Optronic Laboratories : Light Measurement Experts

LighTimes: Worldwide LED Component Market Grows 9%; Lighting Ranks First Among Application Segments, According to Strategies Unlimited

admin — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 16:23:16 +0000

February 19, 2013…LED component revenue for lighting applications reached $3.11 billion in 2012, narrowly dethroning the Large Area Display Backlight segment at $3.06 billion, according to Strategies Unlimited. The $13.7 billion worldwide market for LED components is expected to grow to $16.4 billion in 2017, for a CAGR of 3.7%, Stategies Unlimited predicts.   The company estimates that the total illumination market for 2012 is about $14.52 billion. The LED lighting market including LED replacement lamps and luminaires is estimated at $11.72 billion?an increase of 26% between 2011 and 2012. SU projects this market will grow at a CAGR of 12% over 2012-2017.

Strategies Unlimited for the first time estimated the market size of LED lighting outside the traditional replacement lamps and luminaires, The company says that in 2012 this market was $2.75 billion in revenue for applications such as: decorative/festive/Xmas light strings; tube lights that go into many untraceable applications including signs; flexible tape and strips of LEDs sold in applications ranging from step lighting to lighting stairs to DIY cove lighting; and all other miscellaneous.

According to SU, commercial applications, the largest segment in the LED lighting market, grew 72%. This is? followed by replacement lamps. Japanese market was the primary driver for the 22% growth in replacement lamp revenues worldwide from 2011 to 2012. The slower growing segments such as emergency and industrial lighting depend on the overall economic activity. SU says that entertainment lighting was a victim of slow down in European financial crisis, after the frenzy for the Olympics

LighTimes: Strategies Unlimited: Top 11 Companies Made More than 72% of the Revenue in Packaged LED Components

admin — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 16:20:27 +0000

February 21, 2013…According to Strategies Unlimited, 11 companies accounted for more than 72% of the LED market. Nichia had the highest revenue from packaged LED components. Samsung LED came in second. This is before Samsung LED was absorbed into Samsung corp. Osram Opto Semiconductors came in third. LG Innotek was fourth, and Seoul Semiconductor and Philips Lumileds tied for fifth. Then, Cree was seventh. The number eight through eleven in terms of packaged LED revenue were TG, Sharp, Everlight, and Lumens.

Samsung LED was absorbed into Samsung Electronics in 2012.? Strategies Unlimited notes that by going vertical and successfully attacking the low cost direct TV market, LED sales soared at Samsung and at its chief supplier, Lumens. TG’s growth reportedly stemmed from success in the tablet backlight market and the Japanese lighting market. Cree and Philips Lumileds rode the rise of LED lighting and achieved record revenues.

Chinese packaging companies grew from 6% of worldwide sales to 8%. Major consolidation is expected in China as the pricing war is forcing out many players. Taiwanese market share dropped from 19% to 15% as there is an increase of OEM packaging activities.? Only final sale is counted in this study. Japanese firms supplied 30 percent of packaged LED components, followed by those from Korea at 28 percent and the firms from the United States at 19 percent. Taiwan and South East Asian firms supplied about 15 percent of the packaged LED components, and China supplied 8 percent.

LEDs Magazine: Strategies Unlimited reports LED and Lighting data at SIL

admin — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:22:59 +0000

17 Feb 2013

Highlighting the Plenary session at the Strategies in Light conference, Ella Shum and Vrinda Bhandarkar of Strategies Unlimited reported on the 2012 market for packaged LEDs and SSL products.

For the first time in 2012, general lighting became the largest market for packaged LEDs globally at $3.1 B (billion), according to new data presented by Strategies Unlimited in the Plenary session of the Strategies in Light (SIL) Conference. Meanwhile, global solid-state lighting (SSL) revenue grew from $9.4 B in 2011 to $11.8 B in 2012, including replacement lamps and luminaires.

First Ella Shum, director of the LED practice at Strategies Unlimited, covered the market for packaged LEDs. The talk was entitled “The art of war,” and Shum opened saying, “We have had a bloodbath in the last few years in the LED industry.”

Shum reported that the global market for packaged LEDs in 2012 totaled $13.7 B. The number does not include the sale of bare die or modular lighting products but solely package LEDs whether the product in question is a single-emitter LED or a chip-on-board (COB) LED array.

Package LED market by segment

Strategies Unlimited segments the market six ways with 2012 sales broken down by SSL at 23%, backlights for TVs and monitors at 22%, mobile at 19%, signage at 13%, automotive at 10%, and other at 13%. The lighting segment experienced tremendous growth from just over $1.5 B in 2011. There was moderate growth or declines in the other segments that are largely are fully saturated at this point (see nearby chart).

Shum also presented a ranking of LED suppliers with growth/decline rates that are summarized in a nearby table. Samsung was a major mover as it increased its production of LEDs for use in Samsung consumer products such as TVs, and Korean company Lumens Co Ltd also enjoyed growth due to a close tie with Samsung according to Shum. Toyoda Gosei’s growth came thanks to Apple mobile products according to Shum. Cree and Philips Lumileds were the most prominent beneficiaries of the ramp in general lighting.

Rank	Manufacturer	2012 Growth/Decline
1	Nichia	5%
2	Samsung	22%
3	Osram Opto	5%
4	LG Innotek	-1%
5 tie	Seoul Semi	14%
5 tie	Philips Lumileds	21%
7	Cree	18%
8	Toyoda Gosei	37%
9	Sharp	14%
10 tie	Everlight	-1 %
10 tie	Lumens	32%

Shum also presented a ranking of LED suppliers with growth/decline rates that are summarized in a nearby table. Samsung was a major mover as it increased its production of LEDs for use in consumer products, and Korean company Lumens Co Ltd also enjoyed growth due to a close tie with Samsung according to Shum. Toyoda Gosei’s growth came thanks to Apple mobile products according to Shum. Cree and Philips Lumileds were the most prominent beneficiaries of the ramp in general lighting.

Looking forward, Shum projects that the packaged LED market will grow to $15 B by 2017 with SSL being the largest driver. That reflects a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.8%. LED unit growth is much steeper, about the unit price will decline. Moreover, Shum said the fact that the research includes everything from single-die packages to ones with many die in an array makes an analysis of unit numbers mostly meaningless.

SSL market 2012

In the SSL market, Bhandarkar said replacement lamp revenue grew from $2.1 B in 2011 to $$2.58 B in 2012. The largest jump came in Japan where energy concerns caused by the earthquake and tsunami that occurred in 2011 knocking out major energy-generation facilities.

In the luminaire sector, revenue grew from $7.2 B in 2011 to $9.2 B in 2012. The commercial market segment is leading the adoption of SSL, representing 23% of the market. Growth in luminaires is fairly consistent across the globe. For the first time, Bhandarkar also reported on an other category that includes products such as flexible strings, furniture lighting, airplane lighting, toys and others that totaled $2.75 B bring the overall market total to $14.5 B.

Bhandarkar also addressed some specific types of products. She said “LED downlights became a commodity market in 2012 – more than 50% of products sold in Japan were LEDs.” Looking forward, she said “Troffers will be the next major wave of SSL deployment starting this year.” She expects the troffer market to be strong in 2014 and going into 2015.

Overall, the SSL market will enjoy a CAGR of 12% through 2017. Bhandarkar projects that SSL luminaire revenue will exceed $20 B in 2017.

About the Author

Maury Wright?is the Editor of?LEDs Magazine.

LighTimes: Worldwide LED Component Market Grows 9%; Lighting Ranks First Among Application Segments, According to Strategies Unlimited

admin — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 21:20:57 +0000

LEDs Magazine: Next Generation Luminaires SSL design competition outdoor lighting winners announced at SIL

admin — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 04:28:44 +0000

13 Feb 2013

The winners of the 2012 NGL design competition for outdoor luminaires were announced at the Strategies in Light conference.

The winners of the Next Generation Luminaires (NGL) solid-state-lighting (SSL) design competition, sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE), were announced this week at the Strategies in Light (SIL) show in Santa Clara, CA.Best-in-Class winners

Fraqtir Outdoor Style S170 by The Lighting QuotientEvolve LED Scalable Cobrahead by GE Lighting

Oxford by Relume Technologies Inc.

TV and Dial LED by Edge Lighting

Recognized winners

Evolve LED Scalable Cobraheads by GE Lighting

Navion LED Roadway Luminaires by Cooper Lighting

SL2 Roadway Street Light by Excellence Opto Inc.

Hyperion LED Bollard by LSI Industries Inc.

Eon 303-B1 Bollard by Lumiere

LEO by Landscape Forms

Evolve LED Contemporary Conical Post Top by GE Lighting

Evolve LED Small Modular Area by GE Lighting

TopDek by Kenall Lighting

Arieta by Leotek Electronics USA Corp.

Cree THE EDGE High Output LED Area Light by Cree Inc.

ETG-A200 by Horner

Mini 300 LED Gen-2 Gas Station Canopy by Philips Wide-Lite

PLED by RAB Lighting Inc.

ParkVUE 50HB by Relume Technologies, Inc.

eW Graze MX Powercore by Philips Color Kinetics

Lumencove XT by Lumenpulse

Lumenbeam Small and LBX by Lumenpulse

D-Series Floodlight: Size 1 and 3 by Lithonia Lighting

AccuLite LED Mini Security Light – MSL Series by Juno Lighting GroupLGOOSE by RAB Lighting Inc.

Cylinder by G Lighting

LPACK52 by RAB Lighting, Inc.

LytePro 16 by Stonco Lighting – a Philips Company

Patriot LED Wall Sconce by LSI Industries, Inc.

The Winter 2013 issue of?Illumination in Focus?will provide full details on all the NGL winners.

LEDs Magazine: DOE plans to alter Lighting Facts program to simplify manufacturer’s listing of product families

admin — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 04:25:43 +0000

14 Feb 2013
At the Strategies in Light conference, a US Department of Energy representative said that later this year manufacturers can get Lighting Facts Label recognition for all members of a product family, while only fully testing one product.
In the LED and Lighting Technology Track at the Strategies in Light (SIL) conference, a session entitled “Testing and Speed of Innovation” started with a presentation from Finelite founder Terry Clark describing the burden that lighting manufacturers face with solid-state lighting (SSL) products. Marci Sanders, director of energy efficiency programs at D&R International, followed with news that the US Department of Energy (DOE) is working to simplify the process of manufacturers’ receiving Lighting Facts Label recognition for multiple related products in a family. Clark described how currently manufacturers must perform LM-79 testing on every model in a product family. That can mean essentially testing the same product multiple times with small variations such as in lumen output or color temperature. According to Clark, the cost of such testing is not sustainable, and the requirement is slowing innovation. Clark called on the DOE to take action. If Clark knew about the news coming in the succeeding presentation, he hid that fact well. Because Sanders publicly revealed, for the first time, that the DOE had been working on a plan for many months to simplify the process. Working under contract to the DOE, D&R International rolled out the existing Lighting Facts programs four years ago. And now the consultancy is leading the way for the changes. The revised program will allow lighting manufacturers to group related products in a family and only fully test one of the products in the family to the LM-79 standard. The manufacturer will then calculate or extrapolate performance figures for other products in the family for submission to the Lighting Facts program. Sanders said that the new program will be phased in. For now, only lighting manufacturers with at least a year of history in the program, ten or more products submitted previously, and a clean track record will be allowed to participate. Sanders said, “It will be based on history and experience with the program.” Each manufacturer will define its own related products grouping and the method by which they will calculate results for the products that don?t go through testing. The Lighting Facts program will review and approve that work before manufacturers can get the Lighting Facts listing. Verification testing According to Sanders, the DOE will do random testing of products that are recognized via the new program. She said the DOE will randomly select 5% of the submitted products for testing ? about 30 products per month at the start. Sanders said that the team working on the revised program had considered a number of different ways to pay for the verification testing. One possibility was a fee that all lighting manufacturers participating in Lighting Facts would pay. Instead, the DOE will make the company whose product is selected for testing cover the cost. To test the products, the DOE will buy a product on the commercial market and then pay a test lab to verify the performance. Sanders said, “If you draw the short straw, someone is going to send you an invoice.” In actuality, companies that participate truthfully will find the occurrence of their products being tested and verified decrease over time. The DOE will weigh the sampling process so that companies with a good track record over time supplying accurate data will be selected for verification less frequently. Sanders said, “Truth in reporting can pay off.” Manufacturer-supplied data on products that don?t fall within accepted tolerance will result in the DOE giving the company a chance to correct the data. Failure to do so will result in companies losing the privilege of participating in the new program. The DOE hopes to begin the program this April. Verification testing is slated to begin in June.
About the Author
Maury Wright?is the Editor of?Illumination in Focus.

LighTimes: Outdoor Lighting Winners of NGL Competition Announced

admin — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 06:25:50 +0000

SSLDesign News Staff

February 14, 2013…Outdoor lighting winners of the Next Generation Luminaires (NGL) Solid-State Lighting (SSL) Design Competition were announced and Awards were Given at Strategies in Light on February 14, 2013. Thirty-seven commercial LED outdoor lighting products were recognized for excellence by the fifth annual NGL SSL Design Competition. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, and the International Association of Lighting Designers. NGL was launched in 2008 to promote excellence in the design of energy-efficient LED luminaires for general illumination in commercial lighting applications. The competition began evaluating indoor and outdoor products separately in 2012. The winners announced so far are the 2012 outdoor winners ? the first outdoor winners to be announced as part of a separate NGL competition.

The recognized products reportedly performed best in terms of color, illuminance, and light distribution, but did not perform quite as well in terms of glare. The judges found improvements in color, light distribution, and efficacy. While the judges did see some encouraging entries in terms of form factors, they hope to see more development in this area.

Among the 37 recognized products, four stood out significantly above the others in the category and received the additional designation of Best in Class. This means that they are specifiable. The Best in Class winners came from four different manufacturers and covered four areas of outdoor lighting: The Lighting Quotient was selected for its fraqtir? Outdoor – Style S170 facade lighting fixture, Relume Technologies Inc. for its Oxford decorative acorn streetscape and walkway luminaire, GE Lighting for its Evolve? LED Scalable Cobrahead roadway fixture, and Edge Lighting for its TV and Dial LED decorative wall sconces.

LighTimes: Research and Markets Predicts that OLED TV Displays will Surpass OLED Mobile Phone Displays by 2015

admin — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 07:52:15 +0000

January 31, 2013…Research and Markets found that currently mobile phones hold the largest share in the global OLED displays market, distantly followed by OLED TVs. However, the company forecasts that the share of OLED TV displays will surpass the shares of mobile phone displays by 2015, due to the development of large sized OLED displays and increasing acceptance of OLED technology based TVs.
OLED displays are known to save up to 40% of the electricity for smartphone and TV usage, subject to the brightness and content,? according to Research and Markets. Also, enhanced features including the wider range of colors, increase in the number of times per second a display redraws data, improved 3D adaptability, thinner dimensions, better flexibility and transparency contributes to the market growth of OLED displays.

LighTimes: Researchers Look to Tiny LEDs to Transmit Information

admin — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 07:49:50 +0000

February 1, 2013…Tiny LED lights could one day deliver Wi-Fi-like internet communication, while at the same time illuminating homes? thanks to research led by the University of Strathclyde.
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)-funded consortium of UK universities is pursuing a radical, distinctive vision for developing Li-Fi? (or visible light-based) communication.

Professor Martin Dawson, of the University of Strathclyde, who is leading the four-year initiative, said,??Imagine an LED array beside a motorway helping to light the road, displaying the latest traffic updates and transmitting internet information wirelessly to passengers? laptops, netbooks and smartphones.”
The goal is to develop the technology to unleash the full potential of ?Li-Fi? ? the transmission of internet communications using visible light, rather than via the radio waves and microwaves currently in use.

Optics.org: DOE offers $12M to break solar limit

admin — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 07:11:41 +0000

28?Jan?2013

Funding for up to three research projects is designed to bring solar cells closer to the theoretical single-junction conversion efficiency limit.

PV efficiencies – theoretical maxima and real performance

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is to back up to three research projects designed to radically improve solar cell efficiencies.

Part of the ongoing??SunShot? initiative that is aiming to deliver photovoltaic (PV) energy at a cost of only 6?cents per kWh by the end of the decade, the new ?Foundational Program to Advance Cell Efficiency II (FPACE II) ? Model Systems? funding opportunity will allocate $12?million in total.

?The DOE SunShot Initiative is soliciting collaborative research teams to define and fabricate model systems that utilize a single p-n junction device structure and have the potential to approach Shockley-Queisser (SQ) power conversion efficiency limits (for a chosen bandgap and absorber material),? states the department?s?funding opportunity announcement.

For the most commonly used (non-concentrated) solar cell materials, like crystalline silicon, and thin-film CIGS and CdTe, that theoretical efficiency limit stands at either 32% or 33%. But despite decades of research and widespread commercialization over the past decade, there remains a large discrepancy between those theoretical figures and the performance of real-world cells.

For example, the record efficiency for a crystalline silicon (c-Si) cell still stands at just under 25%, a level demonstrated way back in 1998. And although this technology accounts for more than nine-tenths of the world?s deployed PV systems, the typical efficiency of the cells at the heart of those systems remains well below 20%, with most of the developmental efforts over the past few years having been focused on increasing volumes and reducing production costs.

The best-performing single-junction material thus far has been gallium arsenide (GaAs), thanks to a 28.8% device developed by the Californian start-up Alta Devices.

Fundamental research
With the planned awards, the DOE wants researchers to focus on more fundamental studies of PV materials, in order to bring the performance of solar cells much closer to the theoretical limit.

?Through this FOA, FPACE II: Model Systems, the SunShot Initiative seeks experimental demonstration of SQ efficiency limits through a fundamental approach of materials design; defect engineering; device simulations; and materials growth and characterization,? states the funding opportunity announcement.

?The goal of this program is to fund research on materials growth, characterization and modelling on a sub-cell or cell level,? says the DOE. ?Synergistic teams from universities, national laboratories, and/or companies will be funded to conduct integrated research to demonstrate proof-of-concept device efficiency near theoretical limits.?

Some of the topics to be investigated will include assessing the influence of extended defects such as dislocations, stacking faults and grain boundaries on junction properties, and on bulk recombination.

For example, the DOE asks, if grain boundaries truly improve charge collection in poly-CdTe and CIGS, is it possible to design an absorber to enhance charge separation and transport? And what is the optimal grain boundary width to prevent tunneling?

Other likely topics include finding a fundamental explanation for the lower power conversion efficiencies of ultrathin kerfless silicon epitaxial films, and identifying the ideal surface passivation and light management methods needed to maximize conversion efficiency.

The DOE wants the funded teams to be collaborations between leading researchers focused on designing and building a model system device. Applicants must propose teams with at least three key members from at least two different institutions, although more partners are expected to form a comprehensive team.

It will host a webinar question-and-answer session on the funding opportunity on February 22, with award selections expected during the summer.

The maximum federal funding available from the DOE for each project will be $4.8?million over three years, with non-federal contributions expected to push total maximum project funding to $6?million.