CIE Components in Electronics
According to a study by the German Energy Agency, the share of LED products in lighting technology is expected to continue growing. The successor to the traditional light bulb is taking over challenging tasks in the automobile industry, in smartphones and in highly complex robots and ensuring optimum efficiency at the same time.
Exhibitors at electronica, from November 11–14, will deal with these and other topics at this year’s fair. Lighting is also a focal point of the electronica automotive conference on November 10, 2014 and of the accompanying forums.
Now that the second phase of EU Regulation 1194/2012 on stricter guidelines for light bulbs and high-voltage and low-voltage halogen lamps went into effect on September 1, 2014, there will also be new regulations on energy-efficient lighting technologies in 2015. These requirements are not just coming from the officials: In the automotive sector in particular, manufacturers are searching for more productive lighting alternatives. That is why modern LED technologies will be one of the most important topics for the more than 2,600 exhibitors at electronica 2014.
Lecture series in the electronica Forum
Lectures about trends in lighting technology will be held with Luger Research as part of the electronica Forum. It all revolves around the International Year of Light. Dr. Joseph Niemela from the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Triest, Italy, will hold a keynote on the topic on November 13. Immediately after the address, there will be a panel discussion with prominent international speakers. Experts will discuss strategies and technologies that can be used to further increase the European lighting industry’s ability to compete next year. The event that follows at 11:45 is about design. Technical directors and engineers will exchange ideas and information about the most important electronics trends in solid-state lighting. An overview of all events and participants is available in the event data base.
Insights from experts at the automotive conference on November 10
Besides the forum and the exhibitors’ stands, experts at the electronica automotive conference will take a special look at this topic: Dr. Wolfgang Huhn from Audi will introduce the topic of lighting with a keynote address. After that (at 12:00), Thomas Fröhlich from Automotive Lighting will make a presentation on the demands being placed on electronics in exterior lighting solutions. Then there will be a presentation by Dr. Wolfgang Pohlmann from HELLA KgaA about innovative lighting for automotive applications and the challenges they present in system engineering and robustness validation. The complete schedule is available here.
Components are even more compact and efficient
While the forum and the conference focus on theory, exhibitors’ presentations are more application oriented. This year, TDK is putting its money on miniature thermistors. They ensure a constant flow of electricity so that the LEDs have a stable supply voltage. Besides thermistors, TDK is also presenting the EPCOS CeraDiode, a very small surge protector for LED systems, at electronica 2014. It is so small that is can be used for applications such as an LED flash in Smartphones.
OSRAM Opto Semiconductors is also presenting several new developments in the Automotive, Consumer, Industry and General Lighting segments. It is focusing on increasingly compact components that are no larger that the light-generating element itself. Another relevant area: Increasing light intensity and luminance more efficiently to improve light output and, in doing so, reduce costs at the same time. The Osram Oslon Black SFH 4715A is an example. Thanks to a 30 percent increase in efficiency, the new chip generation makes infrared illumination at more than 100 meters possible.
