A recent report from BMW Blog has quashed rumors that the laser headlights would be arriving in the U.S. market by fall this year.

The retrofit and relight business is in full swing today. A variety of new LED replacement luminaires, retrofit/conversion kits and lamps are available from a variety of manufacturers and whether we are talking about a T12 to T8 fluorescent conversion or fluorescent to LED, the economic value proposition and project mechanics are well understood.

Through its Transportation Lighting and Safety program, the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is evaluating the potential for new lighting technologies and approaches to improve driving safety at night, including new car headlight systems. For the study, vehicle manufacturer Audi AG has provided the LRC with an A7 equipped with adaptive high beam “matrix lights” that allow drivers to benefit from using high beams all the time while selectively dimming a portion of the beam in the direction of other drivers to prevent glare. In the Audi system, the beam pattern is split into numerous individual LEDs arranged in a grid or “matrix” that adapts to the surroundings in real-time. The lighting system is being evaluated by LRC researchers this June.

AIXTRON, a worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, announced today that Epileds, a leading supplier of LED chip products, has qualified the Company’s AIX R6 tool for LED epitaxy mass production.

Lighting Science Group, a leading manufacturer of LED lighting solutions, announced today the appointments of three experienced sales leaders who will add broad business and industry expertise to its global sales team. Daniel Yasi joins the company as Senior Director of Commercial and Infrastructure Channels. Oscar Ibarra also joins LSG as Director of International Infrastructure Sales. Additionally, David Rubin joins the team as a Director of Commercial Markets. Dan, Oscar and David will play key roles in supporting and growing the Lighting Science product portfolio, with specific concentrations on expanding the commercial and infrastructure channels both domestically and internationally.

Exagan, a start-up innovator of gallium-nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology that enables smaller and more efficient electrical converters,announced it has raised €5.7 million (US $6.38 million) in first-round financing that will be used to produce high-speed power switching devices on 200mm wafers.

The event organised by Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India Pvt. Ltd, the organisers of some of the biggest lighting shows worldwide, LED Expo Mumbai saw a strong line-up of new products, brands and launches by 117 exhibiting companies from China, Germany, India, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, and the UAE.

Molex Incorporated announces the availability of its wet-location-rated Woodhead® LED Wide-Area Portable Magnet Light. This durable solution offers contractors and maintenance, manufacturing and quality personnel a light that consumes just 40 watts of power to produce 2700 lumens output lasting 50,000 hours. This delivers significantly longer life expectancy when compared to traditional lights such as high-pressure sodium (HPS) and metal-halide (MH). The light also features a heavy-duty magnet, allowing it to be quickly, easily and securely mounted on a variety of metal surfaces.

Merck, a leading company for innovative, top-quality high-tech products in healthcare, life science and performance materials, laid the cornerstone for a new OLED materials production plant in Darmstadt today. Production of high-purity OLED materials for use in state-of-the-art displays and lighting systems is scheduled to start in the approximately 2,000 square meter building in July 2016. With the investment, which amounts to around EUR 30 million (US$ 33.78 million), Merck is strengthening its position in the OLED business. Merck aims to be a leading supplier of OLED materials by 2018. The company wishes to make use of its experience in the liquid crystals business, where it is the global leader.

Transphorm, an early stage semiconductor company focused on redefining power conversion, today announced a US $70 million investment round led by global investment firm KKR. KKR’s investment follows initial rounds of funding led by funds affiliated with Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Foundation Capital, Google Ventures, Soros Quantum Strategic Partners, INCJ, Fujitsu, Transphorm will use this funding to support its growth, product innovation and expansion.

How do you make skydiving even more thriling? Do it at night, toss in some wingsuits equipped with LED lights and do it all choreographed to the beats of drum and bass duo Camo & Krooked. The result? A project entitled "GRAVITAS."

In December 2012, following a US $135 million renovation that united three disparate buildings into one seamless museum, the Yale University Art Gallery opened to the public.  Steven Hefferan of Hefferan Partnership Lighting Design (Boulder, Colo.) managed the lighting for 70,000 square feet of gallery space, and the illumination for more than 4,000 works of art in the galleries.

Rubicon Technology, a leading provider of sapphire substrates and products to the LED, semiconductor and optical markets,announced it will exhibit its high-quality optical sapphire, including the largest sapphire window ever produced, at the LASER World of PHOTONICS trade show from June 22-25 at the Munich Trade Fair Center. Rubicon will showcase its line of sapphire products in booth B1.418.

At the New York Blue Light Symposium press conference, the Blue Light Society will bring together renowned ophthalmologists, sleep specialists and researchers from the U.S. and abroad to discuss the latest studies on the effects of natural blue light and blue light emitted from LED devices on the human body.  

Everlight Electronics, a leading player in the global LED and optoelectronics industry, will exhibit the complete range of LED products like lighting, backlight, flash, signage and infrared LED at the LED EXPO KOREA 2015, including new products in this quarter. EVERLIGHT expects to meet one-stop demand for our customers based on the complete product combination.

CSP technology will lead the emergence of new LED package material demands, said Kaz Maruyama, Global Marketing Director, Dow Corning Lighting Solutions at LEDforum 2015 Guangzhou, which took place earlier this month at China Import and Export Fair Pazhou Complex in Guangzhou, China.

A source within Egypt’s Electricity Ministry has disclosed plans of distributing 1.7 million LED bulbs in the next four months, reported The Cairo Post.

Aledia, a developer and manufacturer of next-generation 3D LEDs based on its Gallium-Nitride-on-Silicon platform, announced today the closing of its Series B financing round and the execution of development and supply contracts with major LED buyers. 

EarthTronics offers a full line of Energy Star rated LED Recessed Retrofit downlights in 4- and 6-inch diameters, providing 550 to 1200 lumens for architectural/décor lighting applications. The energy efficient LED Recessed Retrofit downlights easily replace popular, less proficient 4-, 5- and 6-inch aperture fixtures and produce a full flood light with a 90° beam angle. They are ideal for use in medical and long-term care facilities, hotels, resorts and restaurants as well as light commercial properties.

Epistar keeps building innovating products and technologies and continues to bolster its global IP position. In addition, Epistar strives to strengthen the value of its Co-activation Service.

Direct View lighting is a growing application space as architectural building materials are shifting more and more to glass and steel, requiring fixtures that integrate directly into the façade structures and cladding elements.

Over the past 2 years, a new type of LED packaging often referred to as “filament” LEDs has been gaining popularity fast. These LED packages enable the manufacturing of incandescent style LED bulbs, combining the traditional look and feel of the well-known incandescent bulbs with the user benefits of LED lighting such as extended life and energy savings. These types of lamps are expected to take the market by storm as mass retailers all over the world will be introducing these lamps in the coming lighting season.  LED Filaments are usually construc...

LEDinside team would like to wish everyone in advance a Happy Dragon Boat Festival! We will be on holiday tomorrow, so apologies if there are no further article updates this week.

Adoption of LED automotive lights has grown over recent years, but traditional halogen and Xenon HID lights still dominate the headlight market, said the company CEO Pierre-Yves Lesaicherre during an exclusive interview with LEDinside at Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition (GILE), China from June 9-12, 2015.

For manufacturers to succeed in the LED market, using standardized components and increasing LED product efficacy and C/P ratio is important in ensuring products can meet client demands, said Andy Man, Vice President, Asia, Bridgelux at LEDforum 2015 in Guangzhou, China. Main organizers of the forum that took place on June 11, 2015 include LEDinside, CNLEDw.com, and Guangzhou Guangya Messe Frankfurt.

Top Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar has been aggressive in its patent strategies, and has acquired key LED filament bulb patents to build up its core advantages, reported Liberty Times recently.

A few years ago it became clear that the LED signage industry needed a change. Fundamental shifts in LED technology, plus continual breakthroughs in software and hardware, and new innovations in competitive digital screen technologies, will force the LED sign manufacturer to adapt or die.

Lunera® Lighting, a leader in lighting innovations accelerating the transformation to advanced LED technology, will be featuring the Susan Lampand Lucy Lamp high-intensity discharge (HID) plug-and-play LED replacement lamps in Booth# 944 at BOMA International's Every Building Conference & Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center, June 28 - 30, 2015.

Osram is making further progress regarding its realignment. In an extraordinary meeting, the supervisory board of OSRAM Licht AG approved the carve-out of the general lighting lamps business. As an independent entity, the business will be able to operate more freely on the market and realize strategic options, such as partnerships, more easily. Jes Munk Hansen, until now CEO of the Americas region, will lead the lamps business in the future. "Today's supervisory board decision lays the foundation for our strategic orientation toward growth, innovation and technology leadership," said Olaf Berlien, Chief Executive Officer of OSRAM Licht AG.

DEUTZ-FAHR in collaboration with HELLA has developed an industry-first LED light package for its award-winning line of 7 Series tractors.