Suppliers, Students Push LED Design Envelope

New designs add a dash of innovation to LED-based products

Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor -- Design News, May 26, 2009

Makers of light-emitting diode (LED) technology reached out to college students recently, as five corporate sponsors teamed with the California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC) at the University of California-Davis to hold an LED design contest.

The contest, which involved 28 design and engineering students in a quarter-long course, called on students to build working prototypes of new products employing LEDs. Corporate sponsors – including Arrow Electronics, Magtech Industries, Optek Technology, Osram Opto Semiconductors and Tyco Electronics – donated LEDs, power supplies, connectors and other electronics to enable the students to build their prototypes.

Sponsors say they got involved because the students represent a generation of future designers who might one day be more inclined to select LEDs over incandescent and fluorescent products. "We regularly reach out to the designer community, but here we were specifically reaching out to the next generation of specifiers," says Brian Terao, director of solid state lighting products for Osram. "They don't have an old mindset configured toward traditional lighting systems. They start with a fresh outlook on what LEDs can bring to a design."

The contest's winning design was an LED-based wall sconce that projects a house's address forward, as well as backward onto a wall behind it. Other winners included a bedroom side lamp, office wall sconce and an outdoor pathway light fixture.

Sponsors say the contest provided valuable experience to young engineers and designers, enabling them to gain experience with the process of LED-based design. "In order for LEDs to work correctly, you need to understand how to integrate them into a system," Terao says. "You have to have the right controllers. You need to manage heat properly. And because it's more complicated than screwing in a light bulb, connectors come into play, too."

Sponsors provided a wide variety of LED sub-systems for the students. Osram supplied the LEDs; Magtech gave power supplies and drive electronics; Tyco provided connectors; Optec gave optics and Arrow served as a supplier coordinator.

Sponsors say the design community gains from the innovation of the students. "At the end of the day, you don't just want a light that turns on," Terao says. "You want something that's unique and physically appealing."