A look at award-winning products in the lighting arena
The 17th Annual LightFair International (LFI) — the world's largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference — was held in the Las Vegas Convention Center May 30 to June 1. The trade show featured more than 550 manufacturers, showcasing products in more than 1,500 booths for approximately 15,000 attendees. A feature component of LFI is the New Product Showcase (NPS), an annual awards presentation celebrating the industry's newest product introductions and emerging technologies. The 281 products submitted for the 2006 program — the most submissions ever — were judged by an independent panel of industry experts with decades of expertise.
NPS “Best of Category” awards were bestowed on 15 different products, with three of these category winners singled out for special awards, including the Technical Innovation Award, the Design Excellence Award, and the Best New Product of the Year award — the event's highest honor. The following pages offer a glimpse of this year's winners and what makes them so unique.
Indirect Lighting
Parallels is a minimalist pendant — free of cables, cord, and metal housing — ideal for indirectly lighting open offices, private offices, and conference rooms. The fixture features the company's GrateOptic technology, which casts a light-and-dark linear pattern down the length of the diffuser surface while softening the light source. Its HOT5+ technology is designed to take advantage of T5HO lamping, and a remote-mounted ballast design is intended to improve energy efficiency and allow simple high-low step switching at the wall switch.
Peerless Lighting
(Also winner of the Fluorescent Troffers, Suspended, and Surface Luminaires category)
Wirelessly Controlled Lighting
Equos is a wireless lighting communication and control infrastructure for offices, marketed as the first dimmable ballast with wireless control. ZigBee-compatible, the ballast communicates with up to 65,000 nodes in a mesh configuration, enabling its wireless interoperability with a broad range of devices. It can also be set to automatically elevate the lighting levels along exit paths during an emergency exit.
Philips Lighting Electronics
(Also winner of the Ballasts and Transformers category)
Accent Illuminator
Nalu is a sculptural formed illuminator that uses either halogen or an LED light source to provide general accent illumination on architectural hardscape or landscape vegetation. The 12V fixture features a powder-coated steel or solid brass construction with the standard black iron or sunset bronze finishes or the optional custom powder coat, satin nickel, or custom brass finishes. Its base is supplied with 2 ⅜-in. holes for bolting down to a below-grade mounting platform.
Dreamscape Lighting
(Also winner of the Landscape, Pool, and Fountain category)
Metal-Halide Lamp
The ConstantColor CMH Precise MR16 is a 20W ceramic metal-halide MR16 lamp. The lamp provides 12° spot and 25° flood beam control with 960 lumens, 3,000°K color temperature, and 8,000 to 12,000 hr life. With a color rendering index (CRI) of more than 80, it features a GX10 twist and lock base for secure alignment and easy installation.
GE Consumer and Industrial
White Light Led Luminaire
The LumeLEX luminaire is the first fixture to feature Lexel LED technology for high-quality variable white light. The luminaire features built-in control switches, which allow users to adjust the light intensity from 10% up to 100%. It is rated for a 50,000-hr life and comes equipped with six preset color temperature options: 2700°K, 3000°K, 3,500°K, 4,000°K, 5,000°K, and 6,500°K.
Lighting Services
Fixture Analyzer Kit
This fixture analyzer kit is designed to quickly and easily identify aged HID light fixtures that are operating lamps outside of their design tolerance resulting in short life lamps and high maintenance costs. Testing with this kit takes less than 1 minute. It features a test socket adapter (with safety lead connectors) that screws into the fixture socket, allowing users to perform the test without reaching into the wiring box with test probes while the fixture is energized.
EYE Lighting International
Lit Floor Tiles
The Ultimate architectural floor tile offer color-changing LEDs for use in floors, pathways, dance areas, and patios. The tiles are diffused with frosted or marble tempered glass, are weatherproof for indoor or outdoor use, and controllable with DMX or this company's software. They are available in sizes from 4 sq in. to 30 sq in. and feature a range of 16.7 million RGB colors.
LightWild
Emergency Remote Light Fixture
SAF-T-RAY SAF Series — an emergency wall-mount remote-light fixture — offers precise beam control using two adjustable MR16 halogen lamps. The fixture is protected by a gasketed diffuser suitable for outdoor use. The two-lamp unit conforms to the new Life Safety Code, requiring that the location of the path of egress inside a building be indicated on the exterior of the building.
Lightalarms
Daylight Harvesting Control System
ECS daylight harvesting control system controls every light fixture for switching and dimming in response to multiple photo sensors via the computer. The control system independently addresses each fluorescent, incandescent, HID, or other fixture type to provide energy savings while improving light quality. Through advanced algorithms, it purportedly saves 50% to 70% of lighting energy cost.
Encelium Technologies
White Light Led
Lexel is the first fully integrated LED-based light source offering 1,000 dimmable lumen color temperature control from 2,700°K to 6,500°K. The light source also features 100% lumen maintenance in a clean 17° beam angle. Its heat extraction thermal management provides 95% drive efficiency and approximately 50,000 hrs of life.
TIR Systems
Indirect Luminaire
Arca Twin is a versatile indirect luminaire with translucent or iridescent pod-like heads, designed to softly diffuse light. The luminaire's pivoting steel attachment allows for individual positioning and both symmetric and asymmetric lighting. Arranged for continuous mounting, it comes complete with a mounting set and feeding set.
Luxo
Decorative Pendant
Mira is a decorative pendant that uses color-changing LEDs and mirrored acrylic to create a unique lighting effect. The pendant's inner diffuser subtly glows through the mirror while creating countless reflections in the mirrored box. It features a mirrored acrylic outer diffuser and a frosted acrylic inner diffuser.
3G Lighting
Lighting History Book
A History of Light and Lighting — In Celebration of the Centenary of the IESNA, by David L. DiLaura, traces the developments and influence of lighting. This 416-page book is a historical look at the technical art of lighting with more than 250 historic pictures and illustrations. It covers the why and how of lighting developments — along with the people, ideas, discoveries, successes, and reversals of lighting history.
IESNA
Modular Lighting System
The Night Module is a multi-function, modular system for area, pathway, or accent lighting applications. Fixture combinations range from simple ground beacons to 18-ft multi-purpose columns to satisfy a variety of lighting objectives.
HessAmerica
LED
The Luxeon K2 LED has an operating junction temperature of 185°C — the highest currently available, according to the company. The LED also features a drive current of 1,500mA, thermal resistance of 9°C/W, and a high moisture sensitivity level. It is rated at a 50,000-hr life at 1,000mA with 70% lumen maintenance.
Lumileds Lighting