Welcome to the LEDs Magazine News & Insights newsletter for June 19, 2020. Thanks to all who attended our ultraviolet (UV) disinfection webcast yesterday. We had a fantastic turnout. If you missed the webcast, register and catch the archive. It’s very informative.
We also have more content for you focused on UV-C (100–280-nm) technology. We had an earlier story about Signify expanding its presence in UV-C. Now Mark Halper has reported from a teleconference with CEO Eric Rondolat covering the company’s plans. The focus for the foreseeable future will be mercury lamps in most applications, with LEDs only coming into play in enclosed applications such as water disinfection.
But as Bob Karlicek, director of the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), said during the webcast yesterday that UV-C LEDs are progressing quickly in terms of output power and reliability, and at the same time prices are dropping. Alas, Karlicek does not see LED technology playing in the so-called far-UV-C range around 222 nm, where there is surging interest because that energy may not damage human skin or eye tissue. Karlicek did warn that more research is needed on the presumed safety, but he said LED technology will be challenged to produce the required energy at such short wavelengths and that excimer sources will remain dominant.
Moving to another area of lighting for health, Circadian ZircLight has released research that the company says more precisely defines the portion of the blue spectrum that can disrupt circadian health. The newly defined Circadian Blue range is narrower than what other researchers have suggested. That would make it simpler to design solid-state lighting (SSL) systems that avoid the range.
In business news, Mark Halper reported that financials remain a challenge at Osram. The coronavirus has of course been a challenge for many companies. And Osram has been hit especially hard due to its significant presence in the automotive sector, which is in a tailspin.
One of the SSL sectors that I have been very bullish about is mini and micro LEDs. The technology is mainly aimed at display applications today, but long term it will play in lighting. We had an interesting column on the topic contributed by Matt Gerber, CEO of Rohinni, in our most recent issue. Have a read if you haven’t been following that technology space.
Our Strategies in Light Conference team has extended the deadline a few more days for interested potential speakers to submit abstracts, looking for a spot on the 2021 conference docket next February. I personally received emails from several people asking for time to put very interesting panels together. So get those proposals in. The advisory board will begin the evaluations shortly.
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]