The results were really clear,” said to come, too.
light at all. Spoelstra, a behavioral ecologist at Wagen- The idea is to protect the bat population
By listening to bat activity around each ingen-based NIOO, which is part of the in the Nieuwkoop area, which is part of the
row, they could get a good sense of whether Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences, a gov- European Union’s Natura 2000 network of
some light frequencies are more intimidat- ernment advisory group. “The light-shy nature protection areas for rare and threat-
ing to bats than others. With around 20 or bats, which are the more rare species, are ened species. The 89 new Zuidhoek homes
so of the world’s roughly 1200 species of active in darkness, they forage in darkness, within Nieuwkoop represent an initiative
bats endangered, environmentalists want to but their activity is heavily suppressed by to adhere to sustainable housing and devel-
understand such things, so that towns and white and green light. As soon as they see opment standards. Protecting the local
rural areas might adjust lighting in ways it, they shy away. But not so for the red.” bat population is a key portion of the plan.
that foster bat activity while also still pro- In fact, added Spoelstra, “they are equally Therefore, bat-friendly lighting is crucial.
viding illumination to humans. active in red light as in darkness.” In fact, it was Signify senior scientist Mau-
It was around the red lights where the Spoel- rice Donners who initially came up with the
MARK HALPER is a contributing editor for stra tapes, if you will, picked up the bat cries. red recipe, having prescribed it to Spoelstra
LEDs Magazine, and an energy, technology, and Fast forward to today, where in the new, to test. Spoelstra’s results left no doubt about
business journalist (markhalper@aol.com). environmentally progressive Dutch residen- which color Signify would implement.
1807LEDS_35 35 7/10/18 11:55 AM

ssl projects | ECO -FRIENDLY LIGHTING
“The bats are less sensitive to the red/

orange part of the spectrum,” said Donners.
“Those colors appear less bright to them.
The same goes for many other mammals —
with voles, rats, and rabbits, for instance, it’s
comparable. If you show two lights of equal
brightness, one in green and one in red, the
red light will appear darker than the green
light, or than white light to them.” (While
Spoelstra also studied the effect of light and
light posts on other small mammals, the
Zuidhoek-Nieuwkoop installation is tuned
specifically for bat life.)
Dangerous detours, fast food

The darker appearance is vital to many bats,
because some bats will literally go to great
lengths to avoid illumination on their way
to their feeding areas (Fig. 2). Since bats by
FIG. 3. The red lights provide enough illumination for humans to be able to discern
nature hunt up to a few kilometers away
colors, such as on the cars in the lower left of this photo.
from their roosting spots — “they commute,”
as Spoelstra put it — any detour poses haz- ators, Spoelstra added. Odd as that might tion rate is very low — they get just one young
ards. Chief among them is the extra exertion, sound — there are few bat predators, occa- per year — so they do have to be very careful.”
which is a double whammy because not only sionally an owl or a falcon gets lucky — it In other words, they have to survive long
does it tire them out, but they then need to means that bats can’t afford to be careless enough to procreate and sustain.
find and eat more food, typically insects, to about their routes, which in normal light/ The red lights are intended to help the bats
recoup their burned-up calories. dark circumstances they find via by bounc- in Nieuwkoop do just that, but they don’t help
“They’ll need to fly a greater distance to ing sound signals off of objects such as trees all of the area’s bats. As Signify’s Donners
get to their foraging grounds, which will and listening for the echo, a biological way- explained, the locals are basically divided
take energy,” said Spoelstra. finding technique known as echolocation. into two types: fast and agile bats that don’t
Some species can also become disori- (Myth buster: Bats are not blind. They have care about artificial light and cavalierly fly
ented from the light, as bat campaigners good eyesight, but at nighttime, their echo- straight to their foraging ground even in the
have noted (see a related article on the Lux location is far superior). face of bright luminaires; and slower bats that
website at http://bit.ly/2tWRvux). “It’s not very common that owls take bats, do indeed shy away from the bright lights.
What’s more, deviating from their normal but on the other hand, bats have to be very It is the slower ones — which are also
route also potentially exposes bats to pred- careful,” observed Spoelstra. “Their reproduc- rarer and thus potentially more threatened
— that are expected to benefit from the red
lights. To talk the talk, in Holland, the rarer,
slower, and more light-shy bats tend to be
from the Myotis and Plecotus genuses (Myo-
tis are the mouse-eared variety; Plecotus are
long-eared), while the common and cavalier
bats tend to be Pipistrellus (from the Italian
word for bat, pipistrello).
The light’s benefits are twofold. Not only
Photo credit: Kamiel Spoelstra.
will the light-shy bats avoid detours, but

they should also end up with more insects
available to them. That’s because normal
white street lights attract swarming insects
and thus serve as a ready-made easy meal for
the bold, fast bats.
In normal white lighting conditions, “it’s
FIG. 2. Bats such as this Myotis nattereri won’t have to take a circuitous route to their like McDonalds to them,” said Signify’s
feeding ground because the red light won’t bother them the way other frequencies do. Donners. But with the red lights, “there’s no
Myotis nattereri is named after early 19th-century Austrian naturalist Johann Natterer. more McDonalds.”
1807LEDS_36 36 7/10/18 11:55 AM

As Spoelstra explained, that is overall a
good thing across the different bat species.
“A very nice thing about this is if you use
red lights, the number of insects accumulat-
ing around the lamps is much lower,” he said.
“As a result, the non-light shy bats do not for-
age as much around the red light. And that’s
important, because if you place light some-
where you don’t want to help the very com-
mon bats, you want to help the bats that are
not so abundant, that are a more rare spe-
cies. So by placing red light, you don’t facili-
tate the common bats, and you don’t bother
the more rare species.”
In the big picture, it all works out for the
bats, as long as the insects don’t hear the
echolocation signals (some can) and scatter
away — a sort of bat and insect version of the
cat and mouse game. But we digress.
What about us?

That all sounds great for bats. But what FIG. 4. In addition to 53 street lights, Signify has to date also provided 69 pathway
about humans? Can people really see well and parking area lights with the red recipe.
enough in the red light? After all, although
Signify has been a leader in ecologically-sen- It also helps that the residents of the exclu- emergency services. The system can also dim
sitive lighting — it deployed blue-green LED sive Zuidhoek-Nieuwkoop development in to variable low light levels during overnight
lighting on Holland’s North Sea island of principle have an environmentally-minded hours, for further energy savings in addition to
Ameland last year to help keep migratory attitude that would inherently make them the considerable savings provided by LED ver-
birds from wandering off course as they can more tolerant of what some people might sus conventional high-pressure sodium (HPS)
do in white light (http://bit.ly/2McxDuX) — consider sub-optimal lighting conditions. — estimated in this case to total around 70%.
the fundamental purpose of artificial light- “Nieuwkoop is the first town in the world to One thing the system is not programmed
ing is to assist humans. use smart LED street lights that are designed to do is to alter the light spectrum. The lights
“We don’t make lights for bats; we make to be friendly to bats,” said Guus Elkhuizen, remain red year-round, in part because bats
light for people,” Donners noted. “We assume a Nieuwkoop municipality council member. sometimes emerge sporadically from hiberna-
someone wants to install lights in the first Such absolute statements tend to be debat- tion in winter months during weather blips.
place because they want to provide a certain able. It’s certainly not the first time that a Signify did not reveal where funding came
level of safety and illumination. So the sec- town has implemented special LED lighting from for the project or how much it cost. In
ond test was, ‘What is the minimum quality to assist bats. Three years ago in another Sig- the past, it has worked with oil and gas com-
of light that we need to give this?’” nify project, the German city of Wuppertal, panies among other groups. Its history with
The answer: Signify determined that the for instance, lit the inside of a recreational environmental lighting dates back nearly 15
most important feature was to ensure that trail’s tunnel in a way that left a dark corri- years, working with oil giant Shell to help
the human eye could differentiate colors at dor near the top, in deference to bats, as Lux prevent birds from flying into offshore rigs.
night (Fig. 3). reported (http://bit.ly/2z2COvF). Its Ameland project was partially funded by
“One of the very important aspects is the Still, there’s no denying that the Zuid- an oil and gas exploration company, as well
ability to recognize colors,” Donners said. hoek-Nieuwkoop housing area has an envi- as by Ameland and Signify itself.
“For several reasons: If you’re in a car park ronmental ethos, and one that might induce “When developing our unique housing
and you can’t see any color, it would be very people to compromise their own expecta- program, our goal was to make the project
difficult to find your car. And seeing traffic tions of lighting for human purposes. as sustainable as possible while preserving
signs. And the police, if they need a witness The Zuidhoek-Nieuwkoop project is also our local bat species with minimal impact to
statement, it would be good to be able to say more extensive than the Wuppertal tunnel their habitat,” said Elkhuizen. “We’ve man-
if someone was wearing a red coat, a green (Fig. 4). Nieuwkoop has connected the lights aged to do this and kept our carbon footprint
coat, or whatever. So there are many reasons to Signify’s Interact City management soft- and energy consumption to a minimum.”
why it’s useful to have some basic color vision. ware. Among other things, Interact allows Or, put another way, Zuidhoek-Nieuwkoop
You don’t need really extreme color vision, but operators to turn up the brightness on individ- has the local bats seeing red. And in this
some basic recognition of colors is handy.” ual light points should it be necessary for, say, case, that’s nothing to get angry about.
1807LEDS_37 37 7/10/18 11:55 AM

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1807LEDS_38 38 7/10/18 11:55 AM

smart lighting | WIRELESS COMMISSIONING
Commissioning connected lighting

networks: Theory and practice,
challenges and opportunities
SIMON SLUPIK and SIMON RZADKOSZ describe the onerous challenge of commissioning wireless smart
lighting networks and how provisions in the Bluetooth Mesh standard can simplify the process.
W
ith constant technology advance-
ments and growing market
awareness, we are all getting
more and more familiar with various aspects
of wireless solid-state lighting (SSL) con-
trols and the march toward smart lighting
and the Internet of Things (IoT). However,
the commissioning process still seems not
to be getting the attention it deserves. Let’s
break it down into pieces, while looking at
how the Bluetooth Mesh standard addresses
major commissioning challenges.
Despite the fact that you see many manu-
facturers touting simple commissioning via
smartphones and tablets (Fig. 1), commis-
sioning is recognized to be one of the more
difficult issues for developers of connected
LED lighting systems. This is partly due to
FIG. 1. Silvair’s Bluetooth Mesh commissioning tools run on a variety of smart devices.
the technical complexity of wireless lighting
control technologies in general, but also due commissioning really stands for in a con- of a kind. With low computing and mem-
to multiple limitations that different wire- nected environment. ory resources, ensuring robust communi-
less protocols impose in this regard. Devel- Regardless of the wireless technology cation in dense commercial installations is
opers have a multitude of ideas for overcom- used, the commissioning process can be bro- very difficult. Not all the rules that proved
ing these limitations. Some work better, ken down into three major stages: network effective in classic IT networks are equally
some not so well, but it seems that we’ll have formation, device identification/mapping, effective in smart lighting systems. The com-
to be very patient while waiting for any sort and logic configuration. munication models applied to wireless light-
of a common, agreed-upon approach to com- ing controls are likely to evolve as time goes
missioning of smart lighting installations. Network formation by, but we’ll get back to this later. Now let’s
To proceed with wireless commission- Smart lighting installations are, at their focus on the consequences of the IT nature
ing, you need to forget everything you know core, nothing but IT networks. The most of connected lighting installations.
about commissioning of traditional, wired important rules governing the way in which From the beginning to the end, the net-
systems. In the world of wireless lighting connected luminaires and sensors commu- work formation process is a typical IT pro-
controls, this is just a completely differ- nicate with each other derive from the prin- cedure. Adding devices to a network might
ent procedure that requires a new mind- cipal communication paradigms that the IT not seem like a particularly challenging
set and new tools. But before discussing dif- industry has developed for its needs. This task, but it gets tricky when you’re commis-
ferent tools and possibilities, let’s see what fact is a blessing and a curse at the same sioning a 10-story office building with thou-
time. On the one hand, these are mature, sands of network nodes, including lumi-
SIMON SLUPIK is CTO and SIMON reliable processes that have proved effective naires, sensors, switches, gateways, and so
RZADKOSZ is a marketing writer at Silvair in multiple applications; on the other hand, on. The process is also sensitive from the
(https://silvair.com/). the connected lighting environment is one point of view of network security (http://
1807LEDS_39 39 7/10/18 11:55 AM

2
1
Importing floor plans Defining individual Choosing desired Adjusting

lighting zones lighting control scenarios operational settings
FIG. 2. There are four chronological stages of the remote planning phase — the first part of the commissioning process proposed
by Silvair in its lighting control solution based on Bluetooth Mesh.
bit.ly/2ypuXIh). Many — if not the majority smartphone app are located on the floor that well, setting up a room with a handful of fix-
— of security flaws identified in connected you’re currently trying to set up. tures might still not be such a struggle, but
lighting solutions relate to the onboarding. Developers are trying to solve this issue commissioning an entire office building can
This is because letting an unknown device by implementing all sorts of experimental easily turn into a real nightmare.
into a network is a potentially vulnera- solutions, although there is always a price
ble operation. When joining the network, to pay in the end. At one recent industry Putting the pieces together
such a device learns the network’s security conference, we even saw prototype drivers As you can see, these three major stages of the
keys, so appropriate authentication mea- integrated with barometric sensors only wireless commissioning process are very dif-
sures need to be deployed to prevent these for commissioning purposes. They allow ferent from each other. This realization means
keys from leaking outside. What is crucial for determining the precise altitude of an that in a vast majority of cases, you will need
is the secure delivery of these keys. Effec- installed driver, so that the person respon- dedicated software tools and dedicated com-
tive authentication mechanisms also pre- sible for commissioning can at least say on petencies for each of them. When a network
vent potential intruders or Trojan horses which floor a particular device is located. needs to be reconfigured for whatever reason,
from sneaking into the system when a new Then, the precise location of a given lumi- relevant actions will also need to be carried
device joins the network. naire can be determined (and marked on a out within each of the aforementioned areas.
The network formation is the part that floor plan), e.g., by forcing that luminaire to This fact obviously generates additional com-
is often completely ignored in marketing blink during the commissioning process. missioning and maintenance costs.
materials from smart solutions suppliers or This solves the identification/mapping Furthermore, connected lighting sys-
during presentations given at SSL industry issue to some degree, although the question tems based on the so-called patchwork wire-
events. But don’t be fooled: Wireless com- is whether barometric sensors is what we less frameworks (e.g., Dotdot over Thread;
missioning doesn’t start with locating the really need inside our luminaires. http://bit.ly/2yqAiiI) have even more chal-
right luminaires and setting up relevant lenges to deal with. Since completely differ-
interactions. The network must be formed Logic configuration ent technologies are used to handle typical
first, and it’s a time-consuming process that Once the network has been formed and all its networking tasks and logic configuration
requires IT engineering expertise and there- nodes have been identified and mapped, the activities, it might be very difficult to coor-
fore generates significant costs. logic configuration of the entire installation dinate certain issues that come up at points
must be set up (Fig. 2). This process implies where these technologies directly meet with
Device identification and mapping specifying all the interactions between all each other. Software tools used by each of
Once a wireless network is formed, all its devices within a network. Relevant switches them are not going to cooperate in any way,
nodes need to be physically identified and must be assigned to appropriate luminaires, so even deeper specialist intervention might
mapped on a floor plan. Only then is it pos- the sensory infrastructure needs to be con- be required, and even higher costs might
sible to set up desired interactions and sce- figured to trigger desired events and sce- have to be borne.
narios. The problem is that when commu- narios appropriately, and all operational As you can see, commissioning of con-
nication happens via a gateway — which is parameters must be adjusted so the system nected lighting systems is quite a complex
the case for almost all the wireless technol- operates as desired (or as required by build- process with multiple challenges along the
ogies used in connected lighting systems — ing energy codes). way, and multiple competencies are needed
the commissioning device (a smartphone or This configuration stage is, again, a to handle it properly. It is therefore not sur-
a tablet) is isolated from the network in a time-consuming procedure that requires prising that suppliers often prefer to steer
sense that it’s impossible to tell how far indi- dedicated software tools. The design of these away from this subject when talking about
vidual nodes are located from the commis- tools is going to have a profound impact on their solutions. The history of connected
sioning device. So if you’re commissioning a how intuitive and user friendly the com- lighting is simply too short, and there are
network in a multi-story office building, you missioning procedure is. If commissioning still too few real-life implementations and
can’t even tell which nodes displayed in your software hasn’t been developed particularly too many different underlying technologies
1807LEDS_40 40 7/10/18 11:55 AM

TABLE 1. Several parts of the commissioning process can be automated What’s important, from the perspective of
in Bluetooth Mesh networks. both network formation and other stages of
Establishing the network commissioning, is that no gateway is needed
Provisioning Generating security keys to connect with individual nodes and set
up the entire mesh network. Bluetooth is
Assigning addresses to devices
the only radio technology that allows for
Device discovery Identifying the type of a device and its functionalities
forming the network without touching the
Establishing functional groups and assigning devices to building’s core IT infrastructure. The pro-
them cess doesn’t require any gateways or Inter-
Lighting control system configuration
Defining the behavior of individual devices in response to net connection, so there is no need to obtain
specific triggers any formal agreements from the IT depart-
Configuring proxy and relaying nodes to ensure optimal ment — a process that can take much longer
network performance than one might assume. It can actually take
Network configuration
Specifying subnets to streamline network traffic and months in the case of more sensitive build-
enhance robustness ings, such as banks or hospitals.
When it comes to device identification
— with their own bottlenecks and restric- radio allows it to advertise its presence to a and mapping, Bluetooth Mesh offers signifi-
tions — to say which approach is the right provisioner. The provisioner (smartphone/ cant advantages over other wireless technol-
one. Just like the entire smart lighting envi- tablet) can invite such a device into a net- ogies. This fact, to a large extent, also results
ronment, the wireless commissioning expe- work, and once it is authenticated, security from the fact that wireless communication
rience is likely to vary strongly between dif- keys can be exchanged. This is when a device happens with no gateway in between. Since
ferent systems and technologies. becomes a full-fledged network node. a smartphone can connect with any other
In the remaining part of the article, we’ll As already mentioned, the exchange of secu- node directly, Bluetooth’s RSSI capability
look at how this process is handled by Blue- rity keys is a particularly sensitive process. In (received signal strength indication) effec-
tooth Mesh networking, a globally interoper- Bluetooth Mesh networking, depending on the tively solves the problem of device identifi-
able wireless standard that was adopted last
TABLE 2. Bluetooth Mesh yields important advantages with regard to the
year (http://bit.ly/2tafCGu). Just like in the commissioning process.
case of wireless communication itself, Blue-
No IT expertise required
tooth Mesh introduces several innovative
No gateway needed
concepts also with regard to commission- Network formation
ing, streamlining the process in a way that no No need to connect with the building’s IT infrastructure and
other wireless technology does. See our earlier obtain relevant permits
article on the new standard for more details Bluetooth’s RSSI capability (received signal strength indication)
on Bluetooth Mesh (http://bit.ly/2MCwpKE). provides the commissioning devices with precise proximity data
Device identification/mapping The commissioning app automatically narrows down the list of
Commissioning Bluetooth mesh networks visible devices to those in the immediate vicinity
In Bluetooth Mesh networking, commis- Instant mapping of devices on a floor plan
sioning remains a process that involves the Pioneering information-centric networking (ICN) approach
same three major phases: network formation, simplifies and shortens the process, while solving the challenge
device identification/mapping, and logic con- of device addressing
figuration. In a wireless environment, there Logic configuration Device replacement doesn’t require any network reconfiguration
is no escape from this pattern. But at each Fully decentralized architecture
of these stages, it provides smart solutions No single point of failure
to some big challenges. Moreover, Bluetooth
Mesh automates parts of the process (Table 1). capabilities of the unprovisioned device, the cation. Simply put, when your smartphone is
It starts with the network formation. provisioner selects a suitable authentication communicating with a particular network
Since the Bluetooth radio can be found in method and notifies the unprovisioned device node, it can tell how far this node is from
any smartphone/tablet on the market, such of the approach that is to be taken. Then both the smartphone. In practice, a smartphone
devices can be used as network provisioners devices generate an elliptic curve public–pri- app can use the RSSI filter to narrow down
if a relevant app has been installed that reli- vate key pair and exchange public keys. Each the list of displayed luminaires and sensors
ably and securely supports all the required of them calculates a symmetric key using its to those that are located in your immediate
processes. A provisioner is a node that is capa- own private key and the peer device’s public vicinity. This makes device identification
ble of adding new devices to the network. An key. From this moment forward, the symmet- and mapping a truly user-friendly process,
unprovisioned device cannot send or receive ric key is used to ensure secure data transfer while not requiring barometric sensors or
any network messages. But the Bluetooth between the two devices. any other strange inventions (Fig. 3).
1807LEDS_41 41 7/10/18 11:55 AM

Bluetooth logic configuration

ng
Moving to logic configuration, Bluetooth Addi
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information-centric networking (ICN). NEAR
This concept was initially presented as

an approach to evolve the Internet infra- 1 Walk into a room with a
tablet /smartphone. 2 Using the RSSI filter,
narrow down the list of 3 Identify which devices
you want to add to a
visible luminaires and sensors given zone.
structure and support its dynamic growth to those that are nearest.
by introducing uniquely-named data as a
core Internet principle. Moving away from S4 - Daylight Harvesting
a host-centric paradigm, the ICN model Type ?

Auto On/Off with Daylight Harvesting
Run mode ?
doesn’t care about senders, recipients, or Light fixture 5F3A Duration

10
Brightness
min
adding device
addresses. Instead, named information is Fade time
12 sec
Prolong mode ?
its focal point, making data independent Duration

10 min
from location, application, and storage.

With Bluetooth Mesh, the ICN concept 4 The network is formed
and all relationships are 5 Fine-tune the selected
scenario and desired
makes its way to the lighting industry. This configured automatically. The operational settings.
implementation is realized through a fully app implements the lighting
control scenario you selected
decentralized architecture with no sin- during the planning stage.
gle points of failure, as well as the inno-
vative publish-subscribe communica- FIG. 3. The second part of the proposed commissioning process is the on-site
tion architecture. implementation phase that uses the ability of Bluetooth to selectively address
The host-centric paradigm is the nearby nodes.
approach that has been used in all con- tion, not to specific devices. So occupancy provides multiple commissioning advan-
nected lighting solutions so far. And it status for a particular room has its own tages relative to other wireless network
didn’t prove efficient enough. With all address. The ambient light level in that room options (Table 2). The Bluetooth radio cov-
the conflicting requirements of the con- has an address, too. And it doesn’t matter how ers all the layers of the OSI (Open Systems
nected lighting environment, we’ve seen many sensors contribute to those param- Interconnect) communication model,
low-power, low-bandwidth communica- eters. Luminaires are subscribed to these which makes it capable of dealing — on its
tion technologies being unable to deliver addresses, not to individual sensor devices. own — with all relevant processes both at
wire-like reliability and responsiveness Such an approach solves a number of issues, the networking/transport level and at the
in large-scale installations. With its pub- one of them being device replacement. If a application layer. There is no need to have
lish–subscribe paradigm, Bluetooth Mesh luminaire requires replacement, the new multiple different software tools and dif-
moves away from a host-centric framework, one only needs to be re-subscribed the same ferent experts performing individual stages
enabling efficient multicast and peer-to- way as the previous one. There is no need to of commissioning. With Bluetooth, these
peer communications. change anything in the configuration of sen- stages can all be handled as part of one
Data generated by intelligent sensors sors interacting with the replaced luminaire. smooth procedure. A person responsible for
becomes addressable information. Since In Bluetooth Mesh networking, the logic commissioning walks into a room, uses the
addresses of individual nodes don’t mat- configuration stage can also be carried out RSSI filter to narrow down the list of nearby
ter, sensor data is the focal point; other using a smartphone or a tablet with a ded- luminaires and sensors, and clicks desired
nodes subscribe to it and respond accord- icated app. Such an app can provide provi- devices to identify them and map them on
ingly. Just like in the case of the ICN-based sioned network nodes with necessary appli- a floor plan. The network is formed auto-
approach to the Internet infrastructure, cation keys, while also assigning publish and matically, and all relationships are config-
this generates multiple benefits: improved subscribe addresses. This procedure allows ured in one go.
spectral efficiency, better robustness, and them to communicate with other nodes of a With the first wave of Bluetooth Mesh-en-
full scalability. This is what makes Blue- mesh lighting network. Finally, a smartphone abled devices already on its way to the mar-
tooth Mesh capable of handling even dense app can also be used to configure groups and ket, we’ll soon be able to verify whether the
connected lighting networks found in com- scenes and to adjust any operational settings. wireless commissioning process can indeed
mercial buildings. But it also radically sim- be so intuitive and easy. Much still depends
plifies the maintenance of smart light- Commissioning made easy on the design and capabilities of dedicated
ing networks. Last but not least, Bluetooth compacts software tools intended for commissioning,
In practice, this architecture means that these three major commissioning stages but the Bluetooth Mesh technology itself
during the final stage of the commissioning into a single, streamlined, and time-ef- provides a solid backbone for redefining
process, addresses are assigned to informa- ficient process. The network technology the wireless commissioning experience.
1807LEDS_42 42 7/10/18 2:54 PM

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developer forum | LED ENCAPSULATION
Polyurethane encapsulants offer

enhanced protection for LEDs in
challenging environments
LEDs are being broadly adopted in lighting in part due to the promise of long life, but as
ALISTAIR LITTLE explains, SSL product developers must take steps to protect the LEDs and other
system components to deliver on the promise.
O
ver the past decade, the use of LEDs
for home and commercial lighting
has increased exponentially, with
a wide range of applications and specialist
features that incandescent and fluorescent
lighting systems simply cannot deliver. The
broad adoption is due to a number of bene-
fits led by energy efficiency but also includ-
ing reliability and long life. Indeed, the con-
siderable improvement in the lifespan of the
component, which is substantially greater
Photo credit: Fotolia user superyoon.

than both the traditional incandescent
and fluorescent lighting technologies, can
greatly reduce maintenance costs and delay
retrofit cycles. But LEDs require complex
electronics as part of the solid-state lighting
(SSL) system and the products are regularly
used in harsh environments. To deliver long
life, product developers must get thermal
mitigation correct and often must protect
FIG. 1. Robust SSL component protection is a necessity in harsh environmental
the LEDs. Here we will discuss polyurethane
conditions, such as a swimming pool.
encapsulation to boost reliability while
maintaining good optical performance. Such LED features, along with reliabil- ensure that the LED can perform in all envi-
The potential energy savings that can be ity and energy efficiency, have effectively ronments, whether this be an internal appli-
obtained from the use of LEDs has indis- changed our conception of the LED from cation in Europe, outdoor street lighting in
putably driven the global acceptance of a component that enables a simple white India, or underwater lighting in Australia
this comparatively new technology. How- indoor bulb replacement to a multicol- (Fig. 1). LEDs are sensitive electronic compo-
ever, other benefits have been perhaps more ored, aesthetically-pleasing lighting prod- nents and often require additional protection
important in many specialty applications uct with options for some really challeng- against mechanical damage, moisture, and
and in general illumination. As a result of ing environments. other environmental factors.
LEDs’ physical characteristics — i.e., small The use of an encapsulation resin to pro-
size and relatively low weight — they have Reliability, performance, and protection tect LEDs has become increasingly com-
significantly expanded the boundaries The increasing variety and complexity of SSL mon over the past few years. The selection
of possibility for both lighting and light- applications is creating new challenges in of the resin is dependent upon several dif-
ing effects. that users still expect the highest level of per- ferent characteristics: the viscosity of the
formance despite what’s often a challenging mixed system; usable life and gel time for
ALISTAIR LITTLE is technical director of environment. Reliable product development the liquid properties; and the hardness, den-
Electrolube’s Resins Division (https://www. tests what’s available in terms of protective sity, color, and operating temperature of the
electrolube.org/). materials. In short, protective materials must cured resin.
1807LEDS_44 44 7/10/18 11:57 AM

When directly protecting the LED, there
are a number of essential factors. Key among
these is the clarity of the material applied to
ensure the maximum utilization of light out-
put from the LED. In addition, any potential
changes that can occur over the lifetime of
the LED must also be considered.
Polyurethane encapsulation
Electrolube has developed polyurethane
encapsulation resins that cover a range of
different property requirements that have
been optimized for the LED encapsulation
market. Two component (2K) resin systems
are designed to offer ease of handling and
Photo credit: Electrolube.

allow the liquid resin to flow into the hous-
ing and around the LEDs yet will react to
form a tough crosslinked polymer that pro-
tects against the environment.
Polyurethane resins are available in a
range of different size packs, which are FIG. 2. Polyurethane resins can be applied manually or automatically via machines.
designed to allow both manual and machine
mixing and dispensing (Fig. 2). For low-vol- Generally, materials companies such as lighting, it is also possible to use flame-re-
ume or prototype work, manual application Electrolube carefully assess the optical prop- tardant resins to encapsulate the units to
is often the best option. For series produc- erties of the cured resin to ensure that the meet ATEX requirements (European direc-
tion, machine application is by far the pre- resins preserve the color characteristics of tives for ensuring safety in potentially-ex-
ferred method as it allows for the production the LED to the extent possible. Still, when plosive environments).
of a consistently-mixed resin, which is inde- the color temperature of the LED is mea- The range of optically-clear resins devel-
pendent of the machine operator and the sured in an encapsulated state, you will typi- oped for LED applications comprises all
unit into which the resin is being applied. cally find that the CCT has shifted relative to polyurethane-based resins. Polyurethane
Certainly, the use of a machine is the most the LED specification. That shift is propor- resins are highly suitable for the protec-
economical method for resin application, tional to the depth of the resin layer applied tion of LEDs in a number of different envi-
and there are manufacturers who can offer over the top of the LED. However, it is pos- ronments. They can also be adapted to offer
suitable equipment dependent upon the vol- sible to minimize the color shift by careful additional benefits, such as pigmented sys-
umes to be dispensed. selection of the resin type and the depth to tems used for covering the PCB up to, but
There are some important considerations to which it is applied. not over, the LED. Such resins are used for
note when potting or encapsulating LEDs. For protection of the PCB, offering an aesthet-
example, it is important that the geometry of Protecting the SSL system ically pleasing finish while adding to the
the housing and any other pieces such as lenses Of course, we have mainly been discussing performance of the luminaire by reflect-
is considered. The mixed resin is designed to the LED itself, which is the most visible com- ing the light off the PCB and increasing
flow around any obstacles in its way; how- ponent of the lighting unit to the ultimate light output.
ever, if there are undercuts or overhangs, then end user or customer. But SSL systems are
these can potentially trap air, which can result complex, and there are other components Optical properties
in poor adhesion as well as lead to bubble for- present that would also benefit from being Of course, product developers must care-
mation during the curing time. encapsulated in resin to extend their service fully consider the system-level optical prop-
If a large volume of resin is to be potted into life. Examples include transformers, sensors, erties of a finished design that might be
a single unit, then it will be worth considering capacitors, and resistors. quite complex. The amount of light energy
potting the desired amount in two or three Product developers have options to pro- that a single LED can produce is relatively
charges or shots; this allows for any resin tect all the electronics in an SSL system. For low — hence the need to cluster a number of
shrinkage to be taken into account as well these components, there is a wide range of components together in order to produce the
as helping to minimize any trapped air. Also, encapsulation and thermal management desired amount of light. There are a number
the staged application approach allows for products that are specifically designed to of methods for obtaining the desired color,
the use of a second resin, which could be an maximize the service life of the complete either with white LEDs, which produce light
opaque or colored layer to give desired optical unit. For certain applications, such as emer- in a broad wavelength range, or with mono-
effects in the finished lighting product. gency, tunnel, and explosive-atmosphere chromatic color LEDs that produce light in
1807LEDS_45 45 7/10/18 11:57 AM

a more discrete wavelength band. By com- light, maintaining their clarity through-
bining assorted color LEDs together, it is out the exposure testing. Exposure inten-
possible to produce a wide color palette. sities will vary depending on geographical
Once the light engine design approach is location; therefore, it is important to estab-
decided upon, the protection scheme must lish the correct accelerated exposure time
be devised. for your region. As an example, this test is
Material selection can impact the prod- roughly equivalent to four years’ weather-
uct’s optical performance positively or neg- ing resistance in a typical Northern Euro-
atively. For instance, a developer can specify pean climate.
a material that essentially acts like a second- Depending on the application at hand,
ary optic, eliminating the need for a separate product developers may need to verify other
diffuser. For example, the UR5635 material material testing. End products that will be

from Electrolube was developed specifically deployed in harsh environments near or
for LED lighting manufacturers, and that under water require materials proven in
material has a hazy/cloudy light-diffusing such an environment; salt water can be an
effect (Fig. 3). SSL manufacturers have used especially tough challenge. Electrolube has
the resin to great success, achieving a warm performed such testing and documented
diffuse effect while delivering on decorative high levels of resistance for polyurethane
and protective product requirements. FIG. 3. Different polyurethane resins including to salt water.
Material selection can also provide pro- formulations can provide optical The high resistance levels allow for a wide
tection from ultraviolet (UV) energy, a fea- properties such as diffusion while also variety of underwater applications includ-
ture that is important in many outdoor protecting the components. ing underwater cable jointing, protection
applications where a luminaire is exposed of underwater LED lighting in both fresh
to direct sunlight. The UR5634 material, for several encapsulation resins. Tests were and salt water swimming pools, lighting on
example, achieves a water-white transpar- conducted in accordance with the testing ship decks, and protection of various sensor
ency for LED potting applications and is par- standard ISO 4892 Part 3 Cycle 1, “Plastics devices. In such cases, clear or colored res-
ticularly resistant to UV light. It has been Methods of Exposure to Laboratory Light ins may be needed and must offer high adhe-
widely used as an LED encapsulant in out- Sources,” and carried out in a QUV SE sion and low dielectric constant throughout
door applications. Accelerated Weathering Tester. the lifetime of the device operating in harsh
To minimize the potential for yellowing After 1000 hours of exposure, the results conditions. The following case study clearly
due to UV exposure, the polyurethane resins indicated that the optically-clear poly- demonstrates the effectiveness of polyure-
typically use an aliphatic isocyanate chemi- urethane and silicone resins, UR5634 and thane encapsulation resins for challenging
cal in the formulation, which has been care- SC3001, have superior resistance to UV and even harsh environments.
fully selected to offer optimum long-term
stability as well as having one of the low-
est hazard classifications. Since the res-
ins are polyurethane based, the maximum
service temperature is 130°C. For appli-
cations requiring products that can with-
stand higher service temperatures, product
developers have other material options. For
example, Micolube has an optically-clear sil-
icone that can withstand temperatures up
to 200°C.
Validating optical performance

Photo credit: Fotolia user angsabiru.
Product developers should further ensure

that material manufacturers have tested
their formulations and validated long-term
optical performance characteristics. Let’s
continue to discuss UV as an example. UV
stability is of key importance when consid-
ering polyurethane protection systems for
LEDs. In order to verify stability, Electrolube
completed weathering resistance tests on FIG. 4. The applicability of LEDs extends to underwater usage.
1807LEDS_46 46 7/10/18 11:57 AM

Underwater lighting
application for Australia
The case study demonstrates the effective-
ness of polyurethane resin in a harsh appli-
cation and how custom modification to the
resin formulation can be applied to meet
specific features desired in the lighting
unit. An Australian customer approached
Electrolube with a number of concerns to
address concerning the resin encapsulation
of an LED lighting unit it had designed for
swimming pool illumination (shown earlier
in Fig. 1). The lighting unit had to be sealed

against both fresh and salt water (Fig. 4).
Salt resistance was therefore imperative
when selecting an appropriate resin for this
application. The resin solution also needed
to tolerate a working temperature range
from 5–40°C as well as exhibit flame retar-
FIG. 5. Custom colors can deliver aesthetics desired by product developers.
dance with a specific resin color. The poten-
tial customer preferred a light blue shade for The polymer used in UR5097 is also highly black, blue, clear straw, hazy/cloudy, and
aesthetic reasons. resistant to the transmission of water even optically-clear formulations and offer a host
The customer had previously used an at various pressure differences experienced of properties to meet the needs of high-tem-
epoxy resin from a different supplier for due to the depth of the water. The resin’s perature environments and those exposed to
this application, but due to the highly exo- thixotropic nature was also mildly modified chemical contamination, mechanical stress
thermic reaction associated with epox- in the lab to avoid any bleed of resin through or shock, and moisture ingress.
ies, some slight deformation of the base the gap between the resin and LED unit and LEDs are the driving force today for general
unit was occurring as a result of the high to also slow down the rate of sedimentation lighting applications. Thanks to improved
temperatures generated during resin cure, to an acceptable level, while still being easy luminous efficacy and brightness, along with
which was deemed totally unacceptable. to mix and pour into the unit. Ultimately, efficiency and long life, they have revolution-
Ultimately, the customer had narrowed the the polyurethane option met with customer ized the market. But product developers must
material selection to polyurethane but still approval and confidence that the chosen ensure that they deliver on the long-life prom-
needed help choosing a specific formulation. resin will support reliable operation of the ise. And the list of tough deployment environ-
Electrolube evaluated numerous water-re- lighting products for years. ments is long. Lighting applications include
sistant polyurethane options and decided to architectural, signage, street, retail, leisure,
offer the customer the UR5097 encapsula- Other polyurethane properties office, residential, industrial, medical, aero-
tion and potting compound. The cured poly- Let’s conclude with a brief summary of space, automotive, and marine usage. The list
urethane has high thermal conductivity — other polyurethane properties that are a is endless and just as the LED market is con-
an important property for LED lighting units good match for SSL product development, tinuously growing and expanding into new
where heat must be conducted away from ensuring that the LED components deliver areas and applications, the same is true for
the individual LEDs for reliable operation. on their promise of long operational life. encapsulation resins.
The material also supports a wide tempera- Polyurethane resins are typically elasto- To overcome the practical and techni-
ture range. Notably, it is flame retardant to meric or rubbery in their cured state, which cally challenging problems that are fre-
UL94, which was another key requirement. is particularly useful if the circuit to be pot- quently encountered, product developers
As was the case with all the other polyure- ted contains delicate components. They also at LED manufacturers can turn to material
thane resins considered, the extremely-low provide chemical, dust, and moisture resis- specialists such as Electrolube for guidance
water absorption rate of polyurethane was tance as well as excellent electrical insula- on which potting and encapsulation resin
considered the most critical property for tion and good adhesion to most substrates, or thermal management product is right for
this application. both metal and plastic. their project. Whether the conditions pro-
The suggested material met all the per- Unlike their epoxy counterparts, polyure- vide a humidity, chemical, salt mist, or cor-
formance and reliability requirements of thanes have a lower exotherm during cure, rosive gas challenge, Electrolube can offer
the swimming pool project apart from the even for fast cure systems. However, cured conformal coatings and silicone, acrylic,
color. Some reformulation of the material polyurethane resins should not be allowed and polyurethane encapsulation resins to
altered the cured color to the desired light to rise above 130°C continuous service tem- enhance performance and ensure reliabil-
blue shade (Fig. 5). perature. Polyurethane resins come in white, ity throughout the lifetime of the device.
1807LEDS_47 47 7/10/18 11:57 AM

last word
LEDs deliver quality, efficient

lighting in hazardous environments
Thanks to the versatility of a new generation of LED luminaires, says Appleton Lighting’s
ELLEN HELM, no industrial area need suffer from poor light levels and uneven uniformity.
I
f forecasts hit their mark, the global indus- product and achieve savings of more than ing. Vast facilities require extensive lighting
trial LED lighting market will reach $13B by 50%, not to mention the savings when ret- networks that can consume excessive energy
2023. While LED technology is not the only rofitting traditional light sources. and demand expensive maintenance (http://
choice — or in some cases, even the best choice The US Department of Energy (DOE) fore- bit.ly/2yOzDHZ).
— to replace many energy-hungry lighting sys- casts that LED lighting will account for the Facility managers choose LED-based prod-
tems, it is rapidly becoming the leading option majority of installations in the US by 2030 ucts not only because they offer energy effi-
of plant managers striving to align energy and (http://bit.ly/2tA9MyC). The DOE is push- ciency, but also because they deliver an increas-
maintenance costs with overall business goals ing installations by requiring higher efficien- ingly shorter return on investment (ROI).
(http://bit.ly/2yNM5rH). cies in HID technologies and encouraging Initial investment for an LED retrofit or
LEDs first were used nearly half a century rebates for LED designs that meet higher effi- new installation will continue to drop in 2018
ago as a replacement for incandescent indica- ciency requirements. as the price of luminaires comes more in line
tor lamps on electronic equipment. They soon First-gen LEDs were designed without a with HIDs, making payback typically less
found applications in displays, signage, and thorough understanding of the electrical than 3 years or, depending on factors such
later general illumination. environments found in industrial as rebates, as brief as 12 months.
Thanks to advances in semiconductors, facilities. As a result, these lumi- New luminaires improve ROI by
optics, materials, and manufacturing, LEDs naires failed at rates as high as 50% saving upwards of 75% on energy
have progressed in light output, energy effi- within two months to two years costs while virtually eliminating
ciency, cost effectiveness, ruggedness, and after installation. Reacting to cus- work stoppages for lamp changes
color options. As a result, LED applications tomers’ needs and new ANSI stan- and improving productivity by pro-
have grown exponentially, and fixtures are dards, manufacturers are making viding uniform, high-quality light.
now available for industrial lighting applica- 6-kV surge protection a standard Well-designed LED fixtures offer
tions, helping to fill the void left by the phase- feature with 10 kV optional. The ELLEN HELM up to 100,000 hours of illumination
out of mercury-vapor ballasts and lamps and ANSI C62.41.2 guideline is 6 kV for with no lumen depreciation and no
metal-halide (MH) luminaires. outdoor applications and 10 kV for high-expo- penalty for frequent on/off cycles.
LED is poised to become the dominant sure outdoor applications. Advances in delivering warm-white CCT
technology for all kinds of industrial and gen- Better surge protection follows a trend of with improved efficiencies and controls to cus-
eral-purpose lighting. Several key factors will making LED lighting more robust to environ- tomize light output enable facilities to provide
drive uptake in industrial environments. ments with severe weather conditions, exces- the most productive light levels or preferred
Achieving required light levels at the low- sive moisture or dust, corrosive atmospheres, CCT for working conditions — no longer sim-
est possible energy input is critical as energy and high ambient temperatures (http://bit. ply monochromatic blue-white light.
costs rise. Government regulations are ly/2yLC3av). Applications now include the Finally, a variety of light-distribution pat-
clamping down on energy waste and have put demanding hazardous-location lighting sec- terns allows installers to maximize fixture
a target on traditional light sources. tor, such as petrochemical processing, waste- spacing while maintaining light levels, min-
Only a decade ago, 75-lm/W efficacy qual- water treatment, and utilities, where poten- imizing the number of total fixtures needed
ified LED luminaires as groundbreaking. tially-explosive gases, vapors, or liquids are and improving uniformity. As a result, over-
This value pales in comparison with new present (http://bit.ly/2yY5oP9). Oil, gas, and all project cost is reduced while employee
chips offering efficacy above 200 lm/W. An petrochemical sectors account for the larg- safety, a critical concern in hazardous loca-
end user can replace a first-generation LED est share of sales in hazardous location light- tions, is improved.
1807LEDS_48 48 7/10/18 11:57 AM

LOW EMI
LED DRIVER
25000:1
T393-
UK  RVR
   
DIMMING VN
Silent≥Switcher®≥
     Low≥EMI≥Technology
     PWM≥Plus≥ T393- 

Analog≥Control
   
for≥≥≥≥≥≥≥≥≥≥
    Dimming 
PW

≥≥8≥≥≥Internal≥
PWM≥Generator
T T
/T393
1807LEDS_C3 3 7/10/18 11:57 AM

1807LEDS_C4 4 7/10/18 11:57 AM

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Dancing atop SSL P. 39

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• Improves the light experience for human health beneﬁts

Visit seoulsemicon.com to learn

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23 EXHIBITION 7 NEWS +ANALYSIS

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electronica Hall B6 Booth 404

Horticulture LED Lighting  High efficacy

For a short introduction of Horticulture LEDs read our Application Note:

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What has IoT value — the pole or the light?

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Cutting through the clutter to OLEDs World Summit

Correction LED professional Symposium+Expo

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Contact us today and discover how SALIOT

US Sales Office Marketing Partner

NMB Technologies Corporation

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Photo credit: Hosfelt Gallery.

HORTICULTURAL LIGHTING HUMAN-CENTRIC LIGHTING

LED-based horticultural projects Future Designs details

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Zumtobel and Austrian energy utility

have now “signed an open-ended agreement for the joint provision

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Fagerhult taps new CEO with strong IoT credentials

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horticultural lighting report the DOE researchers from the Pacific

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FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 1, 2019 M A N D A L AY B AY C O N V E N T I O N C E N T E R , L A S V E G A S

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Osram integrates emergency

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“I expect the modular approach will still be

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• Constant lumen feature

LED Horticultural Light Testing

Sapphire Awards now open for submissions

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SSL sector shows maturity at LFI, building

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