LED retrofit lamps now cover the full spectrum of incandescent lamps with GE Lighting and Philips Lighting each announcing a 100W-equivalent product headed into Lightfair in Las Vegas, NV where the exhibits open on Wednesday. Other companies including Switch Lighting are likely to announce 100W solid-state lighting (SSL) equivalents as well. And Philips rolled out new LED-based reflector lamps with a new thermal technology called Airflux leading up to the convention.

GE Lighting’s Energy Smart LED lamp produces 1600 lm – the equivalent of a typical 100W incandescent. Yet the LED lamp consumes 27W and is rated for 25,000 hours of life. The lamp features a 3000K CCT and is dimmable.

Cooling is a primary challenge in a 100W retrofit lamp. GE addressed that issue using a SynJet active cooling device from Nuventix. GE had invested in Nuventix last year, and licensed the Nuventix patent portfolio.

Jim Balthazar, CEO and president of Nuventix, said, “Once we came together last year, our teams wasted no time getting in the lab to build on the genius of GE’s LED bulb design, and to incorporate a synthetic jet solution that enabled GE to leapfrog its competitors.” GE said the Synjet was critical to cooling the lamps that maintained the standard A-19 size and shape.

GE had introduced a 60W-equivalent lamp at Lightfair last year, and a 40W equivalent the year before. But the company leapfrogged the 75W space and caught up to Philips and others that had already begun shipping 75W-equivalent products.

Still, consumers will have to wait a bit to get their hands on LED-based 100W replacements. GE has said that it won’t ship the product until the first half of 2013, and for now is not pricing the product.

Philips EnduraLED lamp

Philips said it will begin shipping a 100W-equivalent lamp in its EnduraLED line in the Q4 of this year. The new lamp looks virtually identical to the 60W and 75W EnduraLED retrofit lamps that are broadly available. The family uses remote phosphor technology and the lamps have an orange/yellow tint when not powered on, whereas the GE lamps look white. Both the Philips and GE products have cooling elements that extend up onto or into the globe making them easily distinguishable from incandescent bulbs.

The new Philips lamp uses only 23W and produces almost 1700 lm according to Philips. The 2700K lamps will have a CRI of 80 and will be dimmable. Philips has not priced the lamp as yet, but said that the lamps will save buyers $211 over a lifetime of 25,000 hours.

Philips also offers PAR and BR type lamps in its EnduraLED product line, and at Lightfair will introduce new models that include a technology called Airflux that eliminates the heat sinks that are typically prominent in LED-based PAR and BR retrofit lamps. Philips hasn’t revealed the details of Airflux yet, but we expect to learn more about it at Lightfair later in the week.

The new lamps include a choice of three color temperatures and beam angles. Philips said the lamps save 75% in energy relative to PAR halogen lamps or BR incandescent lamps. The PAR retrofits are directional whereas the BR lamps provide diffused light with a new optical design.

“Airflux lamps blend into existing white track and recessed fixtures, and offer equal light quality to that of traditional light sources – attributes that lend themselves to a more pleasing environment in retail stores, hotels and restaurants,” said Ed Crawford, general manager of lamps, lighting electronics and controls for Philips.

Moving back to the A-lamp space, expect more news in the 100W-equivalent area later this week. Osram Sylvania showed a prototype of a 100W-equivalent lamp at Lightfair last year. There are rumors that Switch Lighting will introduce such a product shortly. And Lighting Science Group is also a potential player at the 100W level.

Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd., a Taiwan-based LED maker, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against its Japan-based rival Nichia Corp. in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

The lawsuit seeks to prevent Nichia from manufacturing, using, importing, offering for sale, or selling its infringing products in the United States. It also seeks monetary damages.

Everlight’s complaint alleges infringement of US patent no. 6,653,215, which covers LED metallization technology. Everlight is the exclusive US licensee of this patent, which is owned by Emcore Corporation. The action is brought jointly by Everlight and Emcore.

Everlight is also asking the US court to declare that two Nichia patents – numbers 5,998,925 and 7,531,960 – are invalid, unenforceable and improperly issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office. These patents cover the use of certain types of phosphors used in making white-light LEDs.

Everlight describes the legal action is being part of its “continued global effort to enforce its intellectual property rights and to protect its products and its customers from litigation attacks by Nichia.”

Everlight and Nichia have a long history of patent disputes dating back to 2006. In December last year, Everlight filed an unfair competition lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court against Nichia, saying that it had “decided to fight back” against Nichia’s various lawsuits.

Harvatek infringes Nichia’s YAG patent, says court

In related news, the District Court in Düsseldorf, Germany has ruled in favor of Nichia in its patent infringement lawsuit against Harvatek Corporation and three German distributors.

Harvatek and the distributors were ruled to have infringed Nichia’s patent EP 936 682 (DE 697 02 929), which relates to YAG phosphors combined with GaN-based blue LEDs. The products concerned were four different white LEDs (serial numbers: HT-V116TW, HT-U158TW, HT-P178 TWU-PQPS-DG and HT-T169 TW).

The court rendered judgments – although these are not final and can be appealed by the respective losing party – in favor of Nichia’s claims for permanent injunction and damages. In the cases against the distributors, the court furthermore confirmed the recall of the accused products from their commercial customers.

Determining Color and Power of LED Grow Lights

Let’s start with the type of plant and light intensity you desire first. Vegetative types of plants like lettuce or spinach do not need as much intense light to grow. If you are growing flowering and fruiting plants you will need a very intense light with a strong emphasis on red colors. Flowering plants can be hard to grow with LED grow lights if the light uses very cheap 1w LEDs and a wide angle lens (120 degrees) which makes the light spread out and drastically reduce the intensity of the light. Flowering plants should have as much light as possible and usually do much better under all 3w LEDs with a 90 degree lens. With this type of high intensity LED grow light, flowering plants are grown best with the light hung about 18 inches above the plant canopy.

If you have cheap low wattage 1w LEDs with the traditional 120 degree lens you will want to hang the light no higher than 6 inches above the plant canopy in order to produce results. If you have less than 1w/LED of in your lights then I would suggest only using them for vegetative growth, seedlings and clone transplants. These cheap low wattage LED grow lights are not all they are claimed to be and usually will result in a frustrated grower with little to show for a harvest.

Using Light Movers with LED Grow Lights

Another factor in growing with LED grow lights is side light and light movers. LED grow lights are directional lights that focus their light in one direction. If you add some florescent lights to the side of your garden you can see proportional benefits in harvest without much of an increase in your wattage or cost per unit of harvest. Light movers with high powered LED grow lights work great to increase the number of leaf sites that receive intense light and will allow your plants to fill out more evenly. Remember though to check your lights specifications regardless of side lights and light movers because if your wattage or lens angle is weak you will need to be much closer or not use those cheap lights on your flowers at all.

What is more, these bulbs can last for several years if you handle them carefully. In other words, they can continue being the main source of illumination in your aquarium for up to five years. In addition, they do not have the common overheating problem that most ordinary bulbs have. They generate almost insignificant heat, and that is why they last longer. Despite that, you can make use of a fan to expel heat. If you do nothing, the water in the tank will absorb this temperature and this would tamper with the correct living conditions for fish.

Another detail that makes these corms admirable is their appearance in terms of color and shapes. According to most previous users, these items are also very customizable. Although they have several benefits to them, there are a few issues you need to know first. One of the things you should discover is how people choose their LED aquarium lights. There are special requirements for various types of aquatic tanks. For example, you could have freshwater fish that naturally live in rivers and lakes.

They are the famous tropical fish too, including the guppies and cichlids. There are freshwater plants as well. Saltwater animals and fish commonly available in the oceans are other examples. They include the sharks, sea stars and cucumbers and so on. If you want to keep and nurture them properly, then you would have to introduce saline water and suitable lighting source to the aquarium. Another type available includes the reef tanks, featuring not just the fish, but also living corals, sand and so on.

Finally, what you have at home could be brackish water fish that can survive in both fresh and saline water habitats. Usually, when choosing the best LED illumination for them, you would have to know what would be best lights for freshwater animals. Aquarium lighting is generally a complex subject, requiring you to read widely so that you can understand all the requirements. According to some experts in this field, you must focus on the watts per gallon of water that the tank holds.

Other factors include the PAR, lumens per watt, plant light requirements and so on. If you are looking to buy the right bulbs, try LED green styles. These are recyclable and they are made of a strong polycarbonate tube. This means that they have a low risk of breaking compared to glass bulbs. Moreover, this material is water-resistant when you place the light bulb beneath the water in the aquariums. Above all, led aquarium lights are very safe and they cannot put your pets or even you at any risk.

Solid-state lighting (SSL) technologies present an opportunity to significantly reduce energy consumption but also fundamentally change the way users deploy, monitor and control lighting systems. On March 16th, the Solid State Lighting Network (SSLNet), an SSL initiative designed to provide a Canadian focal point for SSL researchers, manufacturers and industry participants, hosted a workshop entitled “Smart Sustainable Lighting” at the University of Toronto. The event brought together more than 100 specialists from the research and industrial communities who are working on a full-system shift towards smart lighting.

Venkat Venkataramanan, founder of the SSLNet, opened the workshop with a presentation on the current state of the lighting industry. He highlighted R&D opportunities available through the organization’s information portal, www.sslnet.ca.

Alexandra Reid from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada spoke about increasing collaboration between Canada’s universities and industries to help solve scientific problems. Many of these programs, such as the Engage Grant, can either match money provided by a partner company or will provide grants towards a research project initiated by an industry partner. The programs are designed to reduce the resources required to complete R&D projects.

Fred Shubert, the Wellfleet senior constellation professor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, presented the keynote talk on the rich history of lighting and the challenges, impact, and opportunities offered by LED-based lighting. The workshop keynote was also the annual Boris Stoicheff Lecture that was founded in memory of Boris Stoicheff, one of Canada’s most prolific physicists who built the first laser in Canada.

Representatives from manufacturers, including Shirley Coyle of Cree Canada, Chad Stalker of Philips Lumileds, Paul Schiedt of Cree and John Barnes of Linear Technology, discussed a wide range of both market and technological developments and difficulties associated with the widespread adoption of LED products. For instance, there are many LED installations within parking garages, parking lots, highway service stations and along municipal roadways and highways, which have helped drive interest in the technology. However, issues of reliability, upfront costs, designer and specifier education, and overall trust are preventing widespread commercial and residential adoption.

Geoff Olsen from Osram Encelium and Warren Miedema from Synapse Wireless both discussed new lighting control systems. Some of the energy management strategies these systems employ include occupancy control, smart time scheduling, task tuning, personal control, and daylight harvesting. Taken together, these different tactics can save companies 50-75% of their energy costs.

Jennifer Veitch from the NRC discussed improved employee satisfaction associated with smarter lighting control. Through her work at the Institute for Research in Construction, Veitch’s team has found that people prefer a mixture of both direct and indirect lighting that illuminates the entire workspace and provides personal control over local lighting conditions. Field investigations have also shown that satisfaction with the lit environment predicts greater job satisfaction, greater organizational commitment, lower intent to turnover, and fewer health problems.