Light by LUXEON Newsletter - August 2009

• New LUXEON Rebel LEDs Designed for Illumination
• LUXEON Rebel Hot/Cold Factor Improves Efficiency
• INEX’ Tokyo Park Lighting
• Lumitron Lights Up Thailand Shopping Mall
• Philips Lumileds’ Welcomes its New Vice President of Sales, Asia
• Compare LEDs from an Application Perspective
• Introducing Product Briefs
• Recent Press Releases
• New Documents
• Upcoming Events

New LUXEON Rebel LEDs Designed for Illumination

Nine new LUXEON Rebel emitters, designed specifically for illumination solutions such as recessed lighting, street lamps and retrofit bulbs, were released last month and expand the LUXEON Rebel white portfolio. The new LEDs are optimized for specific color temperature and color rendering combinations and deliver performance that makes these new emitters uniquely qualified to meet ENERGY STAR® requirements and similar programs for a broad range of illumination applications. 

The new LUXEON Rebel LEDs are the result of significant research and collaboration with leading lighting companies and designers.  These parts provide the flexibility to meet varying illumination application requirements in lighting segments where the quality and consistency of the light as well as light output, lumen maintenance and reliability are essential characteristics.

* LUXEON Rebel ES parts are a minimum efficacy rated

Visit the LUXEON Rebel white LED web page and download the new product brief and datasheet.

LUXEON Rebel Hot/Cold Factor Improves Efficiency

Recent breakthroughs in the latest LUXEON Rebel LEDs for illumination applications address the decrease in efficacy and light output performance of luminaires at operating temperatures that are generally higher than the 25 °C reported in datasheets.  While most power LEDs have a Hot factor in the .80 - .85 range at high operating temperatures, the new LUXEON Rebel for illumination applications line offer a Hot/Cold factor of .93.  This is critical for companies that are designing solid-state lighting solutions to meet ENERGY STAR requirements.

"The connection between thermal characteristics of an LED and the LED’s performance are very strong," said Rudi Hechfellner, Director of Technical Solutions. "Improving the LED’s performance at higher temperatures directly affects the engineering and materials costs for a system’s thermal management."

Hot/Cold factor charts for all LUXEON Rebel LEDs are available from the datasheets published at www.philipslumileds.com where you can also find the full press release.

INEX’ Tokyo Park Lighting

Every spring since the eighth century the Japanese have celebrated the blossoming of the cherry trees across Japan. In Tokyo, hundreds of thousands of visitors converge on Chidorigagfuchi Park for one to two weeks in late March or early April to see the explosion of powder pink blooms on over 200 trees.  To allow for the tradition of holding night-time viewing parties and to take advantage of the short viewing season, the trees are lit after dark.  In the past, halogen lights were used for the purpose but recently imposed green initiatives by Tokyo governor, Shintaro Ishihara, has led park management to switch to floodlights made with LUXEON power LEDs.

Lighting manufacturer, INEX Corp. with support from Future Lighting Solutions, designed the new solid- state luminaires. INEX had been dissatisfied with color inconsistencies in an earlier project that housed competing LEDs so consistent color between LEDs was critical this time around.  Additionally, the LEDs had to be able to withstand high current levels to produce light outputs of up to 2,800 lumens. They chose LUXEON power LEDs because they could be driven at up to 1000 mA.  Moreover, the unique color binning structure of LUXEON LEDs enabled INEX to select LEDs from several cool white color bins that met their specific requirements.

Switching to the LUXEON-based flood lamps has reduced energy consumption from 150 to just 15 kW hours per fixture.  That’s an estimated 90% savings in energy costs.  Meanwhile, carbon dioxide emissions dropped from 4.2 to 0.2 metric tons during the run of the cherry blossom festival.  And, of course, the cool beam of the solid-state flood lamps as compared to the hot halogen lamps help to prolong the life of the delicate blossoms for the extended viewing pleasure for all the park’s visitors.

Read the full case study

Lumitron Lights Up Thailand Shopping Center

Shoppers in Thailand are seeing red these days and not due to a flailing economy.  Bangkok’s CentralPlaza Shopping Center which opened November 2008 greets visitors with an elaborate display of dancing red lights created with LUXEON Rebel LEDs by Thai lighting supplier Lumitron supported by Future Lighting Solutions.

Solid-state solutions are a practical choice over traditional lighting for any outdoor installation because of their lower power consumption but in an extreme climate like Thailand’s where monsoons, high heat, and humidity are common, LED durability, longevity, and reliability are even more critical.  Largely for those reasons, the exterior of  CentralPlaza, Bangkok’s largest shopping center, is adorned with LUXEON Rebel LEDs incorporated into a red geometric pattern that supports the company’s brand and spans the façade of the seven-story, 160,000 square meter building.

The captivating display was the result of a collaborative effort between Future Lighting Solutions and Lumitron. Having no experience with LEDs, Lumitron turned to Future Lighting Solutions to educate them in solid-state lighting application development from selecting the LEDs, drivers, and drive current to calculating the number of LEDs required, heat management, and wiring. Together they presented a winning prototype to the shopping center’s developer, Central Pattana. Ultimately, higher flux, higher efficacy, longer lifetime than competing LEDs, and the promise of lower replacement costs won the bid for the project.  The success of the project not only resulted in expected energy costs of just $2,900 per year but the ability of the mall to attract visitors from miles around and fortify its brand.

View the entire case study

Philips Lumileds’ Welcomes its New Vice President of Sales, Asia

Alvin Tse has joined Philips Lumileds as the Vice President of Sales for the Asia Pacific region.  Mr. Tse brings with him fifteen-years of experience in the lighting industry and intends to use it to lead a growing sales and technical team built to meet the needs of what is expected to be the world’s fastest expanding market for solid-state adoption.

"Those companies that can develop the entire LED, from epi through packaging, and posses the manufacturing capability to deliver the reliability and quality of light required in mass volume, will succeed and lead the transition from conventional to solid-state illumination," says Mr. Tse.

 "Philips Lumileds is committed to the growth and development of the solid-state illumination market in Greater Asia," said Steve Barlow, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing.  "Alvin has the vision and experience in the region that will allow us to develop and support the lighting industry."

Mr. Tse has held various positions at Philips Lighting in sales management, product marketing, and business development in solid-state lighting and most recently ran the global marketing and sales for Light Engine Ltd.

Compare LEDs from an Application Perspective

One of the most confusing and challenging aspects of selecting an LED for a particular application is making an apples-to-apples comparison of LEDs from different manufacturers.  The effort is complicated because power LEDs from different manufacturers perform differently in identical operating conditions and because the information typically provided on datasheets isn’t consistent between manufacturers.  To learn more about how to compare different LEDs, there’s a good editorial at Solid State Lighting Design.

Send us a message if you’d like additional information and we’ll send you a copy of the full article. 

Additional resources like the Usable Light Tool help calculate and compare how LEDs will perform in actual operating conditions.

Introducing Product Briefs

Finding information quickly is becoming easier than ever with Philips Lumileds’ recently released Product Briefs.  Instead of flipping through twenty-nine pages of datasheet information, you can locate part numbers, flux, lumen efficacy, bin codes, and maximum rating specifications in just two to four pages. Talk about simple.  Product Briefs are available for LUXEON Rebel PC Amber, LUXEON Rebel White, and LUXEON Rebel Direct Color.

Recent Press Releases

August 20, 2009
LUXEON Rebel Hot/Cold Factor Improves Solid State Lighting Efficiency and Simplifies Thermal Design

August 18, 2009
Philips Lumileds Adds Senior Executive to Lead SSL Expansion in the Asia Pacific Region

July 22, 2009
Philips Lumileds targets illumination applications with nine new LUXEON Rebel LEDs.

July 1, 2009
Philips Lumileds announces breakthrough in light output and temperature stability with LUXEON Rebel PC Amber LEDs

July 30, 2009
Cyan Nails Colours to Future's Mast

June 25, 2009
Future Lighting Solutions’ SSL Designer Accelerates LED System Development

New Documents

ZH-S - Simplified Chinese
JA - Japanese

Application Briefs

Case Studies

Datasheets

Market Briefs

Product Briefs