Labsphere, Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of goniophotometers to its light measurement product line. As part of a cooperative agreement with UL Verification Services Inc. of Northbrook IL, Labsphere will now promote and sell high quality Type C goniophotometers, a product which completes the company’s full range of IES (Illuminating Engineering Society) LM-79 test and measurement solutions.

In conjunction with this agreement, UL now will be promoting and selling Labsphere integrating spheres systems with proprietary Spectraflect® 99% diffuse reflectance coating. The combination of Labsphere’s sphere-based systems and UL’s goniophotometers gives customers worldwide the ability to equip their labs with one-stop shopping for best-in-class products.

“The addition of the UL high-end goniophotometers to our extensive product line allows us to further extend our total solutions mission and better service companies in the rapidly expanding Solid State Lighting markets”, said Greg McKee, Vice President of Engineering at Labsphere. “The lighting industry is undergoing a technology transformation toward LED-based energy efficient lighting products, and once again, Labsphere proves it is a leading provider of world class light measurement systems and standards to help our customers develop their innovative lighting products to meet global lighting test specifications.”

UL Verification Services Inc. acquired Lighting Sciences Inc. (LSI) of Scottsdale, Arizona in March 2011. The UL LSI Moving Mirror Goniophotometer Series 6400T was awarded the Illuminating Engineering Society Progress Report honor for 2010, as a “unique and significant advancement to the art and science of lighting.” (IESNA, 2010) This award-winning test equipment will now form the cornerstone of the complete LM-79 laboratory solution from Labsphere and UL.

“UL is pleased to announce the collaboration with Labsphere,” said Todd Straka, Business Development Director for UL, “We believe we can now provide our lighting manufacturing customers with the highest quality in-house photometric test laboratories available. This relationship couples the speed and accuracy of the UL Lighting Sciences goniophotometers with high-quality Labsphere integrating spheres, spectral management accessories, and highly advanced software for a turn-key photometric testing solution.”

Labsphere, a Halma company, is a world leading designer and manufacturer of precision radiometric and photometric test and measurement products addressing the specific needs of the aerospace, electronic imaging, LED, lighting, medical imaging and optics industries. The company offers a broad line of integrating sphere systems, uniform calibration sources, spectroscopy accessories and diffuse reflectance materials and coatings. www.labsphere.com

UL is a global independent safety science company offering expertise across five key strategic businesses: Product Safety, Environment, Life & Health, University and Verification Services. UL has tested and certified lighting products in the global marketplace for over one hundred years. UL provides testing and certification services to industry standards including UL, ANSI, IEC, NEMA, FCC, and IESNA. Additionally, UL is a leading provider of photometric performance testing and test equipment in support of well-known lighting programs such as ENERGY STAR®, Lighting Facts, and Design Lights Consortium.
www.ul.com/lighting

UL Proactively Developing Light Testing Capabilities to Meet the Ever-Growing Demand for Independent Photometric Testing Services in the Lighting Industry

NORTHBROOK, Ill., Mar. 2, 2011 – UL, a world leader in advancing safety, announced today that it has acquired Lighting Sciences, Inc. (LSI), a leading provider of photometric testing services, test equipment, and advisory services in support of the growing Solid State Lighting (SSL) market. LSI will become part of UL’s Verification Services business, which provides performance testing, inspection and auditing for product manufacturers and retailers worldwide.

“This acquisition allows us to further extend our global safety mission and better serve companies in the rapidly expanding Solid State Lighting markets” said Keith Williams, president and CEO of UL. “The lighting industry is undergoing a technology transformation. Global regulators are placing a much greater focus on the need to develop safe and energy efficient lighting products like LED. Combining the technical expertise and market positions of UL and LSI will allow the lighting industry to come to a single organization for testing and certification of their products to the applicable safety and energy efficiency standards.”

An innovator, UL is proactively developing its capabilities in photometric testing to be prepared for and drive the transformational shift to SSL (LED) technologies. LSI will help bolster UL’s already strong position as the leader in this growing market by increasing UL’s photometric testing capacity.

“This acquisition gives LSI the opportunity to be part of an organization with global reach, technical knowledge and brand reputation,” said Ian Lewin, President of LSI. “UL and LSI have a long-standing relationship providing complementary services to customers. This acquisition strengthens our value proposition to our customer base and allows us to expand offerings on a much broader scale.”

The addition of LSI enables UL to further expand its capacity and capabilities in energy efficiency and ENERGY STAR® testing. Additionally, this acquisition provides UL with new and important ways to serve the global lighting marketplace through test equipment and advisory services.

Financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.

Additional information about UL can be found at UL.com/lighting.

About UL

UL is a premier global safety science company with more than 100 years of history. Employing more than 6,800 professionals in over 96 countries, UL has five distinct business units – Product Safety, Environment, Life & Health, Verification Services and University – to the meet the expanding needs of our clients and to deliver on our public safety mission.

About Lighting Sciences, Inc.

LSI is an innovative technology company offering photometric testing, illumination optics design, research and development, lighting test equipment and lighting test software systems. Sophisticated test equipment enables LSI’s diverse client base to enjoy the fastest and most comprehensive independent testing services available. Whether its clients require equipment to build a lighting laboratory, or accurate independent testing services, LSI has earned a globally-recognized record of “Excellence in Photometrics.”

Date announced: September 7, 2010

Lighting Sciences Inc. is very pleased to announce that its Series 6400T goniophotometer has been recognized by the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) Progress Report Committee as “a unique and significant advancement to the art and science of lighting.”

The IES has informed Lighting Sciences Inc. that the Moving Mirror Goniophotometer Series 6400T has been selected for 2010 as a significant engineering advancement for the lighting industry. This recognition is primarily because the Series 6400T incorporates a triple amplifier system that automatically optimizes amplifier sensitivity for all different intensity ranges during a test.

The multiple amplifier and electronic channels developed for the Series 6400T enable lighting laboratories to run an entire indoor photometric test in three minutes, without manual intervention or concern for the accuracy of low-end intensity measurements. Data collection occurs at a rate of 18,000 readings per second, allowing the mirror to rotate at 4 rotations per minute (RPM) or faster throughout the entire test. 

Improved data analysis software also has been developed for the instrumentation. The new software was written to facilitate the communication of Solid State Lighting (SSL) data. 

The software includes the Energy Star Reporter™, that automatically analyzes spectral and photometric test data and provides a one-page Energy Star® compliance report for any selected fixture style, per EPA/DOE specifications. The Energy Star Reporter Summary can accompany every SSL-related IES file created by the new goniophotometer system, and indicates success with a simple pass/fail displayed for each specified test. The compliance summary enables those with only a little photometric knowledge to understand the test results in seconds.

Developed to provide a stringent 100% Quality Control system for the manufacture of the exterior lighting for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the Lighting Sciences Inc. Series 6400T goniophotometer is now available for commercial lighting photometry.

About Lighting Sciences Inc.: Lighting Sciences Inc. is a lighting test and measurement company offering photometric testing services, test equipment manufacturing, and illumination engineering consulting. Over the last three decades, LSI has published more than 150 technical papers and has received numerous industry honors from organizations such as the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES).
 
Lighting Sciences Inc. is the world’s most scientifically-advanced developer of photometric solutions. Whether its clients require equipment to build a lighting laboratory, or accurate independent testing services, LSI has earned a globally-recognized record of excellence in photometrics.

Contact Lighting Sciences Inc.

The DOE has issued Manufacturer Guidelines for qualifying both interior and exterior lighting products for the coveted Energy Star label. Very significantly, the program focuses on lighting quality as opposed to simple lumen output. Marketable light quality in Energy Star for SSL is now defined by the photometric distribution, color characteristics, and efficacy of the lighting fixture.

The reason for this focus on lighting quality is that a successful application of a lighting product will meet consumer’s expectations not just for lumen output, but for safety and comfort factors as well. For example, outdoor pole-mounted luminaires require certain intensity values (candlepower) in specific angular zones to provide the desired light patterns on the pavement. Similarly, indoor downlights require a certain percentage of lumens to be emitted in a specified angular range, so that the application is both useful and comfortable to the consumer.

Procedurally, the DOE’s 2008 definition of light quality means to lighting product manufacturers that SSL products must be tested in both an Integrating Sphere and on a Moving Mirror Goniophotometer. The requirement that SSL fixtures be tested on a goniophotometer for intensity distribution represents an informed change in the DOE’s view on lighting products, which stems from its CALiPER program results.

An additional shift in test procedures must occur to test SSL products accurately, because the LED in an SSL fixture cannot be conveniently removed for testing it in a bare state. Since testing cannot be based on manufacturer’s ratings of standard test lamps, relative testing procedures are inapplicable for SSL. Please see CEO Ian Lewin Ph.D.’s article in LEDs Magazine, “Absolute Photometry has Relative Benefits for LED and SSL Performance Evaluation” of August 2008, for more information on the subject of absolute photometry for SSL.

At just ten days, LSI’s CALiPER-approved testing laboratories offer one of the fastest turn-around times in the industry. Please contact Vice President Ryder Tunney (rtunney@lightingsciences.com or 480.991.9260, ext. 305) if you have further questions regarding Energy Star for SSL.

“Absolute Photometry has Relative Benefits for LED and SSL Performance Evaluation” LEDs Magazine, July/August 2008

Photometric testing methods are changing in response to the increased adoption of solid-state lighting

The lighting industry is buzzing with excitement: Solid State Lighting (SSL) is being celebrated as the solution to thousands of today’s energy and lighting application challenges. Available lumens per watt (otherwise known as the efficacy) of commercial, white LEDs now far exceeds that of incandescent sources. In the laboratory, LED’s have been developed with efficacies similar to fluorescent and certain High Intensity Discharge (HID) sources.

However, we do not yet know to what extent such devices will become viable in the future as a replacement for existing high efficiency sources; issues such as manufacturability, cost, and temperature stability must be addressed. Until these issues are sufficiently answered within the lighting industry, replacement costs and procedures will remain a reasonable concern to commercial purchasers.

Read the full article from LEDs Magazine, July/August 2008 (registration required):