Welcome to the LEDs Magazine News & Insights newsletter for June 5, 2020. In my Wednesday newsletter column, I suggested things were moving in a slightly positive fashion within our LED and solid-state lighting (SSL) sectors. And I think that is the case. We had two significant packaged LED announcements mid-week.
Cree announced a packaged LED that integrates red, green, and blue (RGB) emitters and targets dynamic video displays for the intelligent transportation systems space. You may wonder as I did at first about the application at hand. The primary usage will be in full-color displays suspended over freeway lanes, replacing the mostly amber signs presently installed. The announcement is an example of a trend that we have long documented. Cree developed the LED for the very specific application that requires maximum light output over a narrow viewing angle.
Bridgelux, meanwhile, is bringing the Thrive spectral power distribution (SPD) technology to its Vesta chip-on-board (COB) LED portfolio that includes both round COB LEDs and rectangular modular light engines. The technology will combine tunable-white features with the sunlight-mimicking Thrive SPD and provide yet another usage for the Average Spectral Difference metric that Bridgelux revealed a few weeks back.
We also have a major announcement to make ourselves. After much internal investigation, external research, and discussion, we will be transitioning our 2020 HortiCann Light + Tech event to a virtual format taking place Oct. 20 and 21.
The virtual move was an excruciating decision. As I have written more than once, among the things I have missed the most during the coronavirus pandemic is interacting in person with all of you. But we will err on the side of safety and our research that suggests people will not be ready to travel in October. Moreover, virtual presentation tools have improved considerably. If you have an idea for what we might add in a virtual format, email me.
As to other virtual events... You who read my musings regularly know I have been outspoken about opportunists in the ultraviolet (UV) disinfection sector given the COVID-19 scare. We have our own UV webcast coming in just two weeks that, as the title implies, will separate fact from fiction. I barely got a mention of the program in the Wednesday newsletter. We will have Bob Karlicek, director of the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) separate fact from fiction regarding UV-C in germicidal roles. And I promise you we will discuss safe and scientifically-sound concepts and enable you to ask some questions.
You will find many more stories of interest in the body of today’s newsletter. And always feel free to contact me to discuss content we post or to pitch a contributed article.
- Maury Wright, (858) 748-6785, [email protected]