Product Brief
Network-based LED lighting technology for commercial buildings
Julien Happich of <a href = http://www.electronics-eetimes.com>EE Times Europe</a>3/11/2010 10:51 AM EST
Redwood Systems launched what the company claims to be the first network-based technology for LED lighting and building performance systems. This approach is based on the idea that LED lighting presents a new opportunity to create a unified network-based digital platform for smart buildings, helping building owners and designers reduce energy costs while providing control and automation in commercial lighting never before possible.
Although alternating current (AC) has become the global standard for all lighting and building wiring, Redwood returns to using low voltage DC power for LED lighting to deliver not just lighting, but to create a digital network to manage, sense, and efficiently optimize lighting, heating, venting, air conditioning, plug loads, window shading, and just about everything else that uses power in a building.
Currently, every light socket in most LED lit spaces has to be fitted with an AC-DC converter, which opens a huge opportunity for energy-efficiency improvements. LED lighting would become more affordable with a central AC-DC converter combined with a driver, accelerating customer ROI through energy savings and reduced installation costs.
Jeremy Stieglitz, vice president of marketing for Redwood Systems, said the company has partnered with several LED-lighting fixture manufacturers and will offer centralized drivers capable of communicating with up to 60 DC-driven LEDs. The LEDs would be fitted with temperature and light sensors and the data would be used to carry out profiling and improve lighting homogeneity throughout a building.
Redwood Systems is founded by a team with extensive backgrounds in the design of high-performance networking systems that are deployed in thousands of enterprises worldwide.
Leading the company is Dave Leonard, CEO, who was general manager of Cisco's Ethernet Switching Business Unit and Mark Covaro, CTO and former principal power design engineer for Cisco's widely deployed power-over-Ethernet platform.
Visit Redwood Systems at www.redwoodsystems.com.|
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MLED
3/12/2010 1:58 PM EST
Low voltage DC is just nuts. The currents are TOO HIGH!
How about HIGH FREQUENCY AC!
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green_is_now
3/12/2010 3:14 PM EST
Total stupid inference between LED and networking. no connection at all. More digital revolution BS spoon fed to the masses. 1st major unsolvevable problem is all LEDs will have the sdame DC bus. Any LED can take out all others if it fails in shorted or semishorted mode.
If not on a common bus they all need their own DC2DC or current limit circuit at a minimum. Any central efficiency claims go out the window as you have 2 serie regulators now. no better than AC to DC if done properly. Not to mention infrustructure re-use. So this claim has no merits except possibly in new construction. notice no efficiency numbers are used. If you can't list an efficiency % then probably marketing BS at best.
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metzlerc
3/12/2010 4:13 PM EST
Digital revolution BS sells, so this isn't so bad :-)
I'm sitting here thinking how popular those 12V track lights have become. The smaller size transformers for those have lousy efficiency. A 12 to 20 VDC system would enable very efficient distributed buck regulators at the LED fixtures. I'd choose the ever popular 19.5VDC to drop the current a little and discourage use of halogen lamps on my system.
Add a robust carrier networking scheme to let users play with colors and intensities and there's probably a market for it. Would you believe a USB interface to the system and a little PC application?
Over priced and/or unobtanium decent LED's are the biggest problem I see.
Disclaimer: My employer will have a nice solution for the distributed regulators quite soon LOL
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