Remote-phosphor technology

As high-power LEDs have proved their ability to deliver the luminous flux and efficacy needed to satisfy an ever-growing variety of applications, component manufacturers have turned their attention to refining the quality of the light produced. Indeed the lighting industry is demanding solid-state lighting (SSL) technology that can deliver consistent color and light output over relatively-large surface areas. Achieving color consistency with phosphor-converted white LEDs can be costly and/or difficult. Remote-phosphor technology, however, can deliver color consistency and efficacy gains.

Technical improvements in the quality of light will support the efforts of LED lighting vendors to produce replacements for incandescent or compact-fluorescent lamps in industry-standard form factors, or for fixtures that traditionally use ordinary fluorescent tubes such as troffers and other recessed ceiling lights.

To meet the established form factors for troffer lights, for example, equivalent LED retrofits will need to have a large light-emitting surface. This challenges designers to achieve smooth and even illumination across the entire surface. In fact, a uniform and consistent light-emitting surface, unmarked by identifiable point sources and exempt from noticeable chromaticity variation, is desirable in many applications ranging from large industrial lights to small bulbs for domestic use.

In addition, the characteristics of the light emitted by each LED in a bulb or fixture containing multiple LEDs must be closely matched. However, variations in manufacturing processes can result in LED chips having different flux, color and forward voltage from unit to unit, which may not be acceptable for the end product if not dealt with effectively.

LED manufacturers have developed various ways to overcome such effects. The most familiar of these is LED binning: the LEDs are tested and then categorized into one of a number of groups, or bins, according to the characteristic of the light produced. Fulfilling individual customer orders from a small number of such bins – or even a single bin – ensures that each customer will receive devices that are matched in performance, with the closeness of the match required depending on the application.

The binning system, although effective, has some disadvantages: it can be difficult for customers to understand, and lead-time issues may arise if the number of LED units available in any one bin is insufficient to satisfy a complete order immediately. It is worth noting, however, that LED manufacturing processes have significantly improved, allowing binning limits to be revised. Smaller bins have been published, as defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and some LED manufacturers even offer sub-ANSI binning.

An alternative approach is to adjust the characteristics of the light from each LED using optical techniques to normalize the wavelengths to within a certain range. This can reduce or eliminate the need for binning. For example, this has enabled Philips Lumileds to introduce its new “Freedom from Binning” product ranges such as the Luxeon A family. By exactly matching the phosphor coating to the wavelength of light emitted by each royal-blue LED die, a technique the company calls Lumiramic phosphor technology, Philips Lumileds can achieve remarkably uniform outputs in terms of the color temperature of white light.

NM regulators consider PNM solar proposal

New Mexico regulators are considering a proposal that would mean fewer credits for Public Service Company of New Mexico customers who install solar photovoltaic systems.

Renewable Energy Certificate credits have been slashed by more than half in the last year, and PNM contends more changes are necessary due to a drop in the price of solar photovoltaic systems and the costs of the program to other customers, The New Mexican reported.

The proposal before the state Public Regulation Commission stems from negotiations with solar industry representatives and others, but critics argue a decline in REC payments and shorter contracts will discourage customers.

"A lot of people now are not sure they should make the investment if it is only an eight-year program at 4 cents," said longtime Santa Fe solar installer and teacher Adi Pieper.

Under the proposal, PNM will pay 4 cents per kilowatt-hour for solar photovoltaic systems of a 10-kilowatt capacity or less. Systems between 10 kW and 100 kW will receive 5 cents per kwh.

PNM's program was launched in part to help the utility meet renewable energy portfolio standards set by the state. Now, more than 10 percent of its solar power is from individual solar photovoltaic systems.

In 2010, PNM offered 13 cents per kwh and a 12-year contract under the program. Payments steadily decreased as each half-megawatt of solar capacity was reached through customer-installed solar.

When PNM proposed a new renewable energy program last year, it initially left out the program. Randy Sadewic of Positive Energy in Santa Fe and others in the state's solar industry fought to save it.

In PNM's proposed renewable energy plan, it wants to add 20 megawatts of solar power by expanding three photovoltaic facilities in Alamogordo, Deming and Los Lunas.

"Utility-owned solar is a much more cost-effective resource than distributed generation because of the economy of scale and also because you have more ability to site the facility for optimal energy production," said PNM spokeswoman Susan Sponar. "But our program has been important for solar vendors and customers who want to install solar, so we believe it still has a place in our program."

Cleo Griffith and her husband had PV panels installed a couple of years ago at their home near Santa Fe. They locked in a 12-year contract that nets them a REC payment of 9 cents for each kilowatt-hour of electricity produced. They also receive a net metering credit for the electricity they generate beyond what they use in their house.

"From a consumer's point of view, combined with the tax credits and net metering, the REC payment really makes a difference when making the investment to install a system," Griffith said. "The REC is not a lot, but over the years it really helps people pay back their investment sooner. I think it makes people more willing to make that leap to renewable energy."

IN ALL CANDOR: ‘Hard coffee’ is here to stay

Here at the newspaper, we drink "hard coffee." The best way to describe its thickness is, basically, as a compromise between motor oil and Vegemite.

When I tried that comparison out on my co-workers, someone with ties to an Australian ancestry said there are few things as wonderful as a fresh, hot-buttered roll with a topping of Vegemite. It is amazing what we can love if we grew up on it. I grew up drinking coffee and I don't feel right until I've had at least two cups in the morning. When I am a guest in a home where they don't "do coffee," I'm a mess. The best way to describe the feeling is that I have a knife going through the middle of my head and possibly sticking out my left ear canal. My eyes are only able to open halfway, and getting them open causes a screeching sound, much like fingernails on a chalkboard. I've learned to inquire ahead of time and, if it's a coffee-less household, I carry my small coffeemaker and supplies. It's just necessary for their survival, . . . and the preservation of the friendship. "What do you mean you don't have coffee at breakfast?!?" Anyway . . . , you get the idea.

Hard coffee is the only thing left from the old days of newspapering. Gone are the days when the print was laid up, letter by letter (I only know of this through the movies), linotype, and paste-up on the big tables, where you could see the newspaper taking shape. Gone too are the grayish curls of cigarette smoke circling all the way to the fluorescent lights above and the ashtrays overflowing with cigarette butts. Some improvements are for the best, and surely, we do all enjoy the cleaner indoor air in our work environments, and the ashtrays have become enclosed cans outside the building.

Recently, one of my coworkers, who has been around the news biz for many years, commented that all the fun had gone out of putting a newspaper together. Back then, the atmosphere sizzled with busy-ness, people yelled at each other across the room, readers dropped off hand-written copy for typesetters (who clacked away on their typewriters), under-their-breath sighs were directed at the advertising department when everything had to be moved around the page because of a late ad, not that anyone was complaining about the added revenue. There was no Adobe Photoshop, so photographs had to be developed and sized in a darkroom. The tickertape was clacking, and when there was a competing newspaper in town, reporters would scurry out the door, with lightning speed, to see if they could beat the other paper's reporters to the latest scene of disaster.

My friend blamed it on the computerization of the process, and how the focus has changed from communicating with people to producing everything on desktop screens and sending all that digitally to the camera room and press room. It's very quiet.

Automation is here to stay ― it has made the life of newspaper workers easier and producing a newspaper more efficient and probably more economical, but lost in the progress has been some of the fun. The days of throwing a shoe across the newsroom to take out a compositor, who has just relegated your feature story, gained through blood, sweat, and tears, to the bottom of page nine sans the photo, are gone.

Today, as we arrive at our quiet offices and the aroma from a fresh pot of brewing coffee wafts through the door, coffee drinkers give a sigh of relief. "Hard coffee" is still with us, and they haven't figured out how to digitize that, yet.

SSL Technology

Let's start with some highlights from the Webcast that we hosted on Tuesday, August 21, which focused on outdoor lighting and was presented by expert Nancy Clanton. The presentation covered details of the BUG rating for outdoor lighting and how it's applied in both the Model Lighting Ordinance and the RP-8 standard for roadway lighting. Clanton described how characteristics such as glare, uniformity, contrast, and luminance all come into play in effective roadway lighting.

Perhaps the highlight of the presentation came when Clanton covered some preliminary data from the roadway lighting tests conducted in Seattle back in March. We described the structure of the tests in our April issue, but these were the first publicly revealed results. The tested 105W LED lighting generally outperformed 400W high pressure sodium lights in small object visibility tests measured by detection distance. The LEDs could be dimmed to 50% and still deliver superior results, and even 25% with dry pavement – especially in the case of a fixture with 4100 kelvin color temperature. Clanton remarked that 4100 kelvin may be optimum because it is very close to the color temperature of moonlight.

Moving to business news, Osram and Samsung have agreed out of court to settle their long running intellectual property dispute that included legal filings in various jurisdictions across the globe. The parties expect to complete all of the dismissals by the end of August. The former adversaries say they may work together going forward with a partnership-based competition relationship. Despite the conciliatory tone, rumors persist that Samsung will pay Osram considerable licensing fees.

We have yet another Olympic-oriented solid-state lighting story. It turns out that both the BBC and NBC TV networks used LED lighting in their London studios. The Production Resource Group fixtures utilized remote-phosphor technology from Intematix. The lighting offered improved color rendering relative to legacy lighting.

LEDs also continue to impact under developed regions around the globe in a positive manner. Philips will install solar-powered LED outdoor lighting in 100 locations near rural schools across Africa that don’t have access to the power grid. The lighting will provide venues for sports and other communal activities.

Eoplly USA Inc., a designer and manufacturer of solar products, and Solar Street Lights USA Inc., a US manufacturer of solar street lights and storage systems, today announced the completion of approximately fifty early notification and emergency warning systems for the City of Detroit, Michigan.

The early warning and emergency notification systems were funded through a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant to upgrade warning systems across several major US cities. The systems were awarded to West Shores Services Inc. who selected Solar Street Lights USA Inc. to design and assemble the power management systems using Eoplly solar modules.

The emergency warning systems incorporate a federal emergency siren, power management and battery storage, and two Eoplly EP-156P/60-235W poly-silicon modules. These systems were designed to operate off-grid at 48Vdc, in case of a loss in power during emergency situations, such as national disasters.

A design for living in Sheffield

LIGHTS, tables, chairs, lamps, bookshelves and now striking art pieces - you name it, Paul Carruthers has made it. Star reporter Rachael Clegg takes a look at some of the Sheffield designer's creations.

PAUL Carruthers lives and breathes design.

And his home in Grenoside is a testament to this.

Colours, forms and ambience blend harmoniously and almost everything looks to be a work of art in its own right - because it is

Paul, a designer and furniture manufacturer for more than 20 years, has designed and built the majority of items in his home himself.

Paul admits he always knew he was creative.

"I am a great believer in that people should be allowed to think creatively," he says. "We don't have a programme in our schools that allows children to think creatively - it's all about academic results."

Rather than going to college, Paul learnt his craft the hard way - leaving school to join an engineering works and then working as a furniture maker.

"It's been an interesting journey and it's never felt like it's been very planned but I fell into making furniture," he says.

While working as a furniture-maker, Paul made some lighting, which was well received, he then won the Lighting Association's Lighting Show design award.

"I won a few more awards for my lighting and then all of a sudden I was a 'lighting designer'," he says.

His lighting is striking. In the dining room, an orange glass light clings to the wall. It is textured and bold.

"I made that myself," he says, "I used to manufacture these things."

He also made low-hanging pendant lights which hang above his kitchen table.

"They're made of raffia," he says. "I also made some which are covered in wool, which give a lovely ambient glow.

"There are Chinese people copying the designs, which I wouldn't mind if they would at least gave me credit for it."

But the lighting most familiar to Sheffielders are the 'Torches' on the gate posts at the entrance to Globe Works, Penistone Road, one of his many public commissions.

There is no limit to Paul's creations. He also built his kitchen table - a huge, minimalist bench made of thick chunks of smooth solid oak. "I wanted a contemporary bench-style table to fit this space so I made this. That was my brief."

Adjacent to the oak bench hang three decoupage images, made up of cuttings from fifties catalogues and magazines. Each picture has its own meaning, though the materials and rendering are the same.

"Everything means something," he says. "But at the same time they have to look good. It's ok to have an idea but it has to be rendered well, otherwise, there's no point. You have to do justice to a good idea."

Unlike many artists and designers, Paul works regular hours like a working day.

"The discipline of going to work every day hasn't left me," he says. "Even though I could deconstruct my day and work at night I still work during the day. I don't like working in the evening."