Application Note: Easy Solution to LED Wall Washing Color Problem

Remember our color temperature drifting in our LED wall washing application note? No? Click here to read all about it Well, as you may recall we had 6 high power LEDs on a linear board to be installed either in a ceiling or in a floor along a wall. The LEDs were fitted with large 3/4-inch diameter can-type prismatic, directional diffusers. The problem was that the LED manufacturer’s binning for accounts buying less than a zillion LEDs leaves something to be desired. Add to that the fact that the contract manufacturer didn’t assemble these first using LEDs from one lot and then progressing to the next but rather a mix and match approach as they went along. We were expecting the LEDs to be warm white but what we got was anything from deep amber to pink with several shades of yellow, orange, and green in between.  There were hundreds of these boards made and even with the solution of pulling the surface mount LEDs off the board and binning them by color on our end, we were faced with the prospect of 30 – 40% board loss. Ouch!

Well, using all of my artistic color theory I learned in college another engineer and I came up with a novel solution that is not only simple enough to be manufactured in-house but dirt cheap as well! I am hugely familiar with optical filter design in addition to light, light properties, and light measurement and knew that the way to cancel out a particular color was to use it’s complementary color in a gel filter (optical filter made of plastic, glass, or even gelatin which is where the name comes from – think Kodak Wratten filters) of some transparency level other then totally opaque. The other engineer assigned to the project came to the same conclusion at the same time separately from me – clever guy!  Now we could have gone out and bought expensive, ready-made optical gels but during the testing stage we would need to go through multiple shades of a particular complementary color to find just the right shade of complementary color to correct an LED. Not to mention that we would need several different complementary gel colors to correct for the various shades of LED colors PLUS the fact that we would probably need several levels of opacity since we had several strengths of each color from the LEDs output (i.e. amber, dark amber, and really dark amber).All this trial and error testing would leave us needing a huge library of color gels which would be a gigantic expense.  We both knew that the best way to do this would be to manufacture the gels in-house. I had done something similiar on a different project where I needed colored lenses to cover LEDs on an in-house manufactured vinyl instrument panel label – I had used ink-jet transparency film to print the LED lenses. BINGO! We could print various shades of the complementary colors we needed at various opacity levels on transparency film in my desktop ink-jet printer! We could print strips of 1 or 2 inch squares with each succesive color a darker or lighter shade of the color we thought was complementary to the LED colro we needed to correct. We could print all of these at whatever opacity we needed. In this way, we could hold the strip over the LED and cycle it through the squares on a strip and see it’s effect on the LED light ouput color in realtime. Testing with a light meter revealed that the gels reduced the light output by well less than 10%, which in this case was not a problem since the LEDs were to be operated at a power rating slightly ABOVE the design spec. The other engineer and I were able to come up with the 6 or so colors we needed and at what opacity levels we would need all for the cost of one box of ink jet transparency film ($15.00) and our time. As it turned out, this was a HUGE time saver as well. Taking the SMT LEDs off to correct the problem the board would require about 1 hour per board plus the time of resoldering a new LED on to a new board (the metal-core board would be destroyed taking the LEDs off). Anyrate, we settled on 5%, 10%, 15%, 20, and 25% opacity so we had 6 colors at 5 opacity levels for a total of 30 different types of gels. Once the testing was done and we had our selections, we set about manufacturing the actual gels to fit the LEDs. Here I took each color/opacity level and printed it out on an entire sheet of ink-jet transparency film (along with some text indicating what color and opacity level it was so we wouldn’t have any binning mistakes later). Once all 30 combinations had been printed in this manner, our production department set about punching out 3/4-inch circles using a hollow punch and a hammer. We got over 150 circles per page. We used plastic cups labeled with the color and opacity level and these were filled as the puncher went along. The entire punching process took about 4 hours – less than the time it would take to yank the LEDs off of 5 boards! Once all the punching and binning was done, then we went about correcting each LED on a board. The 3/4-inch round gels were designed to fit right in to the recess at the top of the LED’s can diffuser/lens. The fit was perfect! We would still need to do a little trial and error testing by occasionally swapping circle gels onto and off of an LED until it was corrected to the best of our ability. Once a gel was found that worked well, it could be glued into place with a few dabs of quick drying optical epoxy on the edges. Once a few had been done, the process got really easy and quick. We did find a few oddball LEDs with weird in-between colors in their output that required either printing and punching a new gel set or in a few cases, stacking gels to achieve the best possible correction level. For example we had an LED with orangish output that when we applied the bluish-purple complementary gel, shifted to a slightly green output which required the application of another gel of purplish-red to correct. There were a few LEDs that had colors that kept shifting around no matter what we did – these were chocked up to loss.

It wasn’t elegant but it was cheap and effective and will ultimately reduce the board loss to the barest minimum -  our test batch sent to the customer had LED with output colors well within their design specs so we are confident the solution will pass muster. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear back.

Technorati Tags: Innovative Lighting Design, Tools of the Trade. Tags: architectural lighting, architectural lighting design, architectural lighting design tools, color filters, colored filters, correcting led binning, correcting led color, designing with light, gelatin filter, gels, home made filters, homemade filters, homemade gels, led architectural lighting, led binning, led color, led color temp, led color temperature, led filters, led gels, led lighting, led wall washer, led wall washing, lighting design, lighting design tools, lighting designers

DIALux now has an official support board

Mr. Willi Bremecker, the Team Leader for Sales at DIAL – makers of DIALux – has informed me that there is now an official DIALux forum on their website! Hooorayy!!!! While I don’t want to chase traffic away from my blog, as a community leader and a believer in community support, I wholeheartedly recommend everyone register on the forum and contribute your knowledge there, as well as here, in an effort to make DIALux as good as it can be or better. Free programs like this need a chain of quality support sites to help the product develop and grow and to assist the community at large with using a program we all know and love. Kudos to DIAL for taking the next step and I hope to see some first class community support at the forum (but don’t stop contributing here either ) LOL

Technorati Tags: architectural design, architectural led lighting, architectural lighting, architectural lighting design, Architectural Lighting Industry, artistic lighting, designing with light, dial, DIALux, free lighting software, free software, led architectural lighting, lighting artist, lighting calculation, lighting design, lighting design software, lighting designers, lighting engineering, lighting software, Office Lighting, office lighting design, Solid-State Architectural Lighting, solid-state lighting design, solid-state office lighting

FREE Commercial Building Lighting Web Tool

The Department of Energy (DOE) has developed an interactive web tool called Commercial Lighting Solutions (CLS) intended to provide “how to” advice about ways to improve interior lighting efficiency and reduce energy consumption for a potential savings of 30% or more in commercial buildings.

The design guidance provided by the web tool will be available free of charge! How cool is that?

The web tool that provides energy savings projections to users based on their choices.

CLS gathers information from users on building type and space description, then allows the user to select their preferred lighting solution, which include performance specifications for lighting equipment and controls, design layouts, and supporting documentation. Also included is detailed technical information aimed at architects and engineers.

CLS will also link users to participating utilities, where applicable, to access rebates and incentives.

A project of the Building Technologies Program at the DOE, the CLS team is currently gathering feedback while the CLS tool is in beta and making changes based on the feedback they are getting from it’s users.

Commercial Lighting Solutions have currently been developed and analyzed for five macro-types of retail stores with more on the way:

• Big box
• Small box
• Grocery
• Specialty market
• Pharmacy

Designed to meet or exceed the savings levels to qualify for Energy Policy Act tax incentives, the solutions are being developed in conjunction with an update to the Advanced Lighting Guidelines.

When it is ready, users of the Commercial Lighting Solutions web site often will have a choice of several design vignettes and lighting control strategies that suit parameters they input for their project.

A solution can be implemented as shown, or it an be used as a starting point for a design that is refined to serve particular corporate branding, architectural or business objectives.

Modeled results for each solution included on the web site must show decreased energy consumption of 30% or greater below a baseline design. Some of the solutions have achieved modeled savings of 50% or more!

Click here to check out the FREE Commercial Lighting Solutions Beta Tool

Originally reported on lighting.com

Technorati Tags: architectural lighting, architectural lighting design, solid-state architectural lighting, led architectural lighting, architectural led lighting, lighting design, solid-state lighting design, lighting designers, lighting artist, artistic lighting, lighting engineering, architectural lighting industry, designing with light, architectural design, office lighting, daylight planning, daylight planner, daylight consultant, daylight consulting, building daylight, natural building light, dialux, lighting software, free software, free lighting software, free lighting design software, lighting plugin, plugins, free web tool, free software, free design software, free, free program, free lighting tools, free lighting utilities, department of energy, doe, doe tools, doe utilities, lighting design software, commercial lighting design, commercial lighting tools, commercial lighting tools, energy utilities, energy savings, energy efficient, energy analysis, energy analysis tools, retial store lighting, retail lighting, retail lighting design, energy policy tax, building technology, building technologies

Another New DIALux Plugin

Hess has introduced a large DIALux plugin with over 2200 luminaires and variations! Kewl They have mimicked their website’s navigation in the plugin’s user interface which should make for easy browsing.

Click here to shoot off to their website to pickup the plugin.

Let me know how it goes!

Technorati Tags: architectural lighting, architectural lighting design, solid-state architectural lighting, led architectural lighting, architectural led lighting, lighting design, solid-state lighting design, lighting designers, lighting artist, artistic lighting, lighting engineering, architectural lighting industry, designing with light, architectural design, office lighting, daylight planning, daylight planner, daylight consultant, daylight consulting, building daylight, natural building light, dialux, lighting software, free software, free lighting software, free lighting design software, lighting plugin, plugins, dialux blog, dialuxblog.com

Some more Sketchup & Kerkythea Images

Here are some examples of the power of Sketchup Pro and Kerkythea. Here I have some harware: screws, nuts, wing bolts, etc… that I modeled completely in Sketchup Pro from scratch. The first image in the group shows them rendered in Sketchup Pro. The remaining images were all rendered in Kerkythea using my own custom-created HDRI images for lighting and some basic textures applied. I think the results are stunning. Let me know what you think.

P.s. I have some 3D models I made for sale on my website (these hardware pieces I’ll be giving away for FREE soon). Click here to check them out.

Technorati Tags:

architectural lighting, architectural lighting design, solid-state architectural lighting, led architectural lighting, architectural led lighting, lighting design, solid-state lighting design, lighting designers, lighting artist, artistic lighting, lighting engineering, architectural lighting industry, designing with light, architectural design, office lighting, solid-state office lighting, office lighting design, sketchup, google sketchup, 3d software, 3d rendering, architectural visualization, visualization software, 3d rendering software, lighting design software, lighting visualization software, kerkythea, kerkythea rendering system, 3d architectural rendering, interior lighting, light modeling, 3d modeling, lighting design tools, architectural lighting design toolsfree software, free 3d software, free lighting design tools, free tools, free 3d tools

ERCO releases new 2008 DIALux plugin

ERCO has released their entire lighting products catalog as a plugin for DIALux available as a download or you may request a DVD. All ULD planning data is included as well as 3D models for the luminaires. If anybody uses their luminaires, let me know what you think.

Click here to get the plugin

Technorati Tags: architectural lighting, architectural lighting design, solid-state architectural lighting, led architectural lighting, architectural led lighting, lighting design, solid-state lighting design, lighting designers, lighting artist, artistic lighting, lighting engineering, architectural lighting industry, designing with light, architectural design, office lighting, daylight planning, daylight planner, daylight consultant, daylight consulting, building daylight, natural building light, dialux, lighting software, free software, free lighting software, free lighting design software, lighting plugin, plugins

STICKY: DIAL is looking for you to make DIALux better

I really do apologize for the delay in posting to this blog, I have been involved in a blitz of graphic work, photoshoots, and catalog design for my company. I’m back now and I have a very interesting development for the DIAlux community. During my hiatus, I received an email from Willi Bremecker who is the Team Leader for Sales at DIAL which is the company that produces DIALux. He is asking me, and therefore you the DIALux community as a whole what type of DIALux tutorials we would want. How cool is that!?! I think that this is a tremendous opportunity for us to contribute to a terrific free program that we all use and love so I am asking you now to think about what it is we want and to thoughtfully comment to this post for discussion which I will forward to Mr. Bremecker, hopefully for implementation. As Mr. Bremecker requests in his email, if there are features or lighting calculations that you feel are missing from the program, please comment on those too. Since the number one complaint about DIALux seems to be the lack of tutorials and/or documentation, now is the time for us to get it together and let them know how we feel and what needs to be done to make this the single best lighting calculations program out there.

I am posting Mr. Bremecker’s email to me:

Hello Craig,
my name is Willi Bremecker, I am the Team Leader Sales at DIAL and until
last year I was responsible for the DIALux development as the Team Leader
Software Development. So I read your article with great interest and I am
happy that you like our work. Also the reactions by your readers is
impressive. Of course I could help you with any help for all your
questions. For example the tutorials. What do you need ? Would you like to
have video tutorials or a document with pictures like “My first Project.
My second Project….”?

When we designed DIALux we tried to keep it as simple as possible. During
more than 10 years of development more and more wishes of users and
demands from the market were implemented. Because of this continuous
growth it is no longer as easy to use as it should. So a few years ago we
designed “The guide”. The Icon Bar on the right hand side of DIALux. You
can select what type of design you are going to make, for example interior
or exterior and than you follow the guide from the top to the bottom. Just
click on those Icons and DIALux enables you to do it. The other thing we
had and still have in mind is to keep the right mouse button the most
important feature of the software. If you want to do something with an
object, make a right click on it. The context menu offers those functions
which are available for that object.

The included manual and online help (F1) is describing all the available
functions but I can imagine it is not enough. So tell me, what type of
tutorials and what topics you want to be explained and I will check what I
can do. The next week there is the light and building fair in Frankfurt,
Germany. We will be present in Hall 3.0 booth A80. So for all the
interested guys, just drop in and check out for the latest version.

By the way. Is there anything you are missing for the american market? Any
diagram or value that has to be calculated? Just tell me about your needs.
We are thinking of going to the Lightfair in New York next year. Maybe we
have to prepare something for it.

Regards,

Willi

Kudos to DIAL for looking to the community for feedback and we hope to get you some real positive, useful information real soon.

STICKY: After the tone DIALux

I’m getting lots of traffic due to my DIALux article and I see a lot of search terms that include “DIALux” in them and there is certainly a lot of clicking on outbound links for DIALux but I haven’t heard back from any readers about what they are doing with DIALux, how it’s going, and what they think about DIALux. I’d really like to know, I’m genuinely interested to get some feedback (as I am sure DIALux would too) from you.

Come’on! Post a comment or send me an email and tell us whaaasssuppp!

Click here for all my DIALux-related articles

Another Sketchup & Kerkythea Image

Here is another example of the power of Google Sketchup Pro 6 and Kerkythea as it pertains to lighting. This is an concept OEM LED Undercabinet lighting fixture that my company, International Light Technologies is manufacturing for a customer (the one depicted in the image is an earlier version concept). When you combine the powerful and fast modeling capabilities of Sketchup with the awesome non-biased rendering power of Kerkthea, you have a rather inexpensive but immensely powerful tool for rapid visualization.

Click on the thumbnail to see the full size image

Technorati Tags:

architectural lighting, architectural lighting design, solid-state architectural lighting, led architectural lighting, architectural led lighting, lighting design, solid-state lighting design, lighting designers, lighting artist, artistic lighting, lighting engineering, architectural lighting industry, designing with light, architectural design, office lighting, solid-state office lighting, office lighting design, sketchup, google sketchup, 3d software, 3d rendering, architectural visualization, visualization software, 3d rendering software, lighting design software, lighting visualization software, kerkythea, kerkythea rendering system, 3d architectural rendering, interior lighting, light modeling, 3d modeling, lighting design tools, architectural lighting design tools

You mean a daylight planner ISN’T a little book I schedule my appointments in?!?!?

Here is a terrific yet brief article about what exactly daylight planning is and what a daylight planner does as it refers to architecture (not how your family spends April vacation . Think of it as a quick primer on the subject. Includes a neat little glossary of commonly encountered terms when dealing with a building’s daylight plan.

Check out the article

Technorati Tags: architectural lighting, architectural lighting design, solid-state architectural lighting, led architectural lighting, architectural led lighting, lighting design, solid-state lighting design, lighting designers, lighting artist, artistic lighting, lighting engineering, architectural lighting industry, designing with light, architectural design, office lighting, daylight planning, daylight planner, daylight consultant, daylight consulting, building daylight, natural building light