LED professional Symposium +Expo 2014 Highlights Future Technology Trends
Important Technology Trends for Future LED Lighting Systems Defined
The LpS 2014 (LED professional Symposium +Expo 2014) took place from September 30th to October 2nd for the fourth time. This event has established itself as an international point of reference for technical lighting professionals dealing with LED and OLED lighting components, modules and systems in the field of general lighting. In-depth discussions took place and trends, innovations and new products were explored. Participants described the event as unique and especially stressed the quality and technical focus of the symposium and exhibition.
Facts and Feedback
The LED professional Symposium +Expo 2014 (LpS 2014), sponsored by UL, Auer Lighting, Tridonic and Osram, once again proved itself to be an internationally relevant event in the area of design and engineering for future LED lighting systems. “In my opinion, the LpS is one of the most important global LED events. It is really one of the only places where you get all aspects related to the LED”, said Heinz Seyringer, Head of Research Collaborations at Zumtobel and board of stakeholders at Photonics 21. This year the LpS attracted over 1,100 participants from 43 countries. 45% of the attendees came from technical areas like Research and Development, Engineering and Project Management, Product System Design and Manufacturing and Application Engineering. A further 15% were from the Executive and Corporate management level.
Attendees, authors and exhibitors alike commended the high quality and technological focus of the event. Prof. Mehmet Arik from the Ozyegin University in Turkey, known as the Edison of the 21st century, said: “I was impressed with the quality of the keynotes and the technical presentations, which were well chosen. I believe the event will grow over time”. The initiation of new ideas was brought about by discussions generated by the 58 lectures, five workshops and two tech panels. The conference program covered topics dedicated to integrated designs of LED and OLED lighting systems: Trends and visions in future LED lighting systems, materials and manufacturing, light sources, reliability and lifetime, engineering of LED optics, electronics and smart lighting as well as design with LEDs and OLEDs. “I attended different workshops from optical design to LED future technologies and there were a lot of new thoughts for future developments, especially for our company”, said Mr. Peter Tanler from the Bartenbach Research Institute. Another attendee, Mr. Tanzim N. Baig, Key Technology Developer at Holst Centre, stated: “It is a good platform to really get the ideas in and to understand each other’s perspectives. I’m quite glad I’m here.”
Launch Platform for Exhibitors
Close to 100 exhibitors from all over the world used the LpS as a platform to introduce their latest products, services and innovations to the technically adept audience. “The LpS is a really important venue, not only for local and European companies and suppliers but also for international ones. A show like the LpS is important for us to meet our customers and they are all here, so we are here too. We’ve done a lot of business so we are very pleased with the venue and organization. We would really like to come back again”, stated Mark McClear, Vice President Global Sales at Cree.
At least 10 companies decided to use the LpS as a platform for their European or global product launches, including LEDs, optics, thermal management products and measurement equipment. One of them was Auer Lighting: “We visited this conference for the third time this year and we saw that the market and industry leaders are here. This is why we thought the LpS is the best opportunity to launch a product”, said Anke Kruse from Auer Lighting.
LED professional Scientific Award
The LED professional Scientific Award was presented at the LpS this year for the first time. As a part of the opening ceremony, Dr. Peter Bodrogi, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany was awarded EUR 3,000 for his paper titled: “New binning strategy for white LEDs to improve the color quality of interior lighting”. Mr. Stoil Kordev, from Optonica LED, the Scientific Award Sponsor, was present to hand over the check to Mr. Bodrogi during the ceremony.
Technical Highlights
In addition, three major trend areas were highlighted in the keynotes setting the cornerstones of the three symposium days: “Intelligent Lighting”, “SSL Value Chain” and “SSL Quality Issues”. The first keynote about “Intelligent lighting for people” from Prof. Karlsson, explained why the LED applications have only made use of a minor part of the possible added user value and business development potential, so far. He described how the platform, “Lighting for People”, within the SSL-erate project, will help to enhance the added values by promoting improved solutions which are better for people’s health and well-being. He furthermore accentuated aspects of green business development. In keeping with this topic, Walter Werner presented a paper on “Components, controls and networking environment challenges of human centric lighting”. He, in particular, introduced the control challenges and drew attention to future “meta-parameter control”, which could allow a user to influence the lighting in more result-oriented human terms. The topic of Human Centric Lighting was also reflected in the exhibition. ELT launched several new LED drivers that are characterized by THD without compromising efficiency and power factor. Data Link presented their brand-new Flush Mount Ceiling Lamp designed with AC LED technology and their patented “Planar Technology”. LuXeXcel’s intention to contribute to smart and intelligent lighting is based on the flexibility of their optics manufacturing approach, which is possible with their new 3D printing process, introduced in Bregenz.
The second corner stone of the symposium was given by Mark McClear with his keynote about “The changing role of components in SSL Systems”. He explained the influences on the SSL market and technology and showed how improved LED quality, power and efficiency allow for the reduction of the number of LEDs in applications and the lowering of costs. Nevertheless, he remarked that the “free Epi era” is over and therefore future cost reduction has to be mainly carried by other components. The trend of reducing the number of LEDs in applications and investing in high power LEDs was accommodated by the product launch of one of the event sponsors, Auer Lighting. Their new light guides made of borosilicate glass using cost-competitive injection molding technology can better resist heat than their plastic counterparts. This trend was also confirmed by the increased number of silicone based optics at the exhibition as well as the innovative and cost-efficient ceramic coated metal core PCB from BQ Ceramics, presented for the first time at the LpS 2014.
The third keynote speech was by Prof. Tran Quoc Khanh, Technical University Darmstadt. He discussed the topic “Color quality of high-end LED products” and explained the V-Lambda function and how the human visual signal processing works. He showed that perception is individually different and mentioned different parameters, which should be taken into account for future regulations. Color quality affects several technology fields, whereby measurement and testing is one of them. Following the industry demands for light measurement tools with improved speed, accuracy and interconnectivity, three of the worldwide leading companies in this field launched their products at the LpS 2014: Everfine, Gigahertz Optics and GL Optics. Moreover, many of the lectures, like the lectures on phosphors, dealt with the topic of color quality. Dr. Kevin Smet from Leuven University, described the CRI2012 in his presentation and gave practical application insights on the development progress and utilization of a new standard for color quality evaluation. Dr. Peter Bodrogi’s award winning paper perfectly complemented Prof. Khanh’s keynote speech.”We’re developing the LED professional Symposium +Expo further to become the most relevant trend-setting event for future LED lighting systems covering new technologies, products and services all around solid-state lighting. The next LpS event will be held again in Bregenz on Sept. 22nd to 24th, 2015“, said Siegfried Luger, LpS Event Director.
LpS Program: www.LpS2014.com/program
LpS Website: www.LpS2014.com
20 Oct