The 10 hottest new products at Light + Building 2014

Lux Review reported that its team scoured the halls of Light + Building in Frankfurt last week to find the most exciting new kit on show for 2014. Here’s their top ten.

1.   iGuzzini Trick

iGuzzini Trick

A highly original idea by designer Dean Skira brought to life by iGuzzini’s talented optical engineers. Trick is that rare thing, a completely new LED form factor. When off, it’s an unassuming little circle (or semicircle) sticking out from a surface. Switch it on, and it projects an unbroken 360° band of light around the ceiling, walls and floor. You can even tune it to skip the wall it’s mounted on, and just light the opposite wall, ceiling and floor.

2.      Osram high-efficiency LED tube

Osram high-efficiency LED tube

Sitting quietly at the corner of the Osram stand was this LED tube, which produces 215lm/W (OK, 205lm/W once you take into account driver losses) at 3000K and 90 CRI. That’s pretty impressive. It does this by combining red LED chips with blue ones, phosphor-converted to green. Osram isn’t selling it at the moment – it’s just a prototype – but the company says it could be ready to ship at the end of next year.

3.      CoeLux sky light

CoeLux sky light

Born from 10 years of research by physicists at Italy’s University of Insubria, CoeLux is an artificial skylight, designed to bring the outdoors indoors. It does this by recreating the diffusion of sunlight through the earth’s atmosphere, thanks to optical nanomaterials that produce Rayleigh scattering (which is what makes the sky blue). It’s the first skylight that really recreates a sunny sky.

4.      Philips Indoor Positioning

Philips Indoor Positioning

Remember Harry Potter’s magic map, which shows every person in Hogwarts as a moving dot? Well, Philips’ new indoor positioning technology is a bit like that, only on an iPad. LED luminaires equipped with special drivers transmit a unique identifying code in the form of tiny modulations in the light they emit. It’s invisible to the human eye, but can be picked up by the camera on your smartphone or tablet – just download the app and the device triangulates your position with astonishing accuracy. Some say it’s a solution in search of a problem, but it’s a pretty cool solution nonetheless.

5.      Samsung Smart lamp

Samsung Smart lamp

This was just one of countless ‘smart’ lamps on show at this year’s Light + Building, but it stood out because of the ease with which it can be integrated into Samsung’s Smart Home system, which manages all kinds of devices. You can get your lights to turn on when you come home, flash when your phone rings, or dim when you turn the TV on.

6.      Flos Black Line

Flos Black Line

This latest creation from the legendary Italian luminaire designer is more than just a lookalike of iGuzzini’s Laser Blade. Even in a shallow recess, this strip of mini LED downlights is almost completely glare-free, thanks to silicon cut-off cones with integrated optics. We were very impressed, and we’ve got a feeling top-end retailers will be too.

7.      Xicato XIM intelligent LED module

 

Xicato XIM intelligent LED module

Xicato’s LED modules were already pretty impressive, and now they’ve managed to squeeze even more cleverness into that tiny package. The latest incarnation features dimming control and intelligence, thanks to the potential to include built-in sensors so to respond to temperature and presence. All the XIM module needs is a 48V power supply and you’re away – no need for a driver. It’s just one example of lighting getting smarter.

8.      Samsung Flip Chip

Samsung Flip Chip

The onward march of the mid-power LED continues with Samsung’s new Flip Chip. It’s a tiny chip with an adhered cell film and no plastic mould, allowing it to be made in smaller sizes and driven at higher currents. Making mid-power LEDs with a similar phosphor structure to higher power ones also means better optical control and more precise colour tolerance – all of which helps Samsung to drive down the cost per lumen.

9.      Aurora AOne multi-platform wireless module

Aurora

Instead of getting involved in the great wireless controls land grab, Aurora has simply produced a range of products compatible with various third-party systems, and sat back to let others fight it out. The AOne ballast is quite happy with Zigbee, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi systems. Lux Review tips its hat to Aurora for deftly staking its territory in the wireless game without adding to the already endless list of control systems being launched at L+B. The world doesn't need 101 controls systems: it just needs a handful of good ones.

10.  Osram PrevaLED Flex Linear

Osram’s PrevaLED

Supplied on 28-metre rolls, Osram’s PrevaLED Flex Linear is designed to take the pain out of assembling LED luminaires, so they’re as easy for OEMs to make as fluorescent products. As well as providing unbroken light, it’s also flexible, opening up new design possibilities, some of which were on show at Osram’s stand. And with efficacy of up to 140lm/W it keeps energy consumption low too.

Novel Energy Lighting can supply any of the above products for your project. We can support you with lighting designs and leverage our supply chain to get the best pricing. Many of our existing products are also very popular for projects, such as Osram LED GLS Dimmable Superstar Classic A, the latest range of Philips Master LED lamps, and FYT LED Ceiling Panels and so much more. Visit us today www.novelenergylighting.com.