APRIL 2020 LEDsmagazine.

com

+
Luminaries
breakdown
luminaires
Strategies in
Light P. 14 AND 25

Survey says
SSL looks up P. 22

TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS OF LIGHT EMITTING DIODES Taking LED

temps
Ensuring reliability P. 29
Stats and standings
Sapphire scores
P. 16

2004LED.indb 1 3/24/20 3:42 PM

 Any Module. Any Application.
Take control with Seoul for faster and more
competitive ways to market.
Seoul Semiconductor provides customers
with advanced module capabilities and
technology solutions that extend across a
wide range of application and performance
requirements. As the #2 LED manufacturer
in the world (non-captive), Seoul has a
proven track record of success in helping
customers to simplify their processes and
save on production costs, all while taking
advantage of Seoul’s vertically integrated
technology and quality. Partner with
Seoul to increase your speed to market or
expand your capabilities into new areas
without investing in added equipment or
staff expertise. From linear DC designs to
complex AC engines driven by proprietary
Acrich and Wicop technologies, Seoul
Semiconductor can seamlessly support
even the most complex custom and
reference module designs in a timely and
professional manner.
Linear reference modules are available as
an excellent turnkey solution for projects of
any size. The HE, SE, and Industrial Series
reference modules utilize Seoul’s flagship
2004LED.indb 2
2004LEDS_SeoulSemicon 1
high efficacy 5630 LEDs to deliver efficacies FEATURES
from an upper range of 189 to 202 Lm/W
at typical driving currents. The Value series • Vertical integration allows variety
is the perfect alternative for cost-sensitive of technology and footprint choices
projects, featuring similar technologies but including 3030, 5630, 3528, Wicop, 3535
with a high performing and cost effective and 5050
3528 package in place for efficacies up
to 189 Lm/W at typical driving currents. • Custom and reference designs available
Each linear reference module is UL and CE • DC & AC designs
recognized, features uniformity of light and
color (3 SDCM Standard), and comes with • Several lens options for both high power
a Zhaga compatible mounting pattern for and mid power designs
easy instillation. • 3 SDCM standard
Seoul takes pride in offering a variety of • Multiple design, manufacturing, and
modules for specific lighting applications support locations
including round, tunable white, outdoor • Numerous reference designs available
Wicop engines with heat sinks and optics, through Future Electronics
proprietary blackhole lenses for increased
uniformity and decreased optical depth,
and Acrich AC modules that range 4-105W APPLICATIONS
with an added benefit of being Triac
dimmable. Seoul can also integrate the • Street & area • Residential
NanoDriver into modular solutions for a • Indoor commercial • Driver on board
product that is both low flicker and Title 24
compliant. • Industrial • Color tuning
www.SeoulSemicon.com
3/24/20 1:54
3/11/20 3:42 PM
PM
 ISSUE 122

April
2020
Cover Story
Sapphire Awards submissions that
earned 3.25 Sapphires and above
take their place amongst our alumni,
representing the power of perseverance
in innovation for the LED and SSL
markets. [See p. 16; Photo credit: Photo
8729727 © Omkr - Dreamstime.com].

features
14 INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
Challenges and opportunities are two sides
of the same coin for the SSL industry
Carrie Meadows
columns/departments
16 FOCUS ON
3 COMMENTARY Maury Wright
Sapphire scores demonstrate SSL is Survey says: Lighting for health
riding a new wave of innovation is a burgeoning SSL app
Carrie Meadows
7 NEWS +ANALYSIS

20 SSL INDUSTRY Ingy strengthens ties with wireless

mesh company Wirepas
State of the Industry Survey reveals
optimism for SSL and applications LEDs light world’s largest cricket stadium
Maury Wright Freight Farms announces
new horticultural funding
from Ospraie Ag Science
25 CONFERENCE Acuity eldoLED adds DALI-2
Speakers say SSL has truly matured, DT8 Tc tunable SSL drivers
light quality challenges remain
Maury Wright 12 FUNDING + PROGRAMS
NRDC again sues DOE over
lamp efficiency standards
29 TEST & MEASUREMENT
DOE announces five LED and SSL R&D
JEDEC technique simplifies LED junction projects to receive $12.5 million
temperature measurement
Hospital: Lighting helps stroke patients
Jeff Hulett, Vektrex Electronic Systems, Inc. deal with fatigue, depression

32 LAST WORD
LEDs Magazine seeks to recognize
industry's young talent
Carrie Meadows

LEDsmagazine.com APRIL 2020 1

2004LED.indb 1 3/24/20 3:42 PM

 Vitasolis™
The Light so Good LED
range delivers optimum
performance in human
centric lighting. Vitasolis™
is state-of-the-art spec-
trum technology that
stimulates human activity,
while Optisolis™ provides
2004LED.indb 2
2004LEDs_NichiaREV 1
Optisolis™ 2-in-1 Tunable LED
Light so Good
a natural light source on a
spectrum that’s the closest
Visit us at
match to sunlight. Plus, LightFair 2020
Nichia’s 2-in-1 tunable LED
enables development
of compact tunable white Booth #7143
luminaires with superb
color mixing.
Las Vegas, Nevada
May 3rd – 7th, 2020
3/24/20 3:42 PM
3/2/20 2:28 PM
 commentary

Survey says: Lighting for health

is a burgeoning SSL app

W
e recently fielded our
first ever State of the
Industry Survey in
which we asked our audience
about what they do and what
they think about the LED and
solid-state lighting (SSL) sectors.
The survey covered technology to
economic outlook. We have a fea-
ture article that covers the highlights on p.
20. Here, I would like to discuss an applica-
tion that I think has been seen as a niche,
but that our survey suggests may quickly
become more mainstream — lighting for
health and wellbeing.
Our topic at hand goes by many names,
including the lighting for health moniker.
We started off calling it human-centric
lighting. I think we published the first arti-
cle on using a tunable spectrum to elicit
a positive physiological response from
humans back in 2011 or 2012. The human-
centric lighting term has fallen from favor,
and some now call it integrative lighting.
I’ve never really understood the argument
over what it’s called so long as everyone
knows what is generally meant by it, but
I digress.
In any event, lighting for health appli-
cations have been limited by a number
of factors including lack of research that
completely documents the response of
humans from light exposure to the non-
visual receptors. Lack of metrics had been
an issue. And cost of the required multi-
channel SSL systems needed to vary spec-
tra has been an obstacle.
Europe has certainly made more prog-
ress in the application than has North
America (http://bit.ly/3ddmg4m). But
globally, the application has progressed far
more slowly that I would have predicted
when I first learned of the concept in 2011
or 2012. And even the research by our sis-
ter business unit Strategies Unlimited has
suggested a limited opportunity for light-
ing for health products.
Our State of the Industry Survey doesn’t
offer me any conclusive data on the reality
of the opportunity. But it would sure imply
that a lot of companies are pursuing light-
ing for health product developments and
deployments.
Digging into the detailed responses to
one particular question in our survey, just
over 12% of the respondents said they are
100% focused on lighting for health applica-
tions. That number combines product devel-
opers of luminaires and lighting designers/
specifiers. Broaden the scope to what our
audience works on always, often, or some-
times, and the total climbs to near 60%.
Indeed, lighting for health and wellbe-
ing outscored all of the other niche appli-
cations in the survey. I would not have
expected huge numbers for, say, automo-
tive lighting. We know that the field of pro-
fessionals in that area is small yet dedi-
cated completely to the automotive task.
But our survey suggests that far more
lighting-sector professionals are working
on lighting for health than are working on
horticultural lighting. Yet we know how
many lighting manufacturers have rushed
into the horticultural lighting space in the
past year (http://bit.ly/2QAk7WX).
The next time we do similar research,
we will push deeper into the area of light-
ing for health. I suppose there is a relatively
broad set of product types that could be
considered, including disinfection prod-
ucts and luminaires used in settings such
as clinical exam rooms. But another of our
questions supports the theory that most of
our respondents were focused on varying
spectra for positive effects.
Maury Wright,
EDITOR
mwright@endeavorb2b.com

Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Showcase

@ledsmagazine LEDsMagazine LEDs Magazine Showcase Page
EDITOR SALES OFFICES KOREA VP, ACCOUNTING
Maury Wright USA AND CANADA EAST/EUROPE Young Baek Angela Mitchell
mwright@endeavorb2b.com Veronica Foster ymedia@chol.com VP, FINANCE
ASSOCIATE EDITOR vfoster@endeavorb2b.com Tel: +82 2 2273 4818 Jessica Klug
www.endeavorbusinessmedia.com
Carrie Meadows Tel: +1 918 832 9256 ISRAEL EVP, GROUP PUBLISHER - TECHNOLOGY
EDITORIAL OFFICES cmeadows@endeavorb2b.com Dan Aronovic Lester Craft
USA AND CANADA WEST/ASIA
LEDs Magazine aronovic@actcom.co.il
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Tim Carli VP, DIGITAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
61 Spit Brook Road, Suite 501 Tel: +39 972 9899 5813
Mark Halper tcarli@endeavorb2b.com Monique Leija
Nashua, NH 03060
Tel: +1 510 319 9668 VP, PRODUCTION OPERATIONS
Tel: +1 603 891 0123 ART DIRECTOR ENDEAVOR BUSINESS MEDIA, LLC
www.ledsmagazine.com Kelli Mylchreest JAPAN CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Curt Pordes
SENIOR ILLUSTRATOR Masaki Mori Chris Ferrell CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL OFFICER
FOR SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES:
Michael Reeder masaki.mori@ex-press.jp CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER Tracy Kane
Toll-Free: 1-877-382-9187;
International Callers: 1+ 847-559-7598 Tel: +81 3 3219 3641 Scott Bieda
PRODUCTION MANAGER For assistance with marketing strategy
e-mail: LEDs@Omeda.com; Sheila Ward CHINA, HONG KONG & TAIWAN CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER or ad creation, please contact:
www.led-subscribe.com Mark Mak Patrick Raines MARKETING SOLUTIONS
MARKETING MANAGER markm@actintl.com.hk
VP, GROUP PUBLISHER Adrienne Adler CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER Kaci Wheeler
LIGHTING & TECHNOLOGY Tel: +852 2838 6298 Eric Kammerzelt kwheeler@endeavorb2b.com
Steve Beyer AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Tel: +1 918 832 9377
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER
sbeyer@endeavorb2b.com Debbie Bouley June Griffin

LEDs Magazine® (ISSN 2156-633X, print; 2688-4496, digital), is a registered trademark. ©Endeavor Business Media, LLC 2020, 1233 Janesville Avenue, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part
without permission is prohibited. We make portions of our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that may be important for your work. If you do not want to receive those offers
and/or information via direct mail, please let us know by contacting us at List Services LEDs Magazine, 61 Spit Brook Road, Suite 501, Nashua, NH 03060. Printed in the USA. GST No. 126813153.

2004LED.indb 3 3/24/20 3:42 PM

 FEATURED events
| web exclusives NAILD Innovation 2020 — POSTPONED TBD
Biloxi, MS
2020 IES Research Symposium
Apr. 27–29, 2020
Blogs Lake Buena Vista, FL
Consider virtual events to LightFair International – POSTPONED TBD
Las Vegas, NV
supplement — not replace —
LED Expo Mumbai 2020
the in-person experience May 7–9, 2020
http://bit.ly/2U3TqMc Mumbai, India
Ningbo International Lighting Exhibition
Can disinfection be a shot in the arm May 13–15, 2020
to improve LED market health? Ningbo International Convention
& Exhibition Centre — China
http://bit.ly/2UekCqg
Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition
Jun. 9–12, 2020
Market Research Guangzhou, China
LightExpo Africa 2020
Global Lamps Market Jun. 10–12, 2020
Update and Forecast 2020 Nairobi, Kenya

http://bit.ly/2U3SWWo Hong Kong International Lighting Fair

(Spring Edition) – RESCHEDULED
Jul. 25–28, 2020
The Worldwide Market for LEDs, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center

Market Review and Forecast 2020 IES 2020 Annual Conference

Aug. 6–8, 2020
http://bit.ly/2vfg0r5 New Orleans, LA
Inalight - 7th Indonesia International
Company Newsfeed Lighting Exhibition
Aug. 26–28, 2020
Keep tabs on the latest Jakarta, Indonesia

industry news and products The 25th China (Guzhen) International

Lighting Fair - POSTPONED TBD
https://www.ledsmagazine.com/ Guzhen, China
company-newsfeed
LED China – Shanghai Station
Sep. 17–19, 2020
For more online exclusive resources, go to: ledsmagazine.com Shanghai, China
Light+Building – RESCHEDULED
Sep. 27–Oct. 2, 2020

index
Frankfurt, Germany
ADVERTISERS LEDTEC Asia – POSTPONED TBD
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Cree Inc.......................................................C4 Nichia Corporation.........................................2 HortiCann Light + Tech Conference
Oct. 20, 2020
Green Creative...............................................6 Preter Lighting Co., Ltd...................................9 San Jose, CA

HortiCann Light & Tech Conference..............24 Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd......................C2

MORE: www.ledsmagazine.com/events
Inventronics USA..........................................23 Signify.....................................................5, 15

LEDs 40 Under 40.......................................C3 Strategies In Light 2021..............................11

This ad index is published as a service. The publisher does not assume any liability for errors or omissions.

4 APRIL 2020 LEDsmagazine.com

2004LED.indb 4 3/24/20 3:42 PM

 Advance Fortimo InstantFit
The First Truly Field Replaceable Linear LED Module
Are you looking for the flexibility of simple, last Key Benefits
• Simple, last minute (mechanical)
minute configuration for your LED troffer? How configuration
• Failed light source can be
does configuration in the field sound? The Fortimo
replaced at any time, as easily as
InstantFit makes late stage configuration a snap. No changing a lamp
• Open standard product, eliminates
screws, no tools, no expensive labor. It’s as easy as warranty and spare parts manage-
ment for light source by OEM
you expect inserting a light source to be.
Target Applications
• Office
• Education
• Retail

For the latest information on Signify products contact your local FLS sales representative.
This information is accurate at the time of writing. Neither Signify nor its agents assume any liability for inaccuracies or losses incurred
by use or misuse of this information. Check manufacturer’s website for the most recent information.
Fortimo InstantFit has been accepted into the 2019 IES Progress Report, recognizing it as a unique and signifi cant advancement to the art and science of lighting

www.FutureLightingSolutions.com

2004LED.indb 5
2004LEDS_FutureSignify 1 3/24/20
3/16/20 3:42
1:18 PM
PM
2004LED.indb 6
2004LEDs_GreenCreative 1 3/24/20 3:42 PM
3/9/20 1:04 PM
 +
news views
SMART BUILDINGS

Ingy strengthens ties

with wireless mesh
company Wirepas
Dutch smart-lighting networking startup Ingy continues
to fortify its offerings, solidifying ties with wireless mesh
specialist Wirepas, while also adding EnOcean sensors into
the Ingy habitat.
Amsterdam-based Ingy was founded less than two years
ago, and in that time it has developed a preference for the
Wirepas protocol, which it has deployed at University Medi- Photo credit: Image courtesy of Ingy.

cal Center Utrecht (http://bit.ly/2Im8GNG) and Zone College
in Doetinchem, Holland (http://bit.ly/39zTkS1).
Ingy relies on Tampere, Finland-based Wirepas to sup-
port the many applications including controls, occupancy
sensing, data gathering, and others that Ingy offers across
its solid-state lighting (SSL) network. The Wirepas mesh
allows those applications to operate across swaths of floors
and office space. Together, the two companies have aimed to
support not just lighting but other smart building functions.
For example, occupancy data, when analyzed, can help facil-
ities managers decide how to repurpose space.
Now Ingy and Wirepas have taken their partnership to
the next level as Ingy facilitates the integration of the tech-
nology with lighting manufacturers, data portal operators,
software and controls companies, sensor providers, and
other types of vendors.
“We now became far more strategic about our coop-
eration,” Ingy CEO Bastiaan de Groot told LEDs » page 8

SPORTS LIGHTING HORTICULTURAL SSL

LEDs light world’s largest Freight Farms announces

cricket stadium new horticultural funding
Sometimes, even in today’s IoT era, lighting is all about lighting. That’s
the case at the world’s largest cricket stadium — in Ahmedabad, India from Ospraie Ag Science
— where Signify has provided 580 rooftop luminaires to support Shipping-container-based, vertical-farm manufac-
nighttime action and high-definition broadcasting. turer Freight Farms has announced that it received
The lights will go live for games later this year at the brand-new $15 million in Series B venture funding from invest-
110,000-seat Sardar Patel Stadium, commonly known as Motera Sta- ment firm Ospraie Ag Science. Freight Farms will
dium for the neighborhood where the stadium stands in Ahmedabad, use the investment
the largest city in the western state of Gujarat. to further opti-
Signify completed the installation in January as a subcontractor to mize its Farmhand
Larsen & Toubro, a Mumbai-based construction firm with Danish her- sof t wa re plat-
itage. Larsen & Toubro built the grounds for the Gujarat Cricket Asso- form, invest in
ciation, replacing the former Motera Stadium which was lit by metal plant science, and
halides and demolished in 2015. expand the cus-
The lighting makes the stadium the first cricket arena in India to tomer base for its
meet broadcasting standards set by the International Cricket Coun- LED-lit Greenery
cil (ICC), according to Sumit Padmakar Joshi, market leader for Sig- container farms.
nify’s operations in India. The Dubai-based ICC is the sport’s global Freight Farms
governing body. » page 8 originally » page 10

LEDsmagazine.com APRIL 2020 7

2004LED.indb 7 3/24/20 3:42 PM

 news+views
Ingy from page 7 Magazine. “Our solution
helps lighting companies looking to build a
Wirepas-based lighting controls system to
significantly reduce their time to market,
which is in both our companies’ strategic
interest. We have taken Wirepas and build an
entire lighting stack and ecosystem of hard-
ware providers around it.”
De Groot has chosen Wirepas over other
wireless technologies such as Bluetooth and
Zigbee because he rates its ability to scale up
into the thousands of luminaires.
Ingy has already helped integrate Koop-
man Interlight luminaires into Wirepas net-
works running Ingy software (http://bit.
ly/2Iq0aND), and is expected to announce
other luminaire partners soon.
The startup, which opened for business in
May 2018, also announced that it now sup-
ports a new “multisensor” from EnOcean.
The solar-powered chip uses energy har-
vesting to make it battery free. It is an
all-in-one detector of humidity, lighting,
and acceleration.
While the sensor can reside in lumi-
naires, it can also be mounted on walls and
ceilings. Smart lighting companies like
Ingy increasingly are doubling as informa-
tion technology specialists, using the light-
ing infrastructure when it suits, but also
going outside the luminaire. It’s part of the
lighting industry’s push into the Internet of
Things (IoT) market.
EnOcean is based in Oberhaching, Ger-
many. The EnOcean Alliance was founded
in 2008 to promote and support technolo-
gies developed to the ISO/IEC wireless stan-
dard (14543-3-10), which use very low levels
of energy and also allow energy harvesting
for the aforementioned battery-free opera-
tion (http://bit.ly/2PMJXpT).
Other Ing y partners include con-
trols provider Danlers, data portal pro-
vider Gooee, and systems integrator
Fujitsu, among others.◀
LED DRIVERS
Acuity eldoLED adds DALI-2
DT8 Tc tunable SSL drivers
Acuity’s eldoLED LED driver business unit
has announced the first driver products to
receive Digital Illumination Interface
Alliance (DiiA) certification to DALI (Digital
Addressable Lighting Interface)-2 Tc, with
8 APRIL 2020
2004LED.indb 8
Cricket from page 7 “At the same time, it will help the stadium in achieving its
responsible and environmental goals enabling durability through longevity and sig-
nificantly reduce maintenance costs,” he said.
Signify declined to reveal how much the lighting cost. But while the Philips Arena­
Vision floodlights will illuminate the field, don’t look for any of the fancy color- and
scene-changing LED lighting that often goes along with modern stadium lighting
projects, such as at Toyota Stadium in Japan, also lit by Signify (http://bit.ly/2oztoD7).
Such venues often use
Internet-connected con-
trols and networking tech-
nology to embellish the fan
experience — Signify offers
a product called Interact
Sports for such purposes —
and typically also use cen-
trally-controlled LED scenes
for outside façade lighting.
A Signify spokesperson
told LEDs Magazine that
the Motera lighting instal-
lation is strictly for field
illumination. The spokes- Photo credit: Image courtesy of Signify.
person did not elaborate.
Signify managed to install and position the ArenaVision luminaires without using
the robotic carts it has deployed in some instances, such as at Toyota as well as at
Japan’s Kobe Stadium (http://bit.ly/2ImtnsR).
The stadium lights are powered via standard electrical cabling, not by Power over
Ethernet, which is emerging as both an electricity and data conduit on some lighting
jobs (http://bit.ly/316NnZ4) but doesn't offer the needed power for a stadium like this.
The Motera facilities include two cricket grounds, a cricket academy, an Olympic
size swimming pool, a gymnasium, and 75 corporate boxes.
The stadium hosted the Namaste, Trump (Welcome, Trump) rally focused on US
President Donald Trump and India’s prime minister Narendra Modi in February. ◀
Tc referring to white-point color tempera- DiiA. Back in 2017, we published a feature
ture control along the black-body line. Such article that detailed some of the features
drivers will generally be multi-channel prod- and benefits of the revised interface stan-
ucts, yet a single DALI address and com- dard (http://bit.ly/2LGQWhx). As the arti-
mand stream will control two or more driver cle discusses, the revisions came with the
outputs. Meanwhile,
eldoLED has already sup-
plied the DUALdrive
DALI-2 Tc drivers to a
Photo credit: Image courtesy of Forum Groningen.
project revealed in
December at the Forum
Groningen shopping and
entertainment facility in
the Netherlands (shown
in the nearby photo).
DALI-2 has been in
the works for some time
now, at this point being
promu lgated by the
LEDsmagazine.com
3/24/20 3:42 PM
 1) Two side lighting or one side lighting in option;
2) Wide input voltage from AC 100V to AC 277V;
3) J-box base fixture which matches with junction box;
4) It has white, red, green, blue and RGB changing color in option;
5) With optical lens inside. Can be in different light beam angle in option;
6) ETL, cETL, CE, RoHS approval;
7) Finish color can be black, bronze, gray, white in option;
8) IP65 waterproof. Both indoor and outdoor use;
9) Very easy installation with specical design, no training or special tools required.

Website: www.preterled.com Email: export@preterled.com Wechat/Whatsapp: 008613632590427

2004LED.indb 9
2004LEDs_PreterLighting 1 3/24/20 4:58
3/18/20 3:42 PM
PM
 news+views
Acuity from page 8 expectation that prod-
Farms from page 7 branded its container farms The Leafy Green Machine but has ucts would undergo a certification process
since simplified the product name to the Greenery. A Greenery farm includes every- to ensure interoperability between products
thing a grower needs to launch a hydroponic farm all integrated into a shipping con- from different vendors.
tainer. The outfitted Greenery container includes LED lighting, plumbing for nutrient There is some ambiguity in terminology
supply, climate and environmental control, and the Farmhand software to automate related to the DALI-2 standards, parallel
the operation of the farm. standards work by the IEC, and how Acuity
The idea of a shipping container for a vertical farm is not a new one. For example, has utilized the terminology. Acuity uses
we covered a Dallas grocery store that uses a shipping-container farm to grow some the term Device Type 8 (DT8) in referring
produce right outside the store’s back door (http://bit.ly/2ToxQBI). And we covered a to its drivers. DT8 relates to Part 209 of the
Los Angeles area farm using shipping containers right in the downtown metropoli- IEC62386 standard that is aligned with the
tan area back in 2016 (http://bit.ly/2Z7pcYV). DiiA DALI-2 work. But the DiiA does not uti-
Freight Farms, however, brings unique aspects to its business both in the science lize the DT8 designation and asserts that the
behind Greenery and in the company’s business model. Taking the business model Tc designation is more important as it spe-
first, Freight Farms is specifically in the business of selling turnkey farms. Some cifically relates to white-point-tunable sys-
other players have vacillated between selling technology and operating as growers. tems and not full-color systems.
The configuration of Freight Farms product is also unique. When we first covered Acuity has initially implemented the DT8
vertical farming back in 2016, the term was primarily utilized to describe growing capability in the DUALDrive 562 model, and
operations where horizontal trays of plants were stacked in layers vertically to more has also referred to the product as a DALI
fully utilize a space, especially for crops such as leafy greens and herbs where there 209 driver, referencing section 209 of the
is not much space needed between layers and where LEDs that don’t radiate heat can IEC, although the DiiA has said that is not
be placed in close proximity to the plant canopy. proper usage of terminology. Still, it’s clear
We have since seen other concepts. Plenty, for example, is based in California’s Sil- what Acuity means with this quote: “DT8
icon Valley Area, has received more than $200M in funding from well-known inves- certification is the culmination of eldoLED’s
tors such as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and utilizes a system where plants are placed hori- latest effort to elevate color science and is
zontally into the growing structure but run continuously in a vertical row from floor a significant step forward in our quest to
to ceiling (http://bit.ly/33leqjA). bring digital solutions to market, simplify
Freight Farms partitions its systems in the close confines of the shipping container. solution development, and drive the quality
There is a dedicated area where horizontal racks are used in the initial stages of of light in LED systems,” said Gilles Abra-
sprouting. But later plants are transplanted into a vertical row structure where nutri- hamse, vice president of digital luminaire
ents can drip from the top of each vertical row of plants and unused nutrient is recap- components at Acuity. “Reducing the num-
tured at the bottom of each row. ber of addresses simplifies design and com-
Freight Farms said its 328-ft 2 container can produce equivalent vegetables to a missioning as evidenced during eldoLED’s
two-acre outdoor plot. And the container farm uses less than five gallons of water Groningen installation.”
per day. For Freight Farms, the mission is solving the looming issue of feeding a grow- Acuity has long had DUALdrive in its
ing global population. portfolio. Some of the earlier products are
“With the Greenery and Farmhand, we’ve created an infrastructure that lowers referred to by Acuity as DALI DT6 certified.
the barrier of entry into food production, an industry that’s historically been diffi- Again, that designation is not accurate in
cult to get into,” said Jon Friedman, Freight Farms COO. “With this platform, we’re the eyes of the DiiA. DT6 simply refers to
also able to harness and build upon a wider set of technologies including cloud IoT, the LED driver referenced in Part 207 of the
automation, and machine learning, while enabling new developments in plant sci- IEC standard. Essentially, however, a driver
ence for future generations.” with just the DT6 designation would use a
And make no mistake that controlled environment agriculture is becoming a big busi- separate DALI-2 address for each channel
ness. We recently ran an article that discussed the investment capital coming into the in a product, or limit the performance of an
market (http://bit.ly/33lBQWb). Clearly, Ospraie sees an opportunity in the container SSL system to a predetermined chromatic-
concept. Freight Farms says it has sold farms into 44 states and 25 countries. ity/intensity curve.
“Freight Farms has redefined vertical farming and made decentralizing the food The Forum Groningen installation, mean-
system something that’s possible and meaningful right now, not in the future of food,” while, involved more than 1000 tunable
said Jason Mraz, president of Ospraie Ag Science. “Full traceability, high nutrition white luminaires. The system can set out-
without herbicides and pesticides, year-round sourcing — these are elements that put in the range of 2500K CCT to 4000K CCT.
should be inherent to food sourcing. Freight Farms’ Greenery makes it possible to The adjustment in chromaticity is said to be
meet this burgeoning demand globally for campuses, hospitals, municipal institu- continuous and dimming is down to 0.1%.
tions, and corporate businesses, while also enabling small-business farmers to meet The products are based on what Acuity calls
these demands themselves for their customers.” ◀ LightShape technology. ◀
MORE: http://bit.ly/2wM3wbc

10 APRIL 2020 LEDsmagazine.com

2004LED.indb 10 3/24/20 3:42 PM

 Save the Date

Congratulations to the 2020

Sapphire Award Winners

2004LED.indb 11
2004LEDs_EndeavorLMSA 1 3/24/20 1:20
3/10/20 3:42 PM
PM
 funding
+
DOE announces five

programs
LED and SSL R&D
projects to receive
$12.5 million
The DOE has announced $74M (million)
in research and development (R&D)
funding as part of the Building Energy
Efficiency Frontiers & Innovation
Technologies (BENEFIT) program with
NRDC again sues DOE over $12.5M of the total going to projects in
the LED and solid-state lighting (SSL)
lamp efficiency standards sectors. Even as the DOE has moved to
enact policy against regulations that
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has returned to court, filing suit against encourage the use of LED lighting (story
the US Department of Energy (DOE) and attempting to force the agency to implement lamp at left), the agency continues some level
efficiency legislation approved by the US Congress. of funding for the energy-efficient tech-
We have written extensively about the DOE’s action under the Trump administration to nology. Several of the new projects, how-
essentially try and roll back energy efficiency guidelines for replacement lamps or bulbs. ever, have a distinct quality of light
We first learned about the DOE plans about one year ago (http://bit.ly/2nVY552). Ulti- angle, a trend we have noted pervading
mately, the DOE has acted twice to eliminate the requirement of more efficient lamps. our sectors (http://bit.ly/3cyq2F8).
First, it changed the definition of a general service The LESA (Lighting Enabled Systems
lamp so that some lamps (globes, 3-way lamps, & Applications) Lab at Rensselaer Poly-
candelabras, and more) that had been previously technic Institute is one of the research
exempted from efficiency policy would remain organizations winning almost $3M
exempt despite a DOE plan that would have moved in DOE funding. The lab will work to
such products into the classification of general “develop and test an entirely new plat-
service lamps. Second, the DOE decided not to form for automated steerable lighting
enforce legislation that would have required more design and control that requires little
efficient A-lamps starting Jan. 1, 2020. or no human engagement.” The goal
The first action prompted broad legal response will be LED-based lighting that can
back in November 2019. The NRDC acted with programmatically or autonomously
other environmental organizations to sue the DOE deliver sculpted lighting that both
over the first of the decisions. Separately, a group minimizes energy usage and optimizes
Image credit: LEDs Magazine stock graphic.
of states and a couple of large US cities filed a sim- quality. The goal will be dynamically
ilar but separate suit (http://bit.ly/2SYHcUQ). Those actions are essentially queued, await- optimizing light in real time.
ing action by the legal system. The LESA system will ultimately
Now the NRDC is also taking action against the DOE for the second regulatory move. “The use sensors, mechanics, and multi-
Department of Energy seems dead-set on keeping energy-wasting incandescent and halo- ple SSL channels with different spec-
gen bulbs on the market despite the fact that many countries around the world have already tral power distribution (SPD). More-
decided to phase them out,” said Noah Horowitz, director of NRDC’s Center for Energy Effi- over, the researchers will use a digital
ciency Standards. “The United States could soon become the world’s dumping ground for twin to simulate the functionality of
these incredibly inefficient bulbs, which increase Americans’ energy bills and lead to mil- the target luminaire, enabling far more
lions of tons of additional carbon pollution every year.” iterations of design concepts. We cov-
Again the NRDC is joined in its action by Earthjustice (Sierra Club, Consumer Federation ered the concept of a digital twin in a
of America, and Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants), the US Public Interest recent series of articles in the maga-
Research Group, and Environment America. Moreover, the group of states and cities that zine (http://bit.ly/3awuORM).
acted before has again filed a parallel suit against the DOE. The recent funding also still
“The Energy Department has attacked the light bulb efficiency standards with a one-two includes projects based on more
punch that puts at risk the up to $14 billion a year of utility bill savings consumers were due efficient LEDs. Lumileds will work
to receive,” Horo­w itz said. “First, the agency cut the scope of the standards in half without with the University of Michigan,
any technical justification, and then declared that they weren’t going to update the stan- the University of New Mexico, San-
dards for the remaining ones, even though they were required to do so by law.” ◀ dia National Laboratories, and Ohio
MORE: http://bit.ly/32T2EO5

12 APRIL 2020 LEDsmagazine.com

2004LED.indb 12 3/24/20 3:42 PM

 Hospital: Lighting helps stroke patients
deal with fatigue, depression
Studies of 90 stroke patients in a Danish hos-
pital indicate that LED lighting tuned to
mimic the patterns of daylight can have a pos-
itive effect on depression, fatigue, anxiety, and
wellbeing, although there was some amount
of inconclusiveness, and lighting made no dif-
ference in cognition improvement.
The results of the observations at the
Stroke Rehabilitation Unit in Copenhagen’s
Righospitalet from May 2014 through June
2015 were only recently published in the
journal NeuroRehabilitation.
Righospitalet is part of the Copenha-
gen University Hospital. The studies were
conducted by the University of Copenha-
gen’s departments of neurology and neu-
rophysiology and by the hospital’s depart-
ment of ophthalmology, using specialty
lighting from Chromaviso, based in Aar-
hus, Denmark.
The scientists generally tuned lighting
in patient rooms to deliver the brighter and
more blue-rich makeup associated with
natural daylight during the mornings and
afternoons. They toned down the bright-
ness and delivered warmer spectral con-
tent in the evenings. At the same time, they
delivered ordinary hospital lighting to con-
trol groups.
The team worked on the hypothesis that
the tuned lighting would support human cir-
cadian rhythms associated with the 24-hour
cycle of day and night, whereas ordinary
hospital lighting and indoor confinement
deprives patients of circadian normalities and
can thus cause physiological disturbances.
State University on the so-called green
gap where energy efficiency in green
LEDs lags efficiency at shorter and lon-
ger wavelengths. The team will work on
epitaxial optimization to address the
gap. And better green LEDs could enable
broader usage of monochromatic red,
green, and blue (RGB) LEDs to deliver
high-quality white light.
The funded research will also extend to
quantum dots with Nanosys and the Uni-
versity of California–Merced receiving $2M
LEDsmagazine.com APRIL 2020 13
2004LED.indb 13
All patients were hospitalized for more
than two weeks. In one study focused on
fatigue, they concluded that “fatigue was
significantly reduced in rehabilitation
patients exposed to naturalistic light-
ing during admission.” They based their
conclusion on a cou-
ple of questionnaires,
one called the Multi-
dimensional Fatigue
Inventor y question-
naire and the other the
Rested Statement, not-
ing that the experimen-
tal groups reported less
fatigue compared to the
control group.
However, by another
measurement, the Pitts-
burgh Sleep Quality
Index, “no differences
were detected between
groups in sleepiness or
subjective sleep quality,”
wrote the authors, led by
Anders West from the neurology department.
If those results were encouraging but
mixed, the same could be said of a separate
set of observations looking at a combination
of depression, anxiety, wellbeing, and cog-
nition. “Depressive mood and anxiety was
reduced, and wellbeing was increased in the
(experimental) group at discharge compared
to the (control group),” the authors reported.
However, “no difference was found in cog-
nition,” the authors stated.
to work on formulations with no heavy
metals yet with the ability to efficiently
deliver better color rendering. Indeed, we
covered the Osram Opto Semiconductors
Osconiq S 3030 QD LED last summer that
was limited somewhat by levels of cad-
mium in the phosphor/quantum dot for-
mulation (http://bit.ly/2Y9bNC7).
Finally, the DOE awards also included
two projects with an OLED focus. We’ve
previously noted that the DOE contin-
ues its investment in OLED technology,
The team applied the Hamilton Depres-
sion Scale, the Major Depression Inventory,
the WHO-Five Well-being Index, the Hospi-
tal Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the
Montreal Cognitive Assessment to deter-
mine the results.
Photo credit: Image courtesy of Chromaviso.
“This study is the first to demonstrate
that exposure to naturalistic light during
admission may significantly improve men-
tal health in rehabilitation patients,” they
concluded, adding that “further studies are
needed to confirm these findings.”
Chromaviso has been very active in light-
ing tuned to health and recovery, in areas
including dementia, psychiatric disorders,
brain trauma, surgery, and others (http://
bit.ly/2TEfaNb). ◀
even as the performance, cost, and reli-
ability gap widens relative to inorganic
LED technology. And the agency reported
on reliability testing of OLED panels last
year (http://bit.ly/2yUQczl).
In the newest R&D funding, the Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology will receive
$1.5M to work on the stability and lifetime
of blue OLEDs. Separately, manufacturer
OLEDWorks received almost $1.5M to work
on improved efficacy and longer lifetime in
flexible white OLED panels.
3/24/20 3:42 PM
 industry insights | SSL BUSINESS

Challenges and opportunities are two sides

of the same coin for the SSL industry
A theme that emerged during the Strategies in Light conference was to overturn previous
expectations — mainly by changing the way we look at and implement light — and capitalize on the
intersection of SSL with advanced technologies, writes CARRIE MEADOWS.

T
hough plenty of specific presenta-
tions at Strategies in Light were tai-
lored to covering the impact of busi-
ness models on the transformation of the
lighting industry, it was clear to this first-
time attendee that every session had some-
thing valuable to share regarding the chal-
lenges and opportunities facing the LED and
solid-state lighting (SSL) supply chain.
Whether representative of the research,
product development and management,
lighting design/specification, consultancy, or
executive roles in the LED and lighting com-
munity, there were no pulled punches when
it came to examining long-held expectations
— nor was there any shortage of bright spots
that could be found on the flip side.
our quarterly numbers because of corona- emphasized purpose first — how the space
virus,’” he said, but that “it might be a con- is to be used and what the occupants should
venient excuse” given the year-plus stream experience within it — then work out how
of disruptions in executive management best to deliver the experience through the
and merger and acquisition (M&A) activ- form and function of integrated lighting.
ity amongst many of the big players in light- Thursday keynoter James Benya of Benya
ing — citing Signify (http://bit.ly/2Ty8gc6), Burnett concurred that design strategy must
GE Current (http://bit.ly/382xk0D), Acuity also utilize creative thinking. “LED technol-
Strategies in Light keynoter James Benya called on the
industry to work its way away from replicating familiar
form factors and instead build new luminaire designs
for modularity and customizability in a more sustainable
way. Photo credits: Images by Charles Thomas for
Endeavor Business Media’s LED & Lighting Network.

Potential market pickup

Economic matters, of course, drove plenty
of conversation. As Strategies in Light
founder and co-chair Bob Steele presented
on behalf of market-research firm Strategies
Unlimited, the overall packaged LED mar-
ket was down by about 4% from the previous
year. Oversupply in packaged LEDs during
late 2018, price erosion mid-way through
2019, and the US–China trade war made
a dent in the numbers analyzed for 2019.
However, Steele noted that the anticipated
resolution of the trade war is cause for man-
ufacturers to expect a pickup in demand this
year and market recovery will resume, as
Maury Wright details in the feature on p. 25.
LumEfficient CEO and EdisonReport
founder Randy Reid picked up the thread
of global impacts on the LED and SSL sup-
ply chain, citing the current global health
crisis as a newer challenge threatening the
stability of business operations. “You’ll see
some companies reporting, ‘We missed
14 APRIL 2020
Brands (http://bit.ly/2tufmWo), Eaton’s
former Cooper Lighting Solutions division
(http://bit.ly/2RKJDcL), and of course,
Osram (http://bit.ly/2wHqd0i). Reid coun-
tered that although 2019 was peppered with
what could be construed as a plethora of
negative headlines, the closing of trou-
bled companies, the addition of jobs and
renewed recruiting efforts, and the high
margins attainable in niche markets are
all signs that there is reason for optimism
in 2020 and moving ahead.
From aesthetics to application
During the Wednesday Plenary session,
lighting design consultant Thomas Paterson
of Lux Populi explored the potential of the
lighting design and integration commu-
nity to rethink illumination, avoiding per-
formance-metric tunnel vision and con-
sidering the purpose of the environment in
which lighting is to be installed. Paterson
ogy has given us the ability to be artists like
we’ve never been before,” he stated.
But how do you place a value on apply-
ing light in an aesthetically pleasing way to
achieve the “experience” factor? The answer,
I’m afraid, is that you can’t quantify it quite
like you would decreased energy and main-
tenance costs. Benya observed that LEDs
have met demands for energy efficiency,
and that color and lifetime advances have
been achieved since their emergence in gen-
eral illumination, leaving little room for
increasing that component’s performance.
In fact, keynoter Bob Karlicek of the Lighting
Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) Cen-
ter at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute said
in his presentation that “efficacy has hit the
limit at 170 to 200 lm/W,” calling an end to
the return on investment (ROI) from lumi-
nous efficacy.
From a lighting design perspective,
Benya explained that his “Vision 2040” for
LEDsmagazine.com

2004LED.indb 14 3/24/20 3:42 PM


the future of the industry relies on embrac-
ing advanced SSL product development
and lighting design techniques that fully
leverage the digital and integration capa-
bilities of LEDs rather than continuing to
mimic conventional fixtures and methods
of lighting the built environment (http://bit.
ly/2RZxNdH). But glare remains an obsta-
cle to the lighting experience, and the entire
supply chain must work harder to address it,
he said — from the component level all the
way to indoor and outdoor spaces.
Karlicek, meanwhile, described the SSL
industry as “grasping at future applications”
in one slide, summarizing the challenges of
lighting for health and wellbeing, Li-Fi for
communications, and horticultural SSL as
difficulty in demonstrating ROI, especially
with the aforementioned efficacy limita-
tions and the fact that he believes radio fre-
quency (RF) will win over light-based com-
munications in the near term. However, he
added that rather than seeing this as the
end of the SSL revolution, he saw expanded
www.signify.com/advance
/
LEDsmagazine.com
2004LEDS_Signify 1
2004LED.indb 15
LESA director Bob Karlicek unequivocally stated his
belief that the future of solid-state lighting (SSL) is
connected and will require integration with artificial
intelligence to be truly smart.
opportunity in role in both utilizing and enabling the
developing con- “mirror world” (http://bit.ly/2xqvABk).
nected lighting All around, Strategies in Light provided
into truly smart building applications. space for frank discussion of the state of the
Thus, Karlicek said LESA continues to industry while presenting the potential for
apply its efforts toward converging tech- developing better solutions to long-term busi-
nologies in order to advance toward a ness success for the LED and lighting supply
smart, connected future based on automa- chain. In a similar vein, learn how readers
tion and machine learning, or artificial reacted in our first State of the Industry survey
intelligence. “The artificial intelligence of on p. 20, where Maury Wright analyzes what
things (AIoT) will be necessary for truly the survey responses tell us about technolo-
smart, connected lighting,” he claimed. gies, applications, and opportunities for the
Occupant sensing using advanced devices LED and SSL sectors to pursue. Also, mark your
with color mapping and lidar, he stated, calendar for Feb. 9–11, 2021 when Strategies in
will provide a foundation for efficient Light will be held in Santa Clara, CA. Follow
building services. Indeed, in our March Strategies in Light on Twitter (@StratInLight)
issue, Signify’s Robert Lee shared a com- and Facebook (StrategiesInLight) and visit
pelling and creative vision of the future https://w w w.strategiesinlight.com for
based on connected lighting technologies’ updates on the 2021 call for abstracts.
APRIL3/17/20 15
2020 3:36 PM
3/24/20 3:42 PM
focus on Sapphire Awards
Sapphire scores demonstrate SSL
is riding a new wave of innovation
The lighting industry’s move to address quality of experience and valued-added intelligent
features was represented in the annual Sapphire Awards submissions. CARRIE MEADOWS
reports on the product entries that scored 3.25 Sapphires and above.
Back in the March issue, we reported at length on the
winners in the 2020 Sapphire Awards program (http://
bit.ly/3cFdUlw), explaining the key features that earned
each product recognition at the sixth annual awards
reception on Feb. 12. While hosting aboard the
flight deck of the USS Midway that evening,
chief editor Maury Wright observed that
each year the judging gets more difficult
due to the narrowing of the gap in perfor-
mance of many solid-state lighting (SSL)
products, and that innovation has evolved
to represent form, function, and flexibility
across all technology and application catego-
ries, as well as the quality of light necessary for a
luminaire’s intended purpose. Here we outline the scoring
of products that receive 3.25 Sapphires and above.
As in previous years, the judges were tasked with
evaluating product submissions based on the quality of
informational materials supplied as well as the described
merits of the products, including datasheets, photomet-
ric reports, and other documents, and were scored from
0–5 Sapphires. Products were given a minimum of 3
16 APRIL 2020
2004LED.indb 16
sapphires if they were deemed suitable for commercial
deployment. For a product to receive a score of 3.25 sap-
phires or above, it must perform efficiently and reliably,
contribute to profitability, and demonstrate ease of use.
Scores above 3.75 sapphires were given to entries that
were judged to deliver excellent performance via crite-
ria such as high efficacy, effective beam distribution, and
superior light quality, for example; and/or added value
such as ease of installation, integration, and/or use,
granular control, intelligent features beyond dimming
and on/off scheduling in the case of smart components
and controls, among others.
Judging by the submissions in this year’s program,
companies in the LED and SSL sectors have heard their
peers’ comments and demands for the industry to step
up and move beyond traditional form factors and simply
replicating the experience of conventional light sources
(http://bit.ly/32ivyGN). Many of the entries were judged
to facilitate finished product quality, deliver high-qual-
ity illumination, enable the right type of light at the right
time for the established application, or bring new levels
of aesthetic achievement to lighting projects.
Photo credit: Image by Charles Thomas for Endeavor Business Media's LED & Lighting Network.
LEDsmagazine.com
3/24/20 3:42 PM
 2020 Sapphire
3.25
Awards Keystone Technologies
Smart Port LED Sensors — Smart and
Judging Panel Connected SSL Enabling Technologies

Jim Benya Keystone Technologies

Benya Burnett Consultancy Step Down Transformer — LED Drivers

Carl Bloomfield Nichia Corporation

Intertek Tunable White 757 – NF2W757G-MT —
Tunable White LEDs and Light Engines
Chris Brown
Nextgen Lighting
Deborah Burnett
Benya Burnett Consultancy
Monica Hansen
LED Lighting Advisors
Eric Haugaard
3.50
Cree Lighting
Columbia Lighting Espen Technology
Duncan Jackson Versify — Indoor Troffer, Track, and VersaDim RF — Smart and
Billings Jackson Design Downlight SSL Luminaire Design Connected SSL Systems

Brad Koerner ConTech Lighting Finelite, Inc.

Koerner Design Mini-Stealth Wall Wash Track FineTune Tailored Control System (TCS)
Luminaire — Indoor Troffer, Track, and — Lighting for Health and Wellbeing
Clifton Stanley Lemon Downlight SSL Luminaire Design
Clifton Lemon Associates IllumiSci
Dialight IllumiTile Light Engine – Configurable
Steve Paolini Reliant High Bay — Industrial LED arrays (Model IS-IT-89MM) —
Telelumen SSL Luminaire Design SSL Flex, Tiles, and Sheets
Kris Sandheinrich eldoLED Lumileds
KGM Lighting SOLOdrive 30W DMX — LED Drivers LUXEON CSP HL1 — Packaged LEDs and OLEDs
Wilhem Sillevis-Smitt ELR Lumileds
Lumileds NEST ND+ (50- and 70-mm) — Indoor Troffer, LUXEON Fusion — Tunable White
Track and Downlight SSL Luminaire Design LEDs and Light Engines
Philip Smallwood
Fluence Bioengineering Enlighted Lumileds
Enlighted One — Smart and LUXEON IR ONYX — Packaged LEDs and OLEDs
Aaron Smith Connected SSL Systems
Finelite Luminis
ERP Power Multilux — Indoor Troffer, Track, and
Erik Swenson LT3E LED Driver featuring Tri-mode Dimming Downlight SSL Luminaire Design
Nichia with Integrated Tunable White Light Engine
— Tunable White LEDs and Light Engines Signify
Robert Steele Fortimo InstantFit (Model Number:
Strategies in Light 929001673906) — SSL Lamp
and Retrofit Designs
Carrie Meadows
LEDs Magazine Soraa, Inc.
Soraa HEALTHY MR16 Lamp —
Maury Wright Lighting for Health and Wellbeing
LEDs Magazine

LEDsmagazine.com APRIL 2020 17

2004LED.indb 17 3/24/20 3:42 PM

 3.75
A-Light
WGD9 — Indoor Decorative and
Pendant SSL Luminaire Design
Bridgelux
Vesta Flex — LED Drivers
Elemental LED
NEON BLAZE RGB Diffused linear
LED Lighting — Outdoor Landscape
and Architectural SSL Design
Healthe by Lighting Science
SunTrac Ecosystem, with Automated
Scheduling — Lighting for Health and Wellbeing
Hubbell Lighting
SpectraClean — Specialty SSL Design
Igor
Nexos Linear Max Node Series — Smart and
Connected SSL Enabling Technologies
Isollux LED Ltd
Soffito (SFO-IP65-UT-85-180W-ND) —
Industrial SSL Luminaire Design
Kenall
TekLink TL2000PS Parking Suite —
Smart and Connected SSL Systems
LEDvance
BIOLUX HCL System — Lighting
for Health and Wellbeing
Lucetta Lighting
CELESTE Flexible Linear Lighting —
SSL Flex, Tiles, and Sheets
Luminis
Lumiquad — Outdoor Street and
Area SSL Luminaire Design
18 APRIL 2020 
2004LED.indb 18
3.75
McWong International Inc.
TruBlu Bluetooth-DALI Wireless Fixture
Controller — Smart and Connected
SSL Enabling Technologies
Mean Well USA Inc.
HVGC-1000 — LED Drivers
Meteor Lighting
WHIZ 2.0 — Industrial SSL Luminaire Design
Osram Opto Semiconductors
OSCONIQ S 3030 Quantum Dot
— Packaged LEDs and OLEDs
4.00
Agnetix
A3-1200-HERO — Horticultural Lighting
A-light
Absorb H — Specialty SSL Design
Bridgelux
Thrive — Packaged LEDs and OLEDs
Cooper Lighting Solutions
(formerly Eaton Lighting Division)
Metalux Industrial WaveLinx Wireless
Connected Lighting System Solutions
— Industrial SSL Luminaire Design
Dow
DOWSIL EI-2888 Primerless
Silicone Encapsulant — SSL
Enabling Technologies and Test
ERP Power
LTM3 Tunable Color Light Engine —
Tunable White LEDs and Light Engines
Evo-Lite, LLC
Auragami Flexible LED Light Sheet
— SSL Flex, Tiles, and Sheets
Fluence by Osram
VYPR 2P — Horticultural Lighting
Samsung Electronics
LM302N (SPMWH3326FC5FBU0S0)
— Packaged LEDs and OLEDs
Samsung Electronics
Samsung T-series
(SPHWHAHDNH25YZWPT1) — Tunable
White LEDs and Light Engines
Signify
ELI-S-10 10VA Pure Sine Wave Emergency
Nano Inverter — Emergency SSL
Luminaires, Modules, and Drivers
Universal Lighting Technologies
EVERLINE PWX LED Drivers — LED Drivers
Fluxwerx
Rails — Indoor Troffer, Track and
Downlight SSL Luminaire Design
Gamma Scientific
940 LED-200 Series Goniometer —
SSL Enabling Technologies and Test
GVA Lighting
HL-DL-BLADE — Outdoor Landscape
and Architectural SSL Design
Igor
Nexos Linear Network Node – Max —
Emergency SSL Luminaires, Modules,
and Drivers
Inventronics
EUM-DT Series, Next Generation
Class P LED Drivers — LED Drivers
Kenall
LuxTran LTSI-A1 — Outdoor Street
and Area SSL Luminaire Design
Kenall
MedSlot Family of Luminaires —
Lighting for Health and Wellbeing
LEDsmagazine.com
3/24/20 3:42 PM
 4.00
KIM Lighting
KFL Collection — Outdoor Landscape and Architectural SSL Design

MaxLite
PhotonMax LED Spot Light — Horticultural Lighting

Meteor Lighting

4.50
Duo 4 Up/Down Pendant — Indoor Decorative
and Pendant SSL Luminaire Design

Nulite Lighting
Regolo1 — Indoor Decorative and Pendant SSL Luminaire Design
Samsung Electronics
Samsung ITM-Resi (ITM-D-BZ) — Smart and
Connected SSL Enabling Technologies
Selux Corporation
Mistella — Outdoor Street and Area SSL Luminaire Design
ANP Lighting
EQ Collection – Post Top Luminaires — Outdoor
Street and Area SSL Luminaire Design
Circadian ZircLight Inc.
CIRCADIAN Zirc Day-Night Mid-Power LED Set
— Lighting for Health and Wellbeing

Signify Cooper Lighting Solutions (formerly

Advance FlexTune System — Smart and Connected SSL Systems Eaton Lighting Division)
Ephesus Lumadapt 8 LED Sports Lighting
Soraa, Inc. System — Specialty SSL Design
Soraa VIVID Warm Dim MR16 Lamp —
SSL Lamp and Retrofit Designs Eureka Lighting
Arena 8200 and accessories 8290-8291-8292-8293 —

4.25
Indoor Decorative and Pendant SSL Luminaire Design

4.75
Cooper Lighting Solutions (formerly
Eaton Lighting Division)
Shaper Sense Acoustic LED Lighting (BOX
and TRAP) — Specialty SSL Design
Cree Lighting
Diode LED, an Elemental LED brand Cadiant Dynamic Lighting Experience —
HYDROLUME SLIM 24V IP68 RGB Strip Light — Outdoor Lighting for Health and Wellbeing
Landscape and Architectural SSL Design

eLumigen
LED Rough Service A19 Lamps — SSL Lamp and Retrofit Designs

Fluence by Osram
SPYDR 2i — Horticultural Lighting

Fluxwerx
Profile Mini — Indoor Decorative and
Pendant SSL Luminaire Design

Glint Photonics, Inc.

Glint Hero — Indoor Troffer, Track, and
Downlight SSL Luminaire Design

LED Linear USA

NEXUS – Ultra High Definition LED Flex Tape
— SSL Flex, Tiles, and Sheets

Nichia Corporation
Vitasolis (NF2W757GT-V3F1 Rv—-) — Packaged LEDs and OLEDs

Vektrex
SpikeSafe SMU (Model Number: 10A SpikeSafe
SMU) — SSL Enabling Technologies and Test

LEDsmagazine.com APRIL 2020 19

2004LED.indb 19 3/24/20 3:42 PM

 outlook | SSL INDUSTRY
State of the Industry Survey reveals
optimism for SSL and applications
We asked you in the audience to respond to a State of the Industry Survey, and MAURY WRIGHT
reports that you generally have an optimistic view looking forward; that includes your outlook on
some key SSL applications such as connected lighting and lighting for health and wellbeing.
F
or the first time in our history, LEDs
Magazine has fielded a State of the
Industry survey covering the out-
look of our audience working both in prod-
uct development and in the design/specifi-
cation process for solid-state lighting (SSL)
products. The survey reveals your outlook on
the industry and details on trends you are
seeing in technology ranging from the pack-
aged LED, to evolving technologies such as
connected lighting, to applications such as
smart cities and lighting for health and well-
being. We will get to the details in a moment,
but we can report a general state of opti-
mism in our LED and SSL sectors.
We do need to make one point about this
survey data, and it’s a point you will find
echoed elsewhere in this issue. We developed
the survey questions before we understood
the seriousness of the Covid-19 coronavirus.
We did not mention the coronavirus in the
survey. And we will again state that it’s more
important for global society to control the
coronavirus than it is to ponder our industry
outlook. But we do note that had the survey
been fielded a month or so later, we would
have asked about the coronavirus and the
spread of the virus may have impacted opti-
mism. That said, the global situation could
change for the better or worse between the
time we wrote this article and when it is
deployed in our April issue.
Industry optimism
But now let’s get to the optimism, which,
by the way, you will find spread through-
out this article. We will consider both one
of the simplest questions that we asked
and one of the most complicated. We asked
whether you expected your own organiza-
tion to add workforce, reduce workforce,
20 APRIL 2020
2004LED.indb 20
or stay roughly the same over the course fere with the lighting business. Examples
of the next year. Almost 40% of you expect could be tariffs and trade wars, and we will
your organization to add workforce and discuss those issues in more detail later.
almost 60% expect no change. Less than 5% We also offered another positive scenario
of you responded that you expect
a reduction in workforce.
Which statement best represents your outlook on
We asked the more compli- near-term prospects for the LED & SSL sectors?
cated question to try and discern
how our audience sees the LED 15.52%
and SSL opportunities looking
forward, and we based the ques-
tion around the so-called LEDi-
fication process or the process of
replacing existing legacy sources 55.17%
27.59%
with LED-based products. We
presented four potential scenar-
ios that are revealed in Fig. 1. And
we asked respondents to choose
which of the four statements most
1.72%
closely represents their outlook
on the near-term prospects for
■ W  hile the LEDification evolution is well underway,
our industry. the LED component and SSL sectors will still
Based on market research per- deliver several years of growth and opportunity at
8.62%
formed by our own sister business the individual and corporate13.79%
levels.
Strategies Unlimited and by oth- ■ Socket saturation or penetration of LED sources
ers such as the US Department of is happening so fast that the LED and3.45%SSL sectors
Energy (DOE), we know that LED will not see a period of growth in the near term.
penetration has still only reached ■ There are many opportunities for potential
around the 30–40% level of the growth in the LED and SSL sectors, but outside
24.14%
influences will continually prevent consistent
total lighting market. So clearly
growth for both LED component and lighting-
there remain a lot of LED prod- 50%
product manufacturers.
ucts to be sold. And more than
■ T here will be limited growth in the LED and SSL
half of the respondents see that sectors for LEDification opportunities going
situation opportunistically. A very forward, but new applications, such as connected
small number, well under 5%, see lighting and the IoT, will drive a significant period
socket saturation as a near-term of growth.
obstacle to business opportunity 1.72%
in the sector. FIG. 1. Respondents3.45%were asked about their
6.90%
Instead, our audience sees the near-term outlook on the LED and SSL sectors
significant obstacles as being and generally the responses indicate positive
from outside factors that inter- opportunities for the industry.
13.79%
LEDsmagazine.com
37.93%
3/24/20 3:42 PM
 12.07%
12.07%
55.17%
27.59%
1.72%

outlook | SSL INDUSTRY

25.86%
1.72%
Which of these outside influences that negatively there will be a renaissance CSPs have fans but...
48.28%
impact the LED and SSL sectors do you believe of sorts that pervades the We were 15.52%most curious about how our audi-
has the greatest impediment to the sectors? industry to drive better light ence would respond about chip-scale pack-
quality (http://bit.ly/2RZx age (CSP) LEDs. Strategies Unlimited has
8.62% 13.79% NdH). Such a movement would continued to document relatively low adop-
clearly be good for the industry. tion of CSP LEDs. Yet we have firsthand con-
3.45% Still, we were surprised versations with industry participants that
55.17%
27.59%
by the answers to the ques- indicate an enthusiastic yet small fan base
tion about outside influences. for CSP technology. Our new research pretty
Tariffs were identified by just much confirms what Strategies Unlimited
24.14%
under 15% of the respondents, has 5.13% reported. Almost 20% of our respon-
50% yet we have been hearing so dents said they always utilize CSP technol-
1.72%
much about tariffs as hold- ogy, but nearly as many said they never use
ing back the industry23.08%
over the CSP technology.
course of the last year. More- The second question in the series con-
■ T ariffs ■ L ow-quality products over, the supply chain has firmed the fact that mid- 41.03%
and high-power
8.62% 13.79%
regularly been identified as a LED usage is much closer than one might
■ Investment from the ■ O  utdated supply chain
Chinese government 1.72% problem with too many par- guess in perusing data from, say, the Strat-
3.45% ties expecting a slice of the rev- egies Unlimited worldwide 3.45%
LED report.
■ P rice erosion
6.90%
enue, but few respondents con- Stepping back, however, the data isn’t nec-
sider the supply chain an issue, essarily conflicting. Strategies Unlimited
FIG. 2. Outside influences have a huge impact that at least relative to the impact 30.77% reports data based on revenue. Our ques-
13.79% 24.14%
has limited more positive results for the LED and of the other mentioned factors. tions would be answered based on tech-
37.93%
SSL sectors, but we were surprised to find that low 50%nology used in projects and not infer any
product quality led the list. LED technology information as to revenue or number of
Now let’s turn to tech-
based on emerging technology such as con- nology — we started with questions
nected lighting that could enable new busi- about packaged LEDs. We asked prod- Which of the following technologies do you
ness opportunities for lighting companies. uct developers to answer based on the work with most frequently?
36.21%
And it was a positive result to see around LEDs that they were specifying in new
3.45% 1.72%
15% of the respondents select that scenario product designs. We asked design-
6.90%
as a likely path forward. Again, that fore- ers/specifiers to answer based on the
shadows messages to come. LEDs integrated in the end SSL prod-
ucts that they were using in projects.
13.79%
Outside influence and low quality Our first question was focused on
Given the number of respondents that the type of LEDs, light engines, and 37.93%
selected outside influences as an obstacle even OLED panels that were being uti-
to positive LED and SSL markets, it’s fortu- lized by respondents. We first asked
itous that we also asked a question about which of a list of technologies were
outside influences (Fig. 2). We had a rela- being utilized and followed up by ask-
tively short list of such influences identi- ing which single technology was being
36.21%
fied. Still, the number one culprit identi- used most frequently (Fig. 3).
fied by 50% of respondents was low-quality Going into this research proj-
■ M  id-power LEDs
products. We suppose it’s arguable whether ect, we knew from work done by
■ H  igh-power LEDs
that should have been listed as an outside our Strategies Unlimited unit that
influence. But the survey putting the target mid-power LEDs would be the most ■ C
 hip-on-board (COB) LEDs
squarely on product quality is interesting. prominently identified light source. ■ C
 hip-scale package (CSP) LEDs
Consider that the second-most-identi- More than 50% of respondents said ■ M  odular LED light engines
fied negative influence was price erosion at they often used mid-power LEDs and ■ O  LED panels
almost 25%. Price erosion and low-product almost 20% more said they always
quality are inexorably linked. Price erosion use mid-power LEDs. Still, high-
can lead directly to lower-quality products power LEDs clearly have advocates. FIG. 3. High-power LEDs once dominated the
and the end result is an impact on reve- Even more respondents than in the lighting market but have been usurped in many
nue, margins, and profits up and down the mid-power case — almost 30% — said cases by mid-power devices. Still, our readers
supply chain. We continue to believe that they always use high-power LEDs. report that high-power LEDs are holding their own.
LEDsmagazine.com APRIL 2020 21

2004LED.indb 21 3/24/20 3:42 PM

 25.86%
1.72%
48.28%

outlook | SSL INDUSTRY

8.62% 13.79%
components used. And we know that inher- survey manageable. We are How likely is a significant secondary business
ently there would be far fewer brighter,3.45% sure glad now that some- opportunity, based on installing network
high-power LEDs used in a specific appli- how we did include them. infrastructure for lighting, and hosting paid
cation relative to cheaper, less-bright mid- When we asked how applications like office space optimization, indoor
power LEDs. important it was in develop- wayfinding, security, etc.?
We did also ask about selection crite- 24.14% ment or specification proj-
5.13%
ria for LEDs.
50%
And we’d have to admit some ects to have a serviceable or
surprise when it came to those results. We upgradable luminaire,
have our Strategies in Light coverage in this almost 75% said it was
23.08%
issue (p. 25). And two key messages that important or extremely
came across during the conference were important (Fig. 4). Those
41.03%
that the energy era for LEDs is dead and results run counter to the
light quality matters. Still, our respondents growing throwaway men-
identified the stalwarts3.45% 1.72%and life- tality of society. Still, devel-
— efficacy
time — as leading 6.90%
the way in selection cri- opers and specifiers do face
teria. We did not limit respondents to one the reality of installed prod-
choice. Color uniformity and rendering did ucts failing and the need to
30.77%
show up in13.79%
the results but not as strongly as remedy that failure with a
we might have expected. product
37.93%that matches those
■ V  ery likely ■ S omewhat unlikely
installed. Serviceable lumi-
■ S omewhat likely ■ V ery unlikely,
Serviceable luminaires naires solve that issue. net responses 0%
Following our questions about LEDs and We also asked respon- ■ P
 ossibly likely
light source technology, we asked a couple dents about technol-
of questions about serviceability in integral ogy approaches they use FIG. 5. Our audience foresees a very positive future for
luminaires. Frankly, 36.21%
these questions were to allow for servicing a lighting manufacturers developing secondary revenue
headed to the cutting-room floor a couple luminaire. We specifi- streams selling networked applications that run on a
of times as we tried to keep the length of the cally asked if subsystems lighting infrastructure.
with Zhaga Consor-
tium compliance were used, but that Tunable white lighting, however, has
Please indicate how important it is for option did not score highly. The most been relatively slow to take off in broad
an installed luminaire to be serviced or popular approaches in the 33–40% general lighting applications. The tunable
upgraded. range were modular replaceable light capability adds cost because two or more
engines, LED drivers that could be LED channels are required along with
12.07%
12.07% accessed from below the ceiling, and more complicated drivers, although driver
modular sensors and connectivity. companies are making progress on reduc-
1.72% ing complexity, as we covered recently
White-point tunable lighting (http://bit.ly/2wM3wbc).
Now let’s finish our coverage of the We would have suspected that relatively
survey looking at some potential few in our audience would have worked
25.86% growth areas. One such area is tun- with tunable white lighting despite the fact
able white lighting. Such technol- that we believe it has a bright future. But
48.28%
ogy can be deployed for ambience, we asked if respondents had worked with
although it’s often used specifically tunable lighting and almost 60% responded
to try and coerce a positive response positively. Moreover, about the same num-
from humans exposed to such light. ber indicated that the goal of the work was
■ E xtremely important
The positive response could be lighting for health and wellbeing and not
■ Important
increased productivity, better sleep just ambience.
■ S ometimes important
patterns, increased alertness, and We asked a third question to gauge how
■ U  nimportant
more. The practice has been called significant our audience views the mar-
■ E xtremely unimportant lighting for health and wellbeing, ket potential for tunable lighting. More
5.13% human-centric lighting, and integra- than 50% indicated that they expect tun-
FIG. 4. The prevalence of serviceable luminaires tive lighting. We’ve covered the sci- able lighting to be deployed in broad gen-
is one topic we almost dropped from the ence in reporting on our Lighting for eral lighting applications. Another 30% said
survey,
23.08% but it turned out to be a very important Health and Wellbeing conferences it will be broadly deployed in schools. Not
characteristic of luminaires for our audience. (http://bit.ly/2ZFeo7W). a single respondent chose either of the two
41.03%
22 APRIL 2020 LEDsmagazine.com

2004LED.indb 22 3/24/20 3:42 PM

 outlook | SSL INDUSTRY

categories that we added as essentially negative on the applica-

tion — inconsistent research data or lack of success with research
subject outcomes.

Networking and controls

Right about now, you are probably wondering when we will get to
discussing networks, controls, and smart lighting. These tech-
nologies have been championed as saviors of the lighting indus-
try. The industry is adding network connectivity either to auto-
mate building operation or meet building codes. The recurring
theme has been that we may as well run other applications across
this connected infrastructure, with lighting offering ubiquitous
nodes across spaces.
We first asked respondents whether their work had involved
the use of autonomous or programmatic controls of networked
EUM
lighting. The response was a strong yes from almost 70% of the SERIES
respondents. We then tried to characterize the complexity of the
networked systems involved and the audience split roughly into
thirds. About 35% said their experience was mainly focused on
simple lighting controls and sensing. Another 28% had experience
with a larger network encompassing multiple spaces or an entire
facility. And about 35% had worked on campuses or multiple geo-
graphically-diverse facilities and utilized Internet of Things (IoT)
technology. These results do not align with the vendor-centric Next Generation
research done by Strategies Unlimited and reflect broader use of
networks than we expected.
And the respondents are very bullish on the technology, as you
Platform Delivers
can see in Fig. 5. More than 70% (a combination of very likely and
somewhat likely) believe that there will indeed be lucrative sec-
the Solutions
ondary business opportunities for lighting manufacturers tied
to connected-lighting-enabled applications such as indoor way-
You Need
finding, space optimization, security, and more. If they are cor- Programmable Output
rect, the results will be extremely important for the health of
our industry. Compact Form Factor
Smart city applications Isolated Dimming
Moving outdoors, the news was not quite so positive. We asked how
many of our respondents had been involved in what they would con- Global Cable to Reduce SKUs
sider a project with a smart-city angle. Fewer than 30% responded (DG Models)
positively. We did not ask how many of our respondents work in out-
door lighting in general. So we can’t draw a strong judgment about UL Class P Models
the response to the question.
Still, when we asked about the respondents’ outlook on smart (DT Models)
city applications, the results flipped completely. Almost 90% of the
respondents said that it was either very likely or somewhat likely
that municipalities and utilities will be able to develop secondary
revenue streams by using their street lights to host smart city appli-
View our EUM Series
cations, ranging from wireless communications to parking services video on YouTube
to security and more. Again, if our respondents are correct, there is
a bright path forward for our industry.
There is still more data to be mined from our survey. We did dig
deep in areas such as SSL power and driver schemes. Expect us to
share additional data in specific articles and other content about
different SSL sector technologies. Meanwhile, we send our thanks Inventronics-co.com
to all who participated.

LEDsmagazine.com APRIL 2020 23

2004LEDS_Inventronics 1 3/16/20 2:12 PM

2004LED.indb 23 3/24/20 3:42 PM

Registration is now open!
Supported by:
REGISTER ONLINE:

WWW.HORTICANNLT.COM
2004LED.indb 24
2004LEDs_EndeavorHCLT 1 3/24/20 1:38
3/10/20 3:42 PM
PM
 conference report | STRATEGIES IN LIGHT
Speakers say SSL has truly matured,
light quality challenges remain
The energy era is said to be over with LEDs, although efficiency does matter, reports MAURY WRIGHT
based on Strategies in Light presentations, but the SSL industry must still pursue quality of light
challenges and search for the next hot application.
S
trategies in Light took place Feb.
11–13 in San Diego, CA with the con-
ference including the typical mix
of sessions focused on technology, market,
and applications. The keynote presentations
that we will focus on here were very com-
pelling. The pervasive message was that the
energy era is over for LEDs with companies
that succeed needing to pursue quality of
light or find new applications for solid-state
lighting (SSL). The good news is that there
is plenty of work to be done on light quality,
and that effort should have a positive impact
on prices and therefore the overall health of
the LED and SSL businesses. Meanwhile,
the innovators in the industry will also seek
new applications.
Lawrence Lin, CEO of LEDvance, got the
opening Plenary Session at the Strategies in
Light Conference underway on Wednesday,
and Lin was quick to address light quality
(Fig. 1). Going into Strategies in Light, the
company had introduced the Sylvania Nat-
ural Series of LED replacement lamps that
leverage what the company calls TruWave
technology to deliver a more uniform spec-
tral power distribution (SPD) (http://bit.
ly/2v7bFXv). In his keynote address, Lin
repeatedly referred to natural light as ideal
for humans, essentially implying the new
lamp family delivers such light.
Consumers discover quality
The presentation made some key points
about both the technology and the market.
LEDvance had fielded some market research
among US customers buying replacement
lamps. The customers did rate energy sav-
ings and long life as the most import-
ant attributes of lamps that they buy. But
LEDvance also asked about a number of
LEDsmagazine.com APRIL 2020 25
2004LED.indb 25
health-centric benefits, and around 50% of
the respondents rated those health benefits
very important. For example, one such ben-
efit was support for an optimal sleep/wake
cycle. The respondents also rated brightness
as very important.
Lin, meanwhile, stressed the importance
of natural light as delivering three spe-
cific benefits:
• Reduced eye strain
• More vivid color rendering
• Clean and natural light
These benefits play out in applications
ranging from education to retail to residential.
Lin repeatedly stressed the fact that students
or retail workers can see details with less eye
strain under quality lighting — for instance, a
retail clerk trying to read a small product tag. FIG. 1. Lawrence Lin of LEDvance
And we’ve long covered the concept that qual- emphasized a renewed focus on delivering
ity lighting and improved color rendering can natural light that provides comfort and
increase retail sales (http://bit.ly/2vHVBMg). visual acuity with crisp color rendering
Of course, the question remains how we during his keynote at Strategies in Light.
define natural light or, for that matter, qual- Photo credit: Image by Charles Thomas
ity of light. There is no simple metric. But for Endeavor Business Media’s LED &
an examination of SPD provides some clues. Lighting Network.
And indeed Lin showed the SPD of a LED-
vance 90-CRI lamp (Fig. 2). The SPD more by saying the initial Natural Series prod-
closely matches the black-body curve than ucts were intended for the broadest appli-
does the typical phosphor-converted LED. cation possible. But he said LEDvance will
And Lin pointed out that LEDvance lamps deliver other lamps with different SPDs
deliver that SPD with efficacy matching typ- for specific applications that have differ-
ical lamps on the market. ent requirements.
Steve Paolini, founder of Telelumen, then
Efficacy/SPD tradeoffs noted that the LEDvance SPD was miss-
But Lin was challenged during the Q&A ses- ing energy at both the high and low end of
sion by a couple of experts in the lighting for the human visual range. Paolini correctly
health field. First, Dr. Martin Moore-Ede, suggested that LEDvance eliminated the
CEO and founder of Circadian ZircLight, energy as a tradeoff for better efficacy. And
noted the near absence of blue energy in he pointed out that the 90-CRI SPD reduces
Lin’s SPD diagram that would be healthy energy significantly at 660 nm, which is the
at certain times of the day. Lin responded color of human blood. Moreover, he said
3/24/20 3:42 PM
 conference report | STRATEGIES IN LIGHT

lack of energy in the violet region 1.4 To further explain the ideas of

Relative intensity/spectral energy

would prevent humans from per- Ra 90 normal 2835 2700K perception and behavior, Pater-
1.2 Full-spectrum example
ceiving bright whites. Lin again son sought some volunteers from
Black body 2700K
said he believes the SPD of the new 1.0 the audience who were shown
series will be very good for most photos. First up was a high-end
0.8 Fuller spectrum
applications and that other lamps Invisible jewelry store that featured an
Smoother curve =
infrared (IR)
in the LEDvance product plan- 0.6 Natural light impressive entry and what from
ning would emerge for specific 0.4
the outside appeared to be a very
application scenarios with differ- Less energy in attractive interior — the light-
0.2 invisible area =
ent SPD requirements. Energy savings ing certainly looked well imple-
0 mented. But the entrance did not
Psychology and light 380 430 480 530 580 630 680 730 780 look particularly inviting. Now
Wavelength (nm)
Following Lin’s presentation, the store is well known as are its
Thomas Paterson, principal of FIG. 2. The spectral power distribution of the LEDvance prices. Paterson’s point was that
design firm Lux Populi, presented Sylvania Natural Series lamps comes closer to matching the the lighting design was meant to
a keynote titled the “Psychology of black-body locus than do typical phosphor-converted white send a message that a customer
Light.” Paterson covered some ter- LEDs. Image credit: Illustration courtesy of LEDvance. entering the store should be pre-
ritory explaining how the human pared to spend a substantial sum.
eye and brain react to light, albeit with the example that uniquely illustrated his point. Next, Paterson showed an after-ski
end goal of approaching how lighting design- He had shown some images of an art gallery restaurant located at a well-known win-
ers can apply light to help retailers, restau- and discussed how wall washing made the ter resort. The participants agreed that the
rants, museums, homeowners, and more space seem well lit despite the fact that the lighting provided a welcoming and comfort-
encourage a desired response from a visitor. light levels by measure were relatively low. able look to the space. The mission behind
“What happens inside the brain is an People don’t really notice the light on the wall the design was conversion of customer vis-
interpretation of space,” said Paterson. but the brain perceives the space as pleasant. its initially planned to be for quick drinks
“The human eye is fairly accurate in terms He then asked how many in the audience before dinner into drinks, dinner, and then
of the little bit it captures. The human brain ever swam laps in a 50m pool and got a num- more after-dinner drinks.
is extremely inaccurate, but what it does is ber of affirmative responses. He said that
that it puts together our best interpretation 50m was a pretty good swim, although he Looking to the SSL future
of the space around us.” remarked that we walk 50m on level ground The Thursday keynote session, meanwhile,
There are a lot of simple tricks that light- without even thinking about it — he said it’s featured two speakers that were asked to
ing designers and architects use. For exam- the length occupied by seven parked cars. project a bit into the future of lighting tech-
ple, if you put light at the end of a corridor, But turn that 50m span vertical and you nology. First up was Jim Benya, principal
the corridor looks shorter. Paterson said would be looking up at a 13-floor building at the Benya Burnett lighting design con-
the interpretation of a space goes directly and the perception of a much greater dis- sultancy. Benya is never boring or afraid to
to human emotion and that emotion is very tance. He said, “The brain processes verti- express strong opinions, so the day got off
important. He used as a simple example cal and horizontal completely different.” to a fast start.
himself on a raised stage bathed in light in Back to a restaurant, Paterson asked the “One of the advantages of working as a
front of the Strategies in Light audience. The crowd to think about an early date with their lighting designer and illuminating engineer
setting is meant to and generally does con- significant other where the expectation was is that kind of every day in my work I have
vey a person of importance. perhaps a meal that took an hour or 90 min- to figure out some way to take advantages of
“But what about a restaurant?” he asked. utes but instead turned into a situation where the new technologies that are coming down
“Is it a business restaurant or is it a date you and your partner lingered for hours until the pike,” said Benya. “And every now and
restaurant?” But what lighting designers closing. He quipped that light couldn’t guar- then it really forces me to start looking out
should be after, and according to Paterson antee such an experience but could certainly about five years or ten years or 15 years.”
what they often miss, is coercing the behav- encourage such behavior. He showed photos Benya admitted the looking-forward task
ior that’s desired. In a men’s clothing store, of a restaurant where invisible pendants cre- is daunting. But he said there are clues to
for example, the lighting of a very nice jacket ate a pool of light on each table. He used the where the LED and SSL sectors are headed
may entice a customer into the store even moment to question the term “natural light” and that he would focus on those identifi-
though the customer is more likely to buy a and suggested that really natural light isn’t able clues.
lower-cost shirt once in the store. sunlight or skylight but the aggregation of all Benya started with a bold proclamation
the light humans have been exposed to over stating, “The energy era in lighting is offi-
Vertical and horizontal the course of evolution to this day. And he cially over.” He mentioned Haitz’s Law, the
Paterson also discussed the concepts of verti- said what is natural for humans is gathering famous projection by LED pioneer Roland
cal and horizontal illumination and made an around pools of light (Fig. 3). Haitz that charted increases in LED perfor-
26 APRIL 2020 LEDsmagazine.com

2004LED.indb 26 3/24/20 3:42 PM

 conference report | STRATEGIES IN LIGHT

mance and decreases in cost over time — office just by unattach- 25

a law first presented at Strategies in Light ing it and plugging in
(http://bit.ly/3aHhF8w). Today the LED has something new that I 20
exceeded the boundaries of Haitz’s projec- liked better?”

Revenue ($B)
Other
tions. Moreover, Benya said that today, rel- Such a future would 15 Lighting
ative to building power density, the indus- fundamentally change Signs
try is operating at a level 90–95% lower than the lighting sector. 10 Automotive
Mobile
when building energy codes were first estab- Benya envisions a plug-
Displays
lished in 1978. and-play world where 5
electricians and facil-
LEDs or SSL changes? ity engineers are not 0
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
LEDs do continue to improve, but Benya needed to change light-
noted that the rate of improvement in effi- ing in an office. More- FIG. 4. While packaged LED revenue took a tumble in 2019,
cacy has slowed. Still, he said there are con- over, he said the con- the next five years should be better according to Strategies
tinuous improvements in optics and other cept of the Internet of Unlimited projections. Image credit: Illustration courtesy of
facets that lead to quality of light improve- Things (IoT), embed- Strategies Unlimited and Endeavor Business Media’s LED &
ments. And given that his presentation was ded sensors, and net- Lighting Network.
titled “Vison 2040,” he said he could not envi- worked controls only
sion another light source supplanting LEDs add to the vision, although he is still not resiliency where buildings themselves can
in the next twenty years. completely sold on full IoT implementa- continue to operate through loss of power
Next, he turned to luminaires and sug- tions but instead on gated connectivity. He and other disruptions. Benya reminded
gested that the future of such fixtures would also introduced the concept of what he calls the crowd that batteries, which would be
be a lot more fun. He noted that the lumi- “perch and power.” Lighting continues to needed in such a scenario, don’t store AC
naires in the meeting space occupied a sub- be a ripe spot to affix or perch something power. Power over Ethernet (PoE) will be a
stantial amount of space. “That is going like a sensor that can also be supplied by key player, although Benya indicated that
to change big time,” said Benya. Fixtures lighting power. additional standards may be needed beyond
are called fixtures because they have to Finally, Benya turned to DC grids. He said, where PoE stands today.
be affixed to a building system for reasons “Every LED is a DC device, essentially.” AC/
that include weight and electrical require- DC drivers are simply inefficient. DC/DC reg- LESA research
ments, among others. LEDs won’t neces- ulators in each luminaire would be far more The final keynote presentations continued
sarily carry that burden forward. He asked, efficient. Moreover, Benya said the build- the theme of questioning the future and
“What if I could change the luminaire in my ing industry is moving toward a theme of carried an intriguing title — “The end of
the SSL revolution, or is it the beginning?”
The speaker was Bob Karlicek, who manages
the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems &
Applications (LESA), a research labora-
tory at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Karlicek’s lab has been focused on LED and
SSL technologies that might be ten years
from commercialization.
Karlicek opened by noting that he had
been in the LED sector for a long time and he
proudly carried the title “chiphead” that was
derived for work developing LED chips. Early
on, he said his job was forcing SSL technol-
ogy on unsuspecting lighting designers. He
jokingly said he referred to those people as
“brickheads” who made street lights, build-
ing systems, and such.
While Karlicek did peer into the future, his
most sage advice may have been about the
FIG. 3. Humans have long followed ingrained behavior of gathering around pools of present or what he calls the last gasp of the
light, and lighting design in a restaurant can play on this evolved behavior to encourage SSL revolution. Karlicek agrees with Benya
customers to comfortably spend a lengthy evening sharing a meal. Photo credit: Image that the energy era is over. There remains
courtesy of Thomas Paterson, Lux Populi. some potential to push LED efficacy, but

LEDsmagazine.com APRIL 2020 27

2004LED.indb 27 3/24/20 3:42 PM

 conference report | STRATEGIES IN LIGHT

Karlicek said cash-strapped LED 1.8 Covid-19 coronavirus. We will again

CAGR = 51%
manufacturers simply have no moti- 1.6 Automotive express our best wishes to all of those
vation to try and extend Haitz’s Law. 1.4 Signs
around the globe that are suffering
In terms of applications that could from the coronavirus, and their wellbe-

Revenue ($B)
1.2
Mobile
make a difference, Karlicek said 1.0 phones ing is ultimately more important than
lighting for health and wellbeing will market data. That said, we still don’t
0.8 Monitors &
remain important. He is also bullish AIO PCs know how the virus will ultimately
0.6
to a degree on horticultural lighting as TVs
impact the LED and SSL sectors.
an important way to boost food sup- 0.4 The preliminary LED market data
ply. But he sees the rush by SSL manu- 0.2 included a projection of low-single-
facturers into horticultural lighting as 0 digit growth for 2020, especially with
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
unsustainable. He said too many peo- indications that the trade war would
ple investing in horticultural appli- FIG. 5. Strategies Unlimited’s first report on the mini end. Signage, led by directly-emis-
cations don’t realize that Haitz’s Law and micro LED market shows almost nascent activity sive LED video displays, and auto-
will not be extended and that electrical in 2019 but what could be a relatively vibrant market motive applications will be the larg-
costs will continue to gate controlled in five years. Image credit: Illustration courtesy of est growth sectors. Lighting will grow
environment agriculture (CEA). Strategies Unlimited and Endeavor Business Media’s moderately as a consumer of LEDs by
LED & Lighting Network. revenue. Display and mobile will con-
Riding building advancements tinue in a decline.
Karlicek, however, is more excited about what the unique opportunity to hear Bob Steele Fig. 4 depicts a summary of the projec-
he called phase II of the SSL revolution and it make that market presentation, which fea- tions. In 2019, packaged LED revenue was
is mainly focused on connected lighting. He tured some preliminary data from the new $15.7B (billion). Lighting remains the largest
does not see the lighting industry as driving packaged LED report that will be available application by revenue and probably even by
the trend but rather getting a lift from the in March or April (http://bit.ly/2vfg0r5). a wider gap in terms of components shipped.
move by the building industry toward con- Steele is a co-chair of the conference and But price declines have hit the lighting sec-
nectivity. He said, however, that energy effi- was a co-founder of Strategies Unlimited tor harder than the signage or automotive
ciency is a non-factor, and the future is all and Strategies in Light. sectors that tend to use higher-performance
about sensors and the data gathered. Steele immediately jumped into the pack- LEDs. The lighting sector is still expected
The future according to Karlicek is a tech- aged LED market data, and 2019, as many of to grow by 2.3% per year through 2024
nology called Occupant Centric Control. He you may surmise, was not a great year. In the while the overall market grows by around
said sensors being deployed today might tell second half of 2018, manufacturers, especially 5% to $20B.
you someone is in a space but provide no real in China, created an oversupply of compo-
details — such as exactly where in the space nents — especially in mid-power LEDs and Mini and micro LEDs
and perhaps the reflected SPD from that per- to a lesser extent in high-power LEDs. At the Strategies Unlimited is also preparing its
son. Given that knowledge, a smart lighting same time, the on-again, off-again US-China first report ever on the mini and micro LED
system could truly tune a lighting scene spe- trade war lowered demand somewhat in sector. We have published several articles
cifically for the person occupying the space. both general lighting for luminaires and in on the topic recently, including a look at
Ultimately, systems must track number of the automotive LED market. Most signifi- the technology demonstrated at the CES
occupants, movement, and more, and uti- cantly, the market for such products in China tradeshow back in January (http://bit.
lize machine learning to autonomously dropped with the tariffs in place. ly/2H1Tsgc) and a feature on the expand-
take action. Initially prices dropped in Q1 2019 due to ing use of LEDs in directly-emissive dis-
Karlicek also briefly discussed micro LED the oversupply. And then the oversupply and plays (http://bit.ly/2u04r6w).
technology, which we will also touch on in tariffs led to a further significant drop in Q4. Revenue in the combined mini and micro
the next section of this article. He sees micro Overall, mid-power LED pricing in Q4 was LED sectors was under $200M (million) in
LED technology supplanting other display down 20–30% year over year. High-power 2019 (Fig. 5). But Strategies Unlimited does
technologies. But he further envisions the LED prices were a bit more stable, having project an uptake in mini-LED-based TVs
fusion of display and lighting systems down dropped 5–10%. The total impact was an and IT displays over the next three years,
the road. That’s a topic we will be looking LED market with revenues for the year down with the mini LEDs serving as backlighting
into in further detail this year and beyond. about 4% from the prior year. in a more granular fashion than you find in
today’s TVs. Then in the last two years of the
Strategies Unlimited report 2020 could rebound five-year forecast range, micro LEDs will
One of the hallmarks of Strategies in Light Strategies Unlimited is projecting a more become more prominent in directly-emis-
over the years has been the presentation of robust 2020, although we must warn that sive TVs. The market is growing from a small
market data by the Strategies Unlimited much of the research was done before the base, but the growth rate is projected at 51%
team. For the 2020 event, attendees got world had grasped the seriousness of the over five years to the $1.6B range.
28 APRIL 2020 LEDsmagazine.com

2004LED.indb 28 3/24/20 3:42 PM

 test & measurement | LED JUNCTION TEMPERATURE

JEDEC technique simplifies LED

junction temperature measurement
LED junction temperature can impact multiple performance characteristics. Precise measurements
can be gathered using the JEDEC Electrical Test Method (ETM) on completed luminaires, says
JEFF HULETT, and thereby enable designers to optimize SSL designs with all components considered.

T
he leading standard for optical mea-
surement of high-power LEDs, the CIE
TC 2-63, refers to LED junction tem-
perature 204 times. According to its authors, Heating current (285 mA)
members of the International Commission on
Illumination (CIE), this parameter directly Measurement time <1 ms
influences the LED’s photometric, radiomet-
ric, and colorimetric performance. Junction Measurement current (10 mA)
temperature, or TJ, is also a key parameter
in LED reliability performance as semicon-
ductor, phosphor, and packaging failure
mechanisms involve chemical reactions that Fast, clean falling edge required for Vf capture
have specific activation energy thresholds
(http://bit.ly/2U7X1cI).
Because T J is so important, luminaire
designers establish a target TJ for the lumi-
naire early in the design process. Usually
the target TJ is chosen using LM-80 reliabil-
ity test data supplied by the LED manufac-
turer. During the design validation process FIG. 1. Oscilloscope capture shows an example ETM current waveform.
for the luminaire, TJ may be verified for indi-
vidual LEDs in the product, but the verifica- Why TJ matters two sections of the luminaire could produce
tion methods have shortcomings, especially LED optical parameters are strongly influ- light at two different chromaticity values.
when applied in situ to the complete product enced by temperature. For example, LED Junction temperature variations in time
including heat sinks, optics, and housing. efficiency decreases with increased junction are also important because they indicate the
Here we describe a simpler method for mea- temperature due to temperature-dependent mechanical stress that the LED and its attach-
suring junction temperature that is easy to use carrier loss and non-radiative recombina- ment (often solder) are subjected to during the
with complete luminaires — the Electrical Test tion within the semiconductor. The result- luminaire’s on-off power cycles. A wider tem-
Method (ETM). The ETM is defined in JEDEC’s ing decline in overall performance can be perature swing produces more mechanical
JESD51-51 and JESD51-14 standards (http://bit. profound — for example, the luminous flux stress, which can lead to solder migration and
ly/3aptq3l); it uses the LED junction’s inherent output of typical amber LEDs constructed early failure of joints.
voltage-temperature relationship to infer TJ. with aluminum indium gallium phosphide LED temperature is correlated with LED
Using the ETM, luminaire designers can mea- (AlInGaP) material declines 1.5%/°C. LED reliability, as shown in LM-80 and TM-21
sure individual LED junction temperatures, dominant wavelength and chromaticity also design data. To ensure that the LM-80 data
as well as the ensemble junction temperature shift with junction temperature. remains valid, every LED in the luminaire
— that is, the temperature of the LED circuit To ensure that light output and quality are should operate below the temperature
treated as one virtual device. within design specifications, it is important defined in the LM-80 and TM-21 data.
to know the maximum and minimum LED
JEFF HULETT is the founder and CTO of San junction temperatures. For example, if a heat- Common methods are difficult to apply
Diego-based Vektrex Electronic Systems, Inc. sink design results in one portion of the LED LM-80 uses case temperature (Ts) measure-
(https://www.vektrex.com). circuit running hotter than another, those ments that reflect the LED temperature at a

LEDsmagazine.com APRIL 2020 29

2004LED.indb 29 3/24/20 3:42 PM

 test & measurement | LED JUNCTION TEMPERATURE
specific attachment point, such as an elec-
trical pad. In manufacturers’ LM-80 lumen
maintenance tests, LED samples are powered
for long periods in chambers maintained at
elevated temperatures. Optical performance is
measured, and drive current and Ts is reported
as the stress level correlated to that optical
performance. Theoretically, it is then a sim-
ple matter to replicate the same performance
in a luminaire designed with the same parts,
if the drive current and temperature match. In
practice, it is difficult to measure the Ts once
the LEDs are packaged into a complete lumi-
naire, because the Ts point is usually inac-
cessible. Even if it can be accessed, attach-
ing thermocouples or other sensors to that
point can lead to heat being conducted away
from or toward the LED, often rendering the
results meaningless.
If a reasonable Ts measurement can be
made, TJ can be calculated using the manu-
facturer’s specified thermal-resistance (RΘ)
value. However, published RΘ values are typ-
ical values; in many cases, they depend upon
a thermal path through a solder connection.
But individual solder connections vary, and so
it is possible to have voids and other defects in
the solder connecting the LED to the printed
circuit board (PCB) that increase the RΘ.
When this happens, the actual TJ value can
be well above the calculated value.
Other measurement tools are, for one rea-
son or another, inadequate. Infrared (IR) cam-
eras, for example, are sometimes used to mea-
sure the temperature of the LED but are often
of limited use because the image resolution
is too coarse to distinguish the LED junction
from surrounding elements. In addition, many
luminaires include optics such as diffuser
lenses that can block access to the individual
LED chips, making it impossible to accurately
measure the luminaire in its true condition.
Sophisticated thermal-impedance analyzers
are good at determining detailed characteris-
tics of single LEDs, but they are complex and
difficult to use. In addition, they often lack the
power to drive a complete luminaire.
ETM offers a better way
JEDEC’s ETM allows TJ to be measured in
situ at full current under actual operating
conditions. It uses a two-step process. First,
the LED’s forward voltage versus tempera-
ture characteristic is profiled. A small DC
current called the measurement current,
30 APRIL 2020
2004LED.indb 30
Force +
Vektrex Force –
precision pulsed source/
measure unit
Sense +
Sense –
Sense wire connection:
Ensemble Tj – entire array
Single LED Tj – center device
FIG. 2. Feit luminaire connection to Precision Pulsed SMU.
Thermal enclosure
Luminaire
Dummy load
Driver circuit board
FIG 3. Overall TJ test setup ensures normal operation heat sources are included in the test.
or IM, is used for this step. IM is chosen to be
high enough to light up the LED but not high
enough to produce significant heating. After
characterization, the LED is driven at a much
higher heating current, or IH — typically the
intended operating current. IH is maintained
long enough to stabilize the LED at its operat-
ing temperature. After stabilization, the cur-
rent is briefly pulsed down to the IM level and
forward-voltage (Vf) samples are taken. See
an example ETM current waveform in Fig. 1.
The voltage samples are then graphed, and
the waveform is extrapolated back to T0, the
time when the current switched from the
heating current to the measurement current.
The resulting T0 intercept-voltage value
represents the forward voltage of the LED
at the moment current was reduced. This
Vf at T0 is then compared with the tempera-
ture-characterization data to determine the
junction temperature.
The ETM requires several high-perfor-
mance components:
• A powerful current source that can drive
the luminaire at full operating current
and voltage
SpikeSafe SMU
Connect SMU force and
sense to LED circuit using
separate twisted-pair wires .com
• An accurate low-current source that can
provide the measurement current
• Fast circuitry to switch between the
sources or fast pulsing capability
• A high-bandwidth digitizer to capture the
voltage during the measurement interval
A few precision pulsed source/measure
instruments (SMUs) have all the required
ETM capabilities in one tool.
• Fast pulsing to handle the sharp transi-
tion required from the heating to mea-
surement current levels
• Continuous power conversion to support
the high duty cycle of the heating cur-
rent waveform
• A high-bandwidth digitizer with high
voltage capability to support ensemble
TJ measurement
• Semi-automated software that captures
the Vf trend and extrapolates it
ETM example: Feit ceiling can light
A residential can-light example illustrates how
the ETM is used with a typical luminaire. The
luminaire uses LEDs mounted on a metal-core
printed-circuit board (MCPCB) and wired in
LEDsmagazine.com
3/24/20 3:42 PM

a series circuit. The LEDs are covered with a
large plastic diffuser lens and are driven by
a small driver circuit mounted on a second
PCB. This driver circuit is sealed inside a plas-
tic cover. The LED lens and driver board cover
are cemented in place to protect the electron-
ics from dust and for safety.
The first step is to determine the average
drive current provided to the LED array by
the driver circuit. If this is not already known,
it can be measured using a current probe or
meter. The drive current is likely to have vari-
ation or ripple. Though the ripple will cause
fluctuations in junction temperature, this may
be ignored, and the average current can be
used as the ETM’s heating current IH. For this
luminaire, the average drive current is 285 mA.
Recall that the ETM requires two current
levels — the heating current (in this case, the
drive current of the LED array) and a mea-
surement current level. The measurement
current is set high enough to ensure that the
LED is biased well into its normal operating
region but not high enough to produce signif-
icant heating. To absolutely minimize heating,
it may be tempting to select a very low mea-
surement current, but that slows the recov-
ery from the electrical transient that occurs
when switching from the heating to the mea-
surement current. After the switch, the mea-
surement current must discharge the parasitic
capacitances in the circuit before the Vf will
represent the true LED Vf. To discharge these
capacitances quickly, JESD51-51 recommends
TABLE. Feit luminaire TJ
calculation, showing 45.9°C.
Feit TJ calculations
Measure current (A) 0.01
Heating current (A) 0.285
Calibration measurements
Temperature 1 (°C) 26.67
Vf at T1 (V) 31.151
Temperature 2 (°C) 48.89
Vf at T2 (V) 30.819
Vf change/°C -0.01494
Tj measurement
Y intercept voltage (V) 30.839
Vf shift from T1 Vf -0.312
Temperature rise from T1 20.9
Tj 45.9
LEDsmagazine.com APRIL 2020 31
2004LED.indb 31
test & measurement
FIG. 4. Y-intercept V f at T 0 calculation during measurement interval.
a measurement current of at least 1–3% of the
heating current level.
Once heating and measurement currents
are determined, the LED array is calibrated
to determine how Vf shifts with temperature.
This can be done by placing the LED array in a
temperature-controlled chamber and driving
it with the DC measurement current IM. The Vf
is then measured for two or more temperature
points. If the LEDs share a common heat sink,
the Vf characteristic may also be characterized
using an IR thermometer and any heat source
— even the LEDs themselves.
The LED circuit must be separated from the
driver circuit. The array is driven by the SMU’s
force terminals, while the sense terminals are
connected across all the LEDs for the ensem-
ble TJ or across a single LED for an individual
TJ measurement. For best results, use twist-
ed-pair wires for the connections (Fig. 2).
After calibration, Vf readings are taken
using the two-level ETM current waveform.
The electrical connections remain the same
as for the calibration, but the SMU is pro-
grammed to deliver the high-duty-cycle pulsed
waveform shown in Fig. 1. In this waveform,
the heating current is maintained for 1s and
measurement current for only 1 ms. At this
duty cycle, the LEDs are operating at 99.9% of
normal power.
To ensure that heat from the driver circuit is
also included in the test, the driver PCB is kept
in place but connected to a duplicate dummy
LED circuit placed outside the chamber. For a
true measurement of the TJ, the remainder of
the housing is left in place as well. This ensures
that heat flows and buildups reflect typical
| LED JUNCTION TEMPERATURE
operation. During this portion of the ETM,
the luminaire is again placed in a tempera-
ture-controlled chamber. This time the cham-
ber is programmed to operate at the desired
application-specific temperature — for exam-
ple, worst-case ceiling temperature. The over-
all arrangement is shown in Fig. 3.
In Fig. 4, Vektrex’s Control Panel software
captures the Vf waveform during the mea-
surement interval. The captured waveform is
curved, but it displays as linear when graphed
on a square-root-of-time scale. Control Panel
automatically calculates the y-intercept Vf cor-
responding to the end of the heating interval.
This y-intercept Vf value is then plugged into
a spreadsheet, shown as the table, to calculate
the luminaire TJ. For this Feit luminaire, mea-
sured with some of the housing removed, the TJ
was measured at 45.9°C degrees — only about
20°C above the chamber temperature.
ETM TJ benefits
T J testing with the ETM has many bene-
fits. By making it possible to measure small
increases or decreases in temperature, design
parameters such as LED layout, heat-sink
design, and thermal-interface materials can
be optimized to reduce cost. Luminaire per-
formance in actual environmental condi-
tions can be tested, and engineering changes
and design updates can be validated quan-
titatively, against established temperature
benchmarks, to ensure product consistency.
New precision-pulsed source measure
instruments simplify the TJ measurement
task, making the ETM feasible for most light-
ing laboratories.
3/24/20 3:42 PM
 last word
LEDs Magazine seeks to recognize
industry’s young talent
With the inaugural “40 under 40” program, LEDs Magazine is looking for young
professionals to watch as they take an active role in advancing LED technologies
and SSL applications, writes CARRIE MEADOWS.
A
s a business-to-business media group,
we are always interested in who’s
on the leading edge of the LED and
solid-state lighting (SSL) sectors. The LEDs
Magazine Sapphire Awards is already head-
ing into its seventh year of recogniz-
ing innovative components, enabling
technologies, systems, and end prod-
ucts that are driving LED technology
forward and revolutionizing the light-
ing market. We are proud to support
and acknowledge that engineering exper-
tise. But we only hand out one award annu-
ally to a specific team or individuals behind
the “magic” of product development — the
Illumineer of the Year. And we considered
that there are many other ways in which indi-
viduals can promote the interests of the LED
and SSL sectors for the mutual benefit of their
organizations and global society.
One idea our team had discussed was
acknowledging those who are up-and-com-
ing in the industry — those whose career
paths are clearly on an upward trajectory,
who are invested in the success of their
organizations, and who are on their way to
becoming the next generation of technology,
application, and design/specification leader-
ship in the SSL community. And so the “40
under 40” was born.
The aim of this new program is to iden-
tify the 40 under 40, the best and the bright-
est, in LED and SSL product engineering,
research & development (R&D), and prod-
uct marketing, as well as lighting design
and lighting specification. Consider them
the “Class of 2020.” We will feature profiles
on those selected in the July/August 2020
32 APRIL 2020
2004LED.indb 32
issue of LEDs Magazine, on our website, age or contribute significantly to R&D proj-
and in newsletters. There will be no cost to ects? Have they demonstrated leadership
nominate someone. Nominees will demon- and support of colleagues in some way?
strate some combination of the following Contributions to commercial successes
qualities and qualifications. — These would be more quantifiable char-
acteristics of a nominee, such as
fundraising initiatives for organi-
zational R&D, cultivating partner-
ships for R&D, meeting demand-
ing sales or product management
objectives, and/or demonstrating
Age — First and foremost, the nominee successes in commercial project manage-
must be under the age of 40 on July 1, 2020. ment, product design fulfillment, or light-
Pursuit of career development — ing design/installation fulfillment.
Individuals will have sought and/or com- We realize that some of these criteria may
pleted advanced training, on the job and/ seem a bit subjective rather than objective.
or through industry continuing educa- That is to be expected. There will be a com-
tion opportunities. Higher-ed- bination of factors that make
ucation degrees are applicable, these candidates stand out to
of course, as are relevant profes- their employers and colleagues,
sional certifications. who would be the ones nominat-
Industry service — Member- ing them. Consider your direct
ship in industry associations, espe- reports, your team members, and
cially taking an active role; par- determine how they best represent
ticipation in industry standards your organization’s mission, stan-
development; participation in CARRIE MEADOWS dards, and roadmap, as well as
industry events such as speaking opportuni- their ability to meet the demands of their posi-
ties (live or online); and committee member- tion and the potential to reach beyond them.
ship and/or leadership are excellent qualifica- Think about it, and then help to educate us on
tions to make a nominee eligible. who deserves to be in the spotlight. You’ll find
Contributions to internal organiza- the submission portal at https://www.survey
tion success — Here is where we start to monkey.com/r/leds40u40; the entry period
see a combination of both qualitative and will close on April 22.
quantitative potential in an individual. Has *Note: The program will recognize up to 40
this person been deeply involved in pro- individuals who meet the criteria as outlined
cess and operations management? Have and evaluated by our LED & Lighting Network
they spearheaded improvements in inter- team, to be determined by number and quality
nal workflows or procedures? Do they man- of entries at the discretion of the team.
LEDsmagazine.com
3/24/20 3:42 PM
 LEDs Magazine Seeks the Brightest
Rising Stars in the Industry
Introducing ...

LEDs Magazine is pleased to announce our inaugural “40 UNDER 40” program —
young professionals to watch as they take an active role in advancing LED technologies
and SSL applications. This July, we’ll acknowledge those whose career paths
are clearly on an upward trajectory in delivering success to their organizations
and who are on their way to becoming the next generation of the industry.

SOUND LIKE SOMEONE YOU KNOW?

ENTER TODAY!

LOG ON to www.surveymonkey.com/r/leds40u40 for details

or scan the QR code. Qualified nominees must be under the age
of 40 by July 1, 2020. Entries are due APRIL 22.

2004LED.indb 3
2004LEDs_Endeavor40under40 1 3/24/20 11:31
3/18/20 3:42 PM
AM
 CREE ® XLAMP ® LEDs

CREE ® HIGH-BRIGHTNESS LEDs

CREE ® J SERIES ® LEDs

W———————————H——
L———LIGH—I—G—————LU—I——
———————————————————
M——————LI—BL———
M———————F——M——C———
M———————I————F———M———————LIC——I————

--- -H- ----L--- --R-F-LI- A-: -R--.---/L-D-----------

2004LED.indb 4 3/24/20 3:43 PM

2003LEDS_CreeFP 1 2/6/20 10:13 AM