Archive for February 23rd, 2010
Dazzling Chandelier Made of Old Incandescent Bulbs
Posted by LED Larry in Uncategorized on February 23rd, 2010
The ubiquitous incandescent light bulb has come a long way since its invention 130 years ago and is now the star of Tim Fishlock’s memorial art piece entitled What Watt? This dazzling chandelier speaks to the transition away from the widespread use of old school bulbs towards greener, more sustainable alternatives. Talk about a bright idea!
These sparkling lightpieces aren’t just gorgeous to look at — they also send a message to both the unknowing energy-eater and the conscientious energy-preservationist. Constructed using 1,243 suspended retired bulbs, and illuminated at the center by one low-energy fluorescent bulb, each chandelier is a truly stunning example of eco-art.
“It is a memorial and celebration of the humble incandescent bulb” says Fishlock, who anticipates the complete replacement of all forms of incandescent lighting for more energy efficient methods by 2011.
No Glue No Screws LED Clamplamp Grasps Our Attention
Posted by LED Larry in Uncategorized on February 23rd, 2010
Here’s another reader submitted idea that really got a hold on us. In dcannam’s own words:
“The Clamplamp explores the concept of “truth” in design where the main objective is to create an object which primarily utilizes the functionality of a solid unfinished hardwood rather than a system of foreign components. The lamp itself consists of a solid maple base and free moving cantilevered arm, LED strip, wire and transformer. The entire system is compression fit with no glue or screws holding the lamp together. During the design process the lamp was questioned almost to the point of interrogation where it eventually broke down and revealed the truth about itself.”
We’re not sure about that last part but we love the Clamplamp’s clean look and simple appeal. Thanks dcannam!
Dorsheimer chronicles LED market cycles at Strategies in Light
Posted by LED Larry in Lighting, New LED Technology on February 23rd, 2010
Backlighting is the driving force in the current second cycle with general lighting poised to drive the third cycle.
Jed Dorsheimer, Principle Senior Equity Analyst at Canaccord Adams, presented an overview of the high-brightness (HB) LED market at Strategies in Light, defining the market by application cycles. Dorsheimer projected a bright near term outlook driven by the LED-backlit TV market.
Dorsheimer predicts that LED penetration in the TV backlight market will hit 74-85% by 2012. He believes that the industry will experience significant under capacity beginning this year and a 70 to 100 billion LED deficit by 2012. That said Dorsheimer also predicts a cyclic market that will ultimately experience over capacity as well. But the TV market will help to enable a third boom cycle driven by lighting. He stated, “Lighting demand could go from 5 billion LEDs to 30 billion in one year.”
The first cycle for HB LEDs began with mobile handsets in the early 200s according to Dorsheimer. First the LEDs were used to illuminate keypads and later to backlight color screens. That led to a surge in LED manufacturing and over capacity by the 2004/2005 time frame.
Still the LED performance improvements and declining prices driven by the first cycle enabled the backlight market cycle that was started by Apple with the Macbook Pro and is now driven by TVs. Based on the ramping TV market, Dorsheimer believes the LED manufacturing industry needs to add 515 to 780 more MOCVD reactors through 2012. And independent of the tools, Dorsheimer believes a sapphire shortage could still impede adequate supply.
So what happens beyond 2012? Dorsheimer believes current trends will lead to a 30% overbuild for the TV market. That will yield a surplus of as many as 60 billion LEDs, and what Dorsheimer calls a “one to two year digestion period” in the 2014 to 2016 time frame with little capacity growth. Once again the price declines and performance gains made in LEDs will help enable the third cycle driven by lighting.
Dorsheimer also discussed obstacles to LED adoption in the lighting space. He points out that the actual cost of the LEDs remains significantly too high. In current LED-based replacement bulbs, Dorsheimer claims that LEDs account for as much as 40% of the bill of materials (BOM), and that’s despite the fact that the bulbs require a power converter printed circuit board and robust heat sink.
Today, Dorsheimer estimates the LED portion of the BOM at $25. He believes that number needs to drop to $4 to enable a $10 retail price for a 1000 lm bulb. The cost is critical because in residential applications Dorsheimer estimates the current payback time for an LED bulb to be 11 years relative to a CFL bulb.
Dorsheimer also discussed how the industry might get to lower prices. He sees a move to larger wafers as key. He predicts a move from 2-inch wafer to 4- or 6-inch wafers because the larger wafers offer better thermal stability and ultimately better yield. Dorsheimer stated, “Yield trumps all in this industry.”
Canaccord will offer more details on the third cycle later this year. Dorsheimer believes that lighting could consume more than 100 billion additional LEDs by 2020.
IC vendors tout LED backlight and luminaire drivers at Strategies in Light
Power and analog semiconductor specialists see market opportunity in supplying constant-current driver ICs for LED lighting.
Participants from the IC industry were easy to find both in the exhibition hall and on the conference stage at Strategies in Light. The vendors see a significant market opportunity and are targeting the general illumination market including replacement bulbs, the TV backlight market that’s already booming, and other applications such as street lights.
Targeting the backlight market, mSilica demonstrated its MSL3162 display driver IC. The IC can power 16 strings of 10 LEDs for direct-backlight LCD TV designs. Indeed the company exhibited a recently-launched LG TV with the back cover removed and the LED driver circuit boards in full view.
According to the mSilica, typical LCD TVs use six to eight driver boards with each controlling 16 LED strings for direct backlighting. The driver IC must provide the constant current required while also tracking characteristics of the operating LEDs. TV makers can use the monitoring function to prevent overdriving the LEDs thereby maximizing reliability and performance.
NEC Electronics demonstrated microcontroller-enabled drivers for luminaire, entertainment, and street lighting applications. In the case of street lights, the company’s HCD/LED MCU can drive four LED channels. Moreover, the microcontroller can handle communication protocols such as Zigbee for wireless applications, and a proprietary power-line communications scheme. The communication capability would allow a municipality to remotely control the lights – for instance dimming the lights to conserve energy.
For lighting applications, NEC demonstrated the 78K0/Ix2 microcontroller that includes TRIAC dimmer capability. The integrated microcontroller also implements power factor correction (PFC) in the AC/DC power converter.
Marvell also sees microcontrollers as a key value add feature in their LED-targeted products. The company demonstrated a T8 fluorescent bulb based on a slim rectangular circuit board with a footprint akin to a pencil. The company’s 88EM8080 series of drivers even includes DSP functions that enable PFC in the power converter. The company pledges to enhance the design with integrated wireless communications going forward.
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| National Semiconductor LM3424 |
Supertex introduced the HV9963 driver IC for DC/DC applications such as backlighting and general lighting. The IC supports PWM dimming and has built-in protection for short- and open-circuit conditions in the LED string.
On workshop day prior to the start of the conference, National Semiconductor presented a half-day educational program focused on driving LEDs. Topics included TRIAC dimming, control techniques, and AC/DC converter design. You can find much of that information on the LED Lightingsection of the National Semiconductor web site.
E.ON installing LED street lights and traffic signals in Blackpool
A coastal resort town in the UK famous for its decorative illuminations is benefiting from a multiyear project to replace street lights and traffic signals with LED fixtures. Work has already begun on a 25-year project which will upgrade, operate and manage 20,000 street lights and 2,000 traffic signals on nearly 430 km of highway in Blackpool, a seaside resort town in the north of England. The project will track energy savings and carbon emissions at every stage of the rollout.
E.ON Sustainable Energy, part of energy company E.ON, will install and maintain LED street lights and LED traffic signals on behalf of the Community Lighting Partnership, a consortium between consulting engineers Pell Frischmann; and property partnership company Telereal Trillium.
The Community Lighting Partnership recently secured a 25-year Private Finance Initiative (PFI) encompassing both street lighting and traffic signals for Blackpool, the first place in the world to install electric street lighting in 1879.
The LED street lights and traffic signals could save Blackpool Council tax payers up to 25% of their street lighting bill, according to E.ON’s estimates, as well as removing over 1400 tonnes of carbon emissions per year. (These figures are based on a 50-watt LED light with a burn time of 4180 hours per year for each light type versus a more traditional 70-W SON light running at 85W for the same timescale.)
The project will use the Marlin LED street lights recently unveiled by E.ON Sustainable Energy and Advanced LEDs Ltd, a UK-based LED lighting manufacturer.
Benefits of LED lighting
As well as saving money through reduced maintenance and energy usage, Blackpool Council were particularly interested in the potential benefits of LED-based lighting in improving road safety, helping tourism and even reducing crime.
“LED lighting is expected to reduce the number road accidents, and improve the quality of CCTV pictures,” said Richard Scott, Head of Consultancy for E.ON Sustainable Energy. The company has performed extensive testing of the LED street lights at its own facilities.
Scott says that the rollout began in January, despite some unexpected bad weather, and is expected to take 5 years before all the street lights and traffic signals are replaced.
For the Blackpool project, everything from the energy use of the luminaire to the design of the carbon-neutral aluminum street-light columns have been scrutinized for ways to conserve resources and reduce energy consumption.
The system will also utilize remote monitoring technology and a dynamic management system which Scott refers to as “dimming and trimming.” This could for example allow lights to be dimmed, and will also indicate when lights are not functioning, removing the need for maintenance engineers to visit each light to check its performance.
According to figures from E.ON, street lighting uses an estimated 2% of the UK’s electricity, meaning that if all the street lights in the UK were replaced with LED alternatives, over 6 million tonnes of carbon could be saved over a 30 year period.
From LEDmagazine.com