LEDs Magazine Sapphire Awards reflect smarter SSL trends (MAGAZINE)
MAURY WRIGHT and CARRIE MEADOWS report on the 47 solid-state lighting and enabling technology finalists that are under consideration for Sapphire Awards honors in March, in addition to the honor of 'llumineer of the Year' for a recent brilliant innovation.
The second annual LEDs Magazine Sapphire Awards program opened for submissions last August and the industry proved worthy of the challenge, displaying its great skill at pushing past boundaries in solid-state lighting (SSL) technology. In fact, the 2016 categories reflect the past year’s more prominent adoption of intelligent and networked lighting due to advances in controls technology, as well as the remarkable developments in tunable lighting, and expanded capabilities and integrated design attributes of lamps and luminaires represented here. With more than 100 submissions across 15 categories that include SSL enabling technologies and lighting end products, this year’s hopefuls made the judges really work to determine the leaders of the pack.
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Indeed, the Sapphire program is the only industry awards program that recognizes innovation in enabling technologies ranging from LED and OLED sources to thermal, optics, and driver disciplines. Moreover, the end-product categories span the commercial and residential application areas, including outdoor and indoor categories.
As you peruse the list, you may notice some concurrent themes in the recognized products. First, the quality of light in LED and SSL products has reached a level on par with and even beyond legacy lighting. In fact, SSL products can often mimic legacy products. Our Sapphire program certainly recognizes quality of light, but quality of light has almost become a given.
The innovation in the latest SSL products comes from the system-level approach to a lighting product that is a requirement in working with LED sources. Still, the SSL systems are increasingly complex and the architectures being deployed today are the avenue through which the aforementioned network and tunable features are realized. Our selected finalists present among the best examples of such design and implementation in the lighting industry, which are further exemplified by the ‘Illumineer of the Year’ finalists - an individual or team of innovators responsible for developing an especially noteworthy product or technology.
For participation in the program, vendors submitted product spec sheets and images, written descriptions, and other supporting information to explain what makes their products and technologies worthy of an award that recognizes innovation, ease of use, efficiency, reliability, and contribution to profitability. The judges - all experts in LED technology, markets, lighting design, and specification - ranked submissions according to those criteria in a closed process in order to maintain the independent integrity of the reviews.
Product entries were judged on a scale from 1-5 Sapphires. All entrants will receive their scores along with judges’ comments after the winners are honored at the Sapphire Awards Gala dinner on March 2, 2016 in Santa Clara, CA, during the co-located Strategies in Light and The LED Show conferences. Moreover, LEDs Magazine will publish scores for those products receiving 3.5 Sapphires or higher in a feature article after the Gala. The ‘Illumineer of the Year’ will also be announced at the Gala. Revisit the 2015 finalists and find out who took home the inaugural Sapphire Awards at last year’s event.
Sapphire Awards Gala brings together accolades and entertainment
We know everyone is alight with anticipation as to who will be announced as the winners at the Sapphire Awards Gala, but the evening doesn’t stop there. Entertainment will feature comic illusionist “PiP.” Enjoy sparkling conversation with industry peers, judges, and the LEDs and Lighting Group team including Strategies Unlimited, LEDs Magazine, and our excellent event staff! Photos will be taken on our Sapphire carpet. Make your network “blue” with envy and spread the word on social media. #SapphireAwards
Sapphire Awards Program
Indoor Ambient, Track, and Accent SSL Luminaire Design
EcoSense / TROV LED Platform
Selux Corporation / Kju Square
Acuity Brands Lighting / Gotham Incito 2” Family
Feit Electric / HomeBrite Smart LED Bulbs
Sengled / Pulse Flex Model
Ilumi / ilumi A19 LED Smartbulb
LED Drivers
Daintree Networks, Inc. / Daintree/LG Innotek Wireless Driver
Philips Lighting / Philips Advance Xitanium SR Drivers
Fulham Company, Inc. / All-in-One LED/Emergency Driver
Khatod Optoelectronic / GAIA Optical System for Multi-chip LEDs
Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. / LED heat sink HYC Series
Fraen Corporation / Fraen Nested Lens
ICs and Electronic Components for SSL
Littelfuse, Inc. / LSP05/LSP10 Series Surge Protection Device
Texas Instruments / TPS92661-Q1 LED Matrix Manager
Infineon Technologies / ICL8105 and ILD2111 Digital Power 2.0 Driver ICs
Industrial SSL Luminaire Design
Dual-Lite / NEMA 4X Dynamo Emergency Light
Eaton’s Crouse-Hinds Division / Champ Linear LED Luminaires
Digital Lumens / DLE Intelligent High Bay Fixtures
Modular LED Light Engines
Xicato / Xicato XIM
Soraa / Optical Light Engine
Bridgelux, Inc. / OLM TM Series of Outdoor Modules
Architectural Area Lighting / KicK
Kim Lighting / ArcheType X Wall
Spaulding Lighting / Cimarron iTSP
Cree / IG Series LED Parking Garage Luminaire
Packaged LEDs and OLED Panels
Crystal IS / Optan UVC LEDs
Lumileds / Luxeon C Color Line
LG Display / Flexible OLED Light Panel (406 mm x 50 mm)
GemLight Technologies, LLC / SID Light
Kenall Manufacturing / Indigo-Clean Continuous Disinfection
Unilux Inc / LED Stroboscopic Inspection Lights
Green Creative / PAR REFINE Series PAR30 LED Lamp
Soraa / VIVID PAR20 10D LED Lamp
Soraa / VIVID BR30 LED Lamp
SSL Network and Control Technologies
Kenall Manufacturing / TekLink Parking Controls
Silver Spring Networks / Silver Spring Smart Street Light Solution
Digital Lumens / LightRules Power
Instrument Systems GmbH / Burning Position Correction for Gonio
Osram Opto Semiconductors / PASS - Premium Application Support Services
Vektrex Electronic Systems, Inc. / LM-80 Electronics Tester
Metalumen Manufacturing, Inc. / Arches A4 Series
Selux Corp / M36 My White
Dual-Lite / EV4R
Cree / LN4 Suspended Ambient LED Luminaire
Finelite, Inc / FineTune White Color Tuning System
Kenall Manufacturing / MedMaster Balance Tunable LED Luminaire
DURABLE Hunke & Jochheim GmbH & Co. KG / LUCTRA Luminaire Series
‘Illumineer of the Year’
Lumileds / Rao Peddada, Sridevi Vakkalanka, Rajat Sharma, Ken Davis, and Richard Gao: Lumileds CSP LED development team
Digital Lumens / Brian Chemel: Digital Lumens LightRules and intelligent lighting portfolio
Kenall Manufacturing / Bill Blackley, Kevin Dahlen, and Joe Welch: Kenall TekLink controls platform
Maury Wright | Editor in Chief
Maury Wright is an electronics engineer turned technology journalist, who has focused specifically on the LED & Lighting industry for the past decade. Wright first wrote for LEDs Magazine as a contractor in 2010, and took over as Editor-in-Chief in 2012. He has broad experience in technology areas ranging from microprocessors to digital media to wireless networks that he gained over 30 years in the trade press. Wright has experience running global editorial operations, such as during his tenure as worldwide editorial director of EDN Magazine, and has been instrumental in launching publication websites going back to the earliest days of the Internet. Wright has won numerous industry awards, including multiple ASBPE national awards for B2B journalism excellence, and has received finalist recognition for LEDs Magazine in the FOLIO Eddie Awards. He received a BS in electrical engineering from Auburn University.
