Outside of the home, LED lighting for just about every purpose from street and roadway illumination to entertainment and commercial signage is becoming more common. LED integration in these areas has been fairly seamless. Therefore, LEDs usually need to be stunning in appearance to garner any attention.
Stunning and graceful are words that can aptly describe the Aeroblades series of LED luminaires from Cree (Fig. 1). The lighting components pair the company’s advanced BetaLED technology with reliable NanoOptic lighting control to create a luminaire that stretches high above the street at the Light+Building in Frankfurt, Germany.
The Aeroblades’ rather unique modular design supports a state-of-the-art light engine that’s versatile while delivering precision performance for outdoor applications. Developers can fine-tune the luminaires via NanoOptic technology optical control and specify the number of luminaire blades to meet specific illumination needs in smaller increments than either traditional or comparable designs.
A joint venture, Aeroblades are designed and engineered with lighting-design firm Speirs + Major. As a result, they enable an aesthetically pleasing exterior lighting implementation while maintaining optimal thermal management, light control, efficiency, longevity, and payback.
“While everybody else was creating standard shoeboxes and other conventional designs, we were approached with a revolutionary technology that allowed us to throw out all preconceptions of how urban luminaires should appear,” says Keith Bradshaw, director at Speirs + Major.
A unique innovative thermal management system enables a higher lumen output while significantly extending the unit’s lifetime, efficacy, and color consistency. All Aeroblade luminaires offer users the option of 0- to 10-V dimming and are designed to meet a minimum lumen maintenance (L70) of 80,000 hours. They also come with a five-year warranty.
Versatility is a key selling feature for Aeroblade luminaires, which users can custom design to best fit their application. The components are initially available in more than 300 combinations including two-, four-, or six-blade versions, 20 optical distributions, four color temperatures of 3000K, 3500K, 4000K, and 5700K, four drive currents, two pole-mount and wall-mount versions, and a choice of seven DeltaGuard paint finishes. Available now in sample quantities, full availability is set for the third quarter.
Meanwhile, Deco Lighting also has jumped on the LED-based outdoor luminaire bandwagon. Its SIG-3-LED’s modern design fits well with city scenery in streetlight applications (Fig. 2).
Made from high-quality polycarbonate, the SIG-3 is ultraviolet (UV), radiation, static, and high-temperature resistant. Also, its lens does not yellow. Other features include an aspheric optic lens, transverse 360° performance, wide irradiation range with high uniformity, and ease of installation and maintenance.