Technical Insight
LEDs scoop lighting awards
LED-based lighting systems received numerous awards at the recent LightFair International trade show, demonstrating the importance of LEDs to lighting designers, writes Kate Conway.
Capturing numerous awards, LEDs attracted crowds of admirers at the LightFair International 2003 trade show, held in May in New York City and attended by more than 19,000 people. At least 10% of the 600 exhibitors featured LED lighting products. As a measure of how pervasive LEDs were, Lumileds Luxeon products could be seen in nearly 50 innovative products shown by more than 25 companies.
TIR Systems Destiny Colorwash, a color-changing luminaire that provides a wash effect for accentuating and modeling architectural structures, won the Best New Product award as well as the Flood and Fa&ccdeil;ade Lighting category award. Also honored was Nichia, which won the Technical Innovation and Specialty Lamps awards for its model NSPL510S warm white LED. By combining a new red phosphor with a YAG phosphor, Nichia has brought the lamp s correlated color temperature into the 2500-3500 K range (figure 1).
Modular line-upAt LightFair, designers saw a full array of building blocks with which to create colorful coves, edges and other slim-profile architectural features. Osram Opto Semiconductors introduced Color Mix LED dimmable systems coupled with Optotronic power supplies and OTDIM dimming modules, with optional snap-on Linearlight optic lenses.
Luminous wall-mounted fixtures add visual accents to long hallways, meeting rooms and atria. Traxon s Mood Light enables designers to group square modules, each containing four translucent units with controllable LED color, into any desired configuration. The units are activated by an infrared remote control, have pre-programmed sequences, and can be synchronized with music. The Mood Light received a Roeder Award, in memory of a lighting designer well known for his colorful, dynamic installations.
Grouping or sequencing units is also possible with Io Lighting s tiles and planes. Purchasers can specify these anodized aluminum squares and rectangles with LED backlighting, luminous cube or luminous pyramid inserts, or linear step lighting inserts. Louis Poulsen Lighting expanded its LED product lines with in-ground and accent lights in a wide variety of styles suitable for architectural and landscape projects.
Neon tubes have become ubiquitous for a variety of lighting and signage applications, particularly where shapes and curves are required. However, a number of manufactures are using LED systems to replace neon. One is iLight Technologies, which presented its Plexineon product (figure 2). This is a programmable, modular linear system that can be shaped on-site into gentle waves or arcs, or factory-shaped to form letters and tighter curves. Plexineon contains LEDs housed in a durable plastic composite. It operates at low voltages with minimal power draw, is cool to the touch, and has a lifetime of up to 180,000 h.
Bruck Lighting Systems showcased Orion Belt, with LEDs embedded in a flexible, transparent and UV-resistant PVC carrier. Bruck also produces pin-base, screwbase and recessed-mount LED lamps. Meanwhile, Modular International displayed sleek, brushed aluminum luminaires with a choice of 12, 24 and 120 V LED systems.
Dramatic DMX luminaries>Colors enhance the drama in any space. The DMX control protocol enables designers to use software to assign specific colors, dimming, and sequences of effects to particular luminaires. Conjuring up exactly the right color becomes easier with new theatrical-style LED luminaires, such as the Droplet from the Dutch company, Xilver BV, winner of the Theatrical and Entertainment Lighting award. The egg-shaped design and silently operating pan-and-tilt head swivel attention towards any object it illuminates.
Another Roeder Award went to Pixeon for its ColorStream tubes. With RGB pixels encapsulated in 1 m sections, uniform solid color effects or patterns can move at varying speeds, and when linked together, ripple on to the next tube. Times Square Lighting presented positionable parabolic aluminized reflector (PAR) lamps using 180 high-brightness LEDs.
To conserve space and increase installation flexibility, James Thomas Engineering provides its PixelPAR and PixelLine products with remote power supplies. The light source fits into a housing that would typically hold an incandescent PAR lamp; the control interface is at the back of the housing where a cable connects to the power supply. Both all-white and multicolor LED options are available.
Space Cannon Illumination introduced Metamorphosis, a fixture featuring LED spotlights with dimming and strobing capabilities. The company is best known for dramatic lighting of buildings, and designed the stunning tribute in light at the site of the World Trade Center towers in New York.
TIR Systems Destiny Colorwash, a color-changing luminaire that provides a wash effect for accentuating and modeling architectural structures, won the Best New Product award as well as the Flood and Fa&ccdeil;ade Lighting category award. Also honored was Nichia, which won the Technical Innovation and Specialty Lamps awards for its model NSPL510S warm white LED. By combining a new red phosphor with a YAG phosphor, Nichia has brought the lamp s correlated color temperature into the 2500-3500 K range (figure 1).
Modular line-upAt LightFair, designers saw a full array of building blocks with which to create colorful coves, edges and other slim-profile architectural features. Osram Opto Semiconductors introduced Color Mix LED dimmable systems coupled with Optotronic power supplies and OTDIM dimming modules, with optional snap-on Linearlight optic lenses.
Luminous wall-mounted fixtures add visual accents to long hallways, meeting rooms and atria. Traxon s Mood Light enables designers to group square modules, each containing four translucent units with controllable LED color, into any desired configuration. The units are activated by an infrared remote control, have pre-programmed sequences, and can be synchronized with music. The Mood Light received a Roeder Award, in memory of a lighting designer well known for his colorful, dynamic installations.
Grouping or sequencing units is also possible with Io Lighting s tiles and planes. Purchasers can specify these anodized aluminum squares and rectangles with LED backlighting, luminous cube or luminous pyramid inserts, or linear step lighting inserts. Louis Poulsen Lighting expanded its LED product lines with in-ground and accent lights in a wide variety of styles suitable for architectural and landscape projects.
Neon tubes have become ubiquitous for a variety of lighting and signage applications, particularly where shapes and curves are required. However, a number of manufactures are using LED systems to replace neon. One is iLight Technologies, which presented its Plexineon product (figure 2). This is a programmable, modular linear system that can be shaped on-site into gentle waves or arcs, or factory-shaped to form letters and tighter curves. Plexineon contains LEDs housed in a durable plastic composite. It operates at low voltages with minimal power draw, is cool to the touch, and has a lifetime of up to 180,000 h.
Bruck Lighting Systems showcased Orion Belt, with LEDs embedded in a flexible, transparent and UV-resistant PVC carrier. Bruck also produces pin-base, screwbase and recessed-mount LED lamps. Meanwhile, Modular International displayed sleek, brushed aluminum luminaires with a choice of 12, 24 and 120 V LED systems.
Dramatic DMX luminaries>Colors enhance the drama in any space. The DMX control protocol enables designers to use software to assign specific colors, dimming, and sequences of effects to particular luminaires. Conjuring up exactly the right color becomes easier with new theatrical-style LED luminaires, such as the Droplet from the Dutch company, Xilver BV, winner of the Theatrical and Entertainment Lighting award. The egg-shaped design and silently operating pan-and-tilt head swivel attention towards any object it illuminates.
Another Roeder Award went to Pixeon for its ColorStream tubes. With RGB pixels encapsulated in 1 m sections, uniform solid color effects or patterns can move at varying speeds, and when linked together, ripple on to the next tube. Times Square Lighting presented positionable parabolic aluminized reflector (PAR) lamps using 180 high-brightness LEDs.
To conserve space and increase installation flexibility, James Thomas Engineering provides its PixelPAR and PixelLine products with remote power supplies. The light source fits into a housing that would typically hold an incandescent PAR lamp; the control interface is at the back of the housing where a cable connects to the power supply. Both all-white and multicolor LED options are available.
Space Cannon Illumination introduced Metamorphosis, a fixture featuring LED spotlights with dimming and strobing capabilities. The company is best known for dramatic lighting of buildings, and designed the stunning tribute in light at the site of the World Trade Center towers in New York.
