LEDvance announces LED lamps with natural light, CEO Lin keynotes

LEDvance has announced the new Sylvania Natural Series of LED replacement lamps that the company says closely mimics the spectral power distribution (SPD) of natural light. The lamp family integrates what LEDvance is calling TruWave Technology. Meanwhile, CEO Lawrence Lin delivered the opening keynote at Strategies in Light on Wednesday morning, Feb. 12, and took that opportunity to discuss some of the details of TruWave.

Without question, the LEDvance announcement is focused on the lighting for health and wellbeing movement or human-centric lighting. The initial Natural Series lamps don’t have a tunable SPD, at least for now, but the SPD is intended to be more pleasing and healthy for people working under or around the lamps.

Lin was questioned at Strategies in Light about the meaning of natural light. Lin and conference attendees seemed to ultimately concur that there is no exact meaning for natural light, but the goal of LEDvance was a more uniform SPD that to a large degree matches the incandescent bulb in the human visual range.

As mentioned above, the new Natural Series includes both clear-globe filament styles and traditional frosted lamps. The range of lamp for factors is extremely broad including A19, B10, B30, Edison ST19, R20/BR40, PAR, globe, tubes and more. In the A19 line that will most commonly be used in homes, LEDvance will offer 40W-, 60W-, 75W-, and 100W-equivalent lamps.

In the simplest case of explaining the SPD benefits, LEDvance said the lamps have less-intense blue energy for reduced eye strain. And the lamps allow people to experience vivid colors by offering high CRI across the board.

“LEDvance stands for advancing light, and today’s announcement is another example of how we are delivering on that promise for our consumer and commercial customers,” Lin. “By delivering Natural Light for Natural Living with our new Sylvania Natural Series with TruWave Technology, we are adding value for our customers who want superior illumination at affordable price points. I am very proud of all of our employees in the US and around the globe who helped make this industry innovation a reality.”

The Strategies in Light keynote, however, gave us the chance to learn more. We specifically asked Lin to explain how the company achieved the SPD of the lamps. That SPD graph has not been distributed broadly at this point. But the SPD curve showed a relatively diminished blue peak, more energy than typical just above the blue peak, and sharp cutoff of energy in the far-red region near the bounds of the human visual range.

Lin explained that the performance relies on novel techniques in both the LED and the phosphor. In the blue region, the LED delivers a broader blue-spectral region. The lamps actually use LEDs with dual blue pumps. We’ve covered that concept before, initially after a Bridgelux demonstration in March 2019. The dual blue emitters allow a smoother SPD as the pumps are driven at relatively lower current.

Lin did not say that LEDvance was using Bridgelux LEDs in the products, although the companies are sister business units of parent MLS. Lin did say that LEDvance was using LEDs in its many products from many vendors including Bridgelux, Nichia, Seoul Semiconductor, and others. Meanwhile, the sharp cutoff of red energy via phosphor technology results in the Natural Series of lamps matching state-of-the-art efficacy levels.

“Natural Living is about enjoying what nature offers, in our homes with friends and families and where we work, throughout our days and our nights. Natural Light for Natural Living brings the positive feelings of happiness, relaxation, warmth, and safety from nature into your home and business for you and your friends, families, and co-workers to enjoy,” said Wolfgang Mailaender, head of marketing for US and Canada at LEDvance. “Our new Natural Series gives the Sylvania product brand a new purpose for better human lighting starting with better wellbeing and leading into full human-centric light as we advance light at LEDvance.”