Five Light-emitting diode (LED) corporate sponsors have recently teamed with the California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC) at the University of California-Davis to hold an LED design contest.

In the contest, 28 student participants were required to build working prototypes of new products employing LEDs in a quarter-long course.

The corporate sponsors, including Arrow Electronics, Magtech Industries, Optek Technology, Osram Opto Semiconductors and Tyco Electronics – provided the LEDs, power supplies, connectors and other electronics to the students for finishing their prototypes.

The LED makers say they have sponsored the contest because the students represent a generation of future designers of LEDs. "We regularly reach out to the designer community, but here we were specifically reaching out to the next generation of specifiers," says Brian Terao, director of solid state lighting products for Osram. "They don't have an old mindset configured toward traditional lighting systems. They start with a fresh outlook on what LEDs can bring to a design."

The contest also provided valuable experience to young engineers and designers, enabling them to gain experience with the process of LED-based design, said the sponsors.

The contest's winning design was an LED-based wall sconce that projects a house's address forward, as well as backward onto a wall behind it. Other winners included a bedroom side lamp, office wall sconce and an outdoor pathway light fixture.

Sponsors provided a wide variety of LED sub-systems for the students. Osram supplied the LEDs; Magtech gave power supplies and drive electronics; Tyco provided connectors; Optec gave optics and Arrow served as a supplier coordinator.

Sponsors say the design community gains from the innovation of the students. "At the end of the day, you don't just want a light that turns on," Terao says. "You want something that's unique and physically appealing."