Say goodbye to the 60W GLS

Say goodbye to the 60W GLS | News | Lighting.

The 60W incandescent lamp has become the latest casualty of the EU phase out of GLS light sources. As of 1 September, it is illegal to manufacture or import the ubiquitous lamp that was once so synonymous with domestic lighting.

The lamp followed its 100W and 75W counterparts into obscurity at midnight on 31 August when an EU-wide ban on manufacturing and importing the light sources came into force.

Consumers are still able to buy the product after this point but once stocks run out they will no longer be available.

Many manufacturers and retailers stopped producing and selling the products in anticipation of the ban but there is a small minority who have been stockpiling the lamps so as to be able to meet continuing consumer demand.

Commenting on the phase out of the 60W GLS, Richard Gunn of Osram said: “People need to remember that the GLS lamp is over 100 years old. Is it not time we upgraded our lighting? How many people do you know that still carry money to make a phone call or use a camera that requires a film?”

The manufacturer said there is a ‘good, better, best’ range of alternatives where Eco Halogen represents ‘good’, CFL represents ‘better’ and retrofit LED lamps represent ‘best’.

New partnership to produce first sub-$15 LED lamp

New partnership to produce first sub-$15 LED lamp | News | Lighting.

Lighting Science Group and Dixon Technologies of India have entered into a partnership to produce the first sub-$15 60-watt equivalent LED lamp.

The lamp, which is the first in a series of products being jointly manufactured and distributed by the two companies, will be available in India at the end of 2011 and will be available worldwide in early 2012. The full line of products will include streetlights, outdoor and industrial light fixtures and retrofit bulbs.

“With India’s peak load electricity deficit expected to increase upwards of 15 per cent in the near-term, the adoption of energy efficient technologies will prove critical in meeting India’s infrastructure needs and demands of continued economic growth. Our partnership with Lighting Science Group will make LED technology available for large scale implementation in the Indian market and we expect to be the market’s leading seller of LED lighting within two years,” said Sunil Vachani, chairman and managing director of Dixon Technologies.

The Indian market for LED lighting is expected to grow $400 million by 2015 (53 per cent per annum) to keep pace with the growing economy, and the country plans to build 80 new coal-fired power stations to keep up with rising electricity demand in the next five years.

Has the 60W GLS met its match?

Has the 60W GLS met its match? | Hardware | Lighting.

LED replacements for incandescent lamps are not new – they’ve been around for a few years – but Cree reckons users will find the light from its TrueWhite Light indistinguishable from that of a 60W GLS. Richard Simmonds investigates

Announcing a new technology with the line “thank you Mr Edison, we’ll take it from here” might sound like the height of hubris. But when the claim comes from an LED manufacturer of Cree’s pedigree, people may be less willing to dismiss what they have to say.

Cree made its bold claim as it demonstrated a prototype LED retrofit lamp, TrueWhite Light, that it says is the closest equivalent to a standard 60W GLS lamp yet devised.

Uniquely, it says, it has been designed to meet US Energy Star requirements for products equivalent to 60W lamps.

“This is a significant milestone for the industry,” says Chuck Swoboda, Cree’s chairman and chief executive officer. “In the race to commercialise low-cost, energy-efficient LED bulbs, the industry has forgotten that LED lighting is supposed to look as good as the technology it is replacing. This is the first no-compromise replacement for a 60W incandescent bulb.”

Facts and figureslighting.co.uk

 

The prototype lamp that Cree demonstrated last month has an output of 800 lumens. Input power is less than 10W, colour temperature is 27ooK and its colour rendering index is greater than 90. It can also be dimmed to 5 per cent of full output. Fins around the base cool the lamp. Cree’s vice-president of technology, Rob Glass, says: “This is the first standard LED A-lamp that combines high output with very high efficiency, in a small form factor, without the additional cost and complexity of active cooling or other design compromises.”

“The industry has forgotten that LED lighting is supposed to look as good as the technology it is replacing” Chuck Swoboda, Cree

However, there are several other products on the market that appear to measure up to TrueWhite Light. Philips introduced its first LED retrofit lamp at Light + Building in April 2008, and last year launched its 12W EnduraLED lamp at Lightfair International. It too was designed to replace the 60W incandescent. Osram Sylvania was also at Lightfair, and unveiled a 60W replacement lamp in the form of the Sylvania Ultra LED lamp, which president and CEO Rick Leaman described as “the first 60W replacement on the market to offer energy savings without compromise”.

Form and function

So what is it that Cree has done that Philips, Osram and others like them have not?

According to Greg Merritt, vice-president of corporate marketing: “It is important to bring high-quality standard LED bulbs to market – those that look, feel and perform as well as, or better than the technologies they are replacing.”

Cree says that no commercially available LED A-lamps meet the Energy Star performance criteria for 60W standard replacement lamps “at this level of efficiency and light quality”. A specific requirement is for lumen maintenance to L70 after 25,000 hours – that is, lumen output should be 70 per cent after that time.

Testing, testing

The jury is still out on TrueWhite Light’s lumen maintenance performance. Cree has submitted a TrueWhite Light prototype to a third-party laboratory for testing, and the company is confident it will pass with flying colours.

“This demonstration lamp can meet Energy Star criteria for standard 60W LED replacement bulbs,” says Merritt.

Another area where Cree may be pulling ahead of the pack is in TrueWhite Light’s photometric characteristics.

The prototype’s light engine, optics and patented remote phosphor technology are designed to create a uniform photometric distribution between 0 and 135 degrees – an omni-directional light pattern which is similar to that of an incandescent lamp.

Solid foundations

So TrueWhite Light has solid technical foundations, but what is its business aim? Merritt says: “The purpose of the TrueWhite Light is to demonstrate the kind of A-lamp performance possible using currently available technology. It is a prototype and a technology demonstration.”

However, he adds: “We haven’t made any decisions as to if, how or when to bring this prototype or the underlying technology to market.” The company would not be drawn on whether it would start manufacturing LED retrofit lamps, or license its technology to others.

Cree revealed TrueWhite Light on the 131st anniversary of the date Thomas Edison was granted a US patent for his incandescent lamp, proclaiming: “Today’s LED lighting revolution heralds the demise of Edison’s 1880, horse-and-buggy-era invention.”

We’ll have a clearer idea of what Cree has achieved when the third-party test results are published, but the company remains confident that it has devised the best LED-based replacement for one of the most popular incandescent light sources.

HALF A DOZEN INNOVATIONS

This cutaway shows the guts of the prototype TrueWhite Light that Cree demonstrated last month. The light engine is based on Cree XLamp LEDs, and the appearance of remote phosphor technology is no surprise.

Cree holds more than a dozen remote phosphor patents.

1 Diffuser globe

2 Cree LED light engine

3 Heatsink for passive cooling

4 Remote phosphor globe

5 Dimmable power supply and drive circuit

6 Standard E26 lamp base

Philips wins L Prize for 60W-replacement LED lamp

LEDs Magazine – Philips wins L Prize for 60W-replacement LED lamp.

Philips wins L Prize for 60W-replacement LED lamp

03 Aug 2011

Philips Lighting North America has won the 60W-replacement LED lamp category of the US Department of Energy’s L Prize competition.

Philips LED lamp: on Philips Lighting North America has announced that it has won the US Department of Energy’s 60-watt replacement bulb category of the Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize (L Prize) competition (view press release).Samples of the Philips 10-watt LED lamp were submitted in 2009 and have completed 18 months of field, lab and product testing. Performance requirements included an output in excess of 900 lm, and a useful lifetime of more than 25,000 hours. Philips LED lamp: off Philips says that it will receive $10 million as a cash prize, and will also participate in L Prize partner programs and incentives. Philips also says that the lamp “could arrive in stores as soon as early 2012.” A more in-depth version of this story will be posted on the LEDs Magazine website very shortly.