Optical lens design for adaptation of traditional lights to LED

ABSTRACT

An Italian company operating in the field of renewable energy has developed a system to customize traditional lights adapting them with LED lighting. The company is looking for research institutes that can develop further applications (i.e. optical lens design for LED lighting) under technical cooperation agreement.

FULL DESCRIPTION

The company's activity concerns the customization of traditional lights adapting them with LED lights technology. 

LED lights technology can offer the advantage to have high reduction of energy consuming compared with traditional lights or energy saving lights. Another advantage of the LED technology is its long life. LED bulbs have an outstanding operational life time expectation of up to 50.000 hours. This is around 17 years considering 8 working hour per day before one would have to replace the LED bulb.
LED lights are also eco-friendly because they are free of toxic chemicals. Most conventional fluorescent lighting bulbs contain a multitude of materials like e.g mercury that are dangerous for the environment. LED lights contain no toxic materials and are 100% recyclable. The long operational life time span mentioned above also means that one LED light bulb can save material and production of 25 incandescent light bulbs.
Also, LED lights can switched off and on frequently and without affecting the LED’s lifetime or light emission. In contrast, traditional lighting may take several seconds to reach full brightness, and frequent on/off switching does drastically reduce operational life expectancy.
During the design stage the company considers the wattage and the luminous flux of the original lamps, the type of LED to install can this be chosen.

The aim of the company is to offer specific products for customers' needs; thus, they are seeking collaborations with institutes under technical cooperation agreement. The ideal partner would be able to develop specific applications like for example optical lens for LED lighting. A lens is an optical device which transmits and refracts light, converging or diverging the beam. A simple lens consists of a single optical element. A compound lens is an array of simple lenses (elements) with a common axis; the use of multiple elements allows more optical aberrations for correction than what would be possible with a single element. Lenses are typically made of glass or transparent plastic.
Commercial LEDs are usually provided with an optical lens with beam angle of 120°. This characteristic could be a limit of the LED lighting. Depending on the ambiance to illuminate, a customer could need a spot light or a light with an wider angle. According to the company's policy of customers support in their specific needs, the company is seeking for University and R&D institutions to collaborate with to develop optical lens with different beam angle.

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Partner expertise sought:

- Type of partner sought: Others important aspects to consider are the Colour Temperature (CCT), according to the ambiance where the lamp will be installed, and the Colour Rendering Index (CRI)
One more important aspect to consider is the heat sink, whose design is basic for the life span of the LED. 
- Specific area of activity of the partner: The company is looking for research institutes that can develop further applications and adaptation of traditional lights to LED lights technology (i.e. optical lens for LED lights, OLED applications) under technical cooperation agreement.