Welcome to the LEDs Magazine News & Insights newsletter for Mar. 24, 2021. I really enjoy watching technologies and people that have won Sapphire recognition in our annual program matriculate successfully in the LED and solid-state lighting (SSL) sectors. Just this week, two companies with past Sapphire success partnered on a new technology pairing that will enable luminaire manufacturers to develop directional luminaires that can dynamically adjust from the narrowest of spot beams to the widest of floods with no mechanical intervention.
The reference design combines Gaggione’s collimating optic with LensVector’s liquid-crystal lens. Gaggione scored 4.5 Sapphires for a collimator in the 2018 program and also had a collimator achieve finalist recognition in 2019. Meanwhile, LensVector won a sapphire Award in 2018 for the liquid-crystal technology, nudging past Gaggione for the win. And LensVector founder Tigran Galstian was named Illumineer of the Year in 2019.
And yes, the press release from the duo this week afforded me a perfect way to transition into reminding you that we will close entries for the Sapphire 2021 program in a week. Nominate an innovator or team of innovators for Illumineer of the Year. Enter your most important products from the last year and change. And make sure to consider entering projects for the new Design Excellence Awards co-sponsored by the Lighting Controls Association (LCA).
As for news of the week, we have received additional information on the SkyBlue LED technology that partners Lumileds and BIOS Lighting first revealed last November. The announcement of commercial availability of the LEDs comes with more details including a spectral power distribution (SPD) graph of the three-LED kit — one cyan-pump LED and two white LEDs that together soothe the soul, er, the circadian system.
We also have the final set of articles from our March issue linked in HTML form for you this week. One article I would specifically recommend you read was contributed by Henry Wong of the Bluetooth SIG. He suggests that one of the things holding back networked lighting and controls is lack of clarity on the value proposition. Ultimately, he believes positive ROI will drive adoption of connected lighting.
Lastly this week I will address, obliquely, the goings on at the IES (Illuminating Engineering Society). As many of you have surely seen, there has been a whistleblower-type complaint stated by a former IES employee. I will not offer any judgment on the situation. We lack the investigative-reporting resources to research such things. For now, the IES has placed a brief position statement on its homepage saying the matter had been referred to its Ethics Committee for review.
What I will offer is an opinion that the IES has generally been a positive force for our sectors. And normally I wouldn’t link to a quasi-competitive publication. But Mark Lien of the IES staff wrote a column for the latest issue of the LD+A publication that is first great writing and second supports the IES value proposition. I really have no idea if the column and complaint are related. My knowledge of publishing schedules suggests maybe not. Still, I’d recommend you read the column.
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]