CoreGlo™ panels by Lucent Optics, for general lighting applications, are high-performance LED lighting panels that combine ultra-thin and flexible form factors with more than 100 lm/W luminous efficacy.
With support from DOE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding, Lucent Optics has developed the CoreGlo LED lighting panel. The panel is based on Lucent’s scalable technology platform for making wide-area LED lighting panels with thin and flexible forms, optical waveguides, and LED-illuminated waveguide edges. The platform enables new luminaire design opportunities previously unattainable with conventional form factors, reduces raw materials intake, and lowers manufacturing costs.
The waveguide is essentially a thin sheet of clear plastic used to distribute light from the LEDs over the entire area of the panel. The waveguide carries a very fine surface pattern for progressively extracting that light and emitting a soft, uniform glow from the panel’s surface. For waveguide patterning, Lucent Optics employs a proprietary additive manufacturing process called microprinting. Microprinting converts raw plastic sheets into high-performance surface-emitting optical waveguides in a matter of minutes, without having to process the plastics thermally or chemically.
Lucent Optics began working on flexible waveguide illumination technology over a decade ago, initially focusing on backlit displays and specialty lighting applications. Lucent Optics adapted the technology to general lighting by creating a cost- and material-efficient LED/waveguiding panel, improving the efficiency of light coupling and extraction, and employing a scalable additive manufacturing process for making high-performance optical waveguides from plain plastic sheets.
Lucent Optics commercialized key components of its waveguide technology, including microprinted optical waveguides ranging in sizes from 8"x12" to 24"x24" as well as low-profile LED strip engines compatible with these waveguides. DOE SBIR support enabled Lucent Optics to continue to develop the technology, leading to waveguide offerings in larger sizes and the launch of the first integrated product: the CoreGlo LED lighting panel. Available in several standard configurations and as a fully customizable product, CoreGlo can be configured for one-sided or two-sided emission (e.g., for direct/indirect lighting) and transparent or translucent appearance at wall-plug efficacies of up to 121 lm/W. Available options also include different color temperatures and color rendering, as well as a selection of decorative emission patterns. (August 2021)