Lighting Fair 2011 Series (II) – Review of Japanese Manufacturers

According to LEDinside's investigation, Japanese manufacturers are categorized into the following types: lighting manufacturers, LED packaging manufacturers, LED materials manufacturers and new entrants, including major manufacturers such as Panasonic, Toshiba and Hitachi. The main focus of Japanese manufacturers is on the indoor lighting and the commercial lighting areas.

In regard of LED light bulbs, Japan manufacturers begin to stress on beam angle, wit emphasis on total solutions for LED light bulbs. In addition, every manufacturer starts to produce a wide variety of LED tubes, targeting at the commercial lighting market. Several manufacturers even release LED tubes in accordance with JEL801 standard defined by Japan Electric Lamp Manufacturers Association.

Toshiba showcases its E-core series interior lighting products, including LED tubular lights, LED tube lights…etc.. Besides, due to the fact that hot air affects sound transmission, Toshiba develops a new LED light with orchestra shell and exhibit it in this fair, which can reduce heat caused by lighting, therefore, reduce the effect on sound transmission.

Hitachi has put a lot of effort in light distribution, providing various light bulbs with different beam angles for customers to choose. As for the commercial lighting area, Hitachi also provides LED tubular light source and LED planar light source.

Panasonic showcases its EVERLEDS series products, highlighting the quality of light source, finding the most satisfactory lighting design by using the theory based on spatial brightness index "Feu". To avoid overlapping issue, Panasonic chooses 13W LED light as the light source. As for LED light bulbs, it emphasizes on LED beam angle in order to create all-directional lighting. In regard of tubular lights, it applies phosphor powder directly on LED modules instead of adopting SMD LED design as usual, which creates a more stunning light pattern.

To distinguish itself from other LED packaging manufacturers adopting AC LED to their design, Japanese LED packaging manufacturer CITIZEN releases its CITILED LED module, adopting SCD Technique which allows AC power to be directly inputted to LED module, saving customers the trouble of designing power. 

Besides major LED lighting manufacturers, manufacturers in other areas begin to break into LED lighting market - GS Yuasa, known for manufacturing lead-acid batteries, for example, which has released its own LED lighting products.

Furthermore, in response to the major focus of the fair – LED lighting, several LED material manufacturers incorporate LED light sources with their products to originate various innovative applications. For instance, Nitto Optical creates a unique and lovely LED surface light source by projecting LED light source on diffuser plate. Moreover, Pi Photonics releases LED lighting products with high directivity, making a wondrous spectacle of linear lighting possible.