Plessey announces that its multi-award winning Orion beam forming module has been crowned a winner in the Components and Light Sources category of the 2017 Architectural SSL Product Innovation Awards (PIAs).

Organised by Architectural SSL, one of North America’s flagship trade magazines for architects, lighting designers and specifiers, the PIAs are designed to recognize the most outstanding innovations in solid-state lighting fixtures and components embracing design, manufacturing and installation. All PIA winners are feted in a special August issue of Architectural SSL magazine and trophies are presented later this year.

Launched in September 2016 and targeted at directional lighting applications such as retail, track and architectural lighting, Plessey’s Orion LED modules deliver a more powerful, compact, precise and affordable replacement for chip-on-board LEDs for designers of directional luminaires. Orion can reduce the cost of a typical downlight by more than half. The small footprint and directional light emission of GaN-on-Si LEDs employed in Orion enables Plessey to create its revolutionary Stellar™ miniature optics, which feature beam-forming technology.

(Image: Plessey)

By integrating Plessey’s unique GaN-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) LEDs and optics into a tiny module, Orion delivers over 3,000 lumens from a unit just 5.6mm thick – with no secondary optics needed. The compact form factor gives much greater creative scope to designers of architectural and industrial lighting installations.

The PIA judging panel consists of professionals working in lighting design and manufacturing along with industry analysts. The judges were very impressed with Orion’s compact form and excellent thermal performance which means heatsinks can be slimmer.

Jim Crockett, editorial director of Architectural SSL and chair of the PIA judging panel, explained:

“Now seven years into conducting the PIA program, a definitive trend jumps out: We’ve noticed a definitive maturation—even specialization—of the products being submitted. This is very encouraging and is reflected by the quality of products we reviewed.”

Giuliano Cassataro, LEDs Sales Director, commented:

“It is a great honour to have been awarded Best New Component in the PIAs. By incorporating Orion, a 200mm-deep industrial luminaire can be replaced by one just 36 mm deep. Designers can do away with the bulky secondary optics and heatsinks that have long characterised LED spotlights, downlights and high bays.”

Orion delivers an exceptionally high intensity of 7,200 candelas at the centre of the beam, which is over 20% higher than the market’s highest performing chip-on-board (COB) LED module. Thanks to precise optical control, Orion also produces beautifully even beams ranging from 15° to 60°, with no multiple shadows (on objects more than a metre away) or colour inconsistency.