【聯合報╱By DIANE CARDWELL╱任中原譯】
Ideas in Lighting Are Closer to Market
WOBURN, Massachusetts — Even as American regulations have been phasing out traditional bulbs, incandescent lights continue to outsell other types, by far, at larger retailers.
“We make light sources today that are better than incandescent by any metric at delivering the benefits you’re expecting from lighting,” said Mark Rea of the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. “But it’s different.”
While government officials and manufacturers focus their efforts on improving and marketing LED technology, researchers and entrepreneurs have been pursuing others, convinced that none of the options on the market offer consumers a close enough match to the familiar light quality at a low enough price. Now two startups are poised to begin selling light bulbs that use entirely different technologies than compact fluorescents and LEDs — one borrowed from heavy industry and the other from old-fashioned televisions.
At a small lab here, just outside Boston, work is proceeding on a new bulb to be called Finally. It is the quest of John Goscha, 30, who has already had one successful start-up: IdeaPaint, which allows most surfaces to function as dry-erase boards. About three years ago, eager to do something new he enlisted the help of Victor Roberts, a former General Electric engineer, who joined the venture. On a flight to Hong Kong, the two talked about induction, a technology that has many applications, including electric motors in home appliances and construction cranes, because it is long-lasting. But it had not yet been widely adapted for home use in lighting because it was difficult and expensive to fit the electronics needed for bright, omnidirectional light inside a regular bulb.
With the advent of smaller transistors and other advances, though, the company shrank the apparatus to a 7.6-centimeter antenna wrapped in copper wire.
That creates a magnetic field inside the bulb that prods mercury to produce ultraviolet light, which in turn creates light when it interacts with a special phosphor coating the glass.
The result, to be manufactured in India, has almost all of the approvals it needs in the United States. Mr. Goscha plans to sell the bulb — which has shown enough promise to have attracted about $19 million from investors — for $8, making it competitive with some of the cheapest LEDs on the market.
Then there is the Vu1, which was a bulb that was supposed to come to market more than three years ago but was withdrawn due to production problems. But William B. Smith, the chief executive, said that with new manufacturing operations in China rather than the Czech Republic, the company is ready to begin shipping to stores.
The Vu1, which will be available first for use in recessed fixtures, uses a technology like that of cathode ray tubes in televisions, a “state-of-the-art 1940s technology,” Mr. Smith said, in which electrons hit a cocktail of phosphors on the glass, which then glows.
Researchers, seeing a market that is wide open, are working on even more technologies, including plasma and so-called organic LEDs, which spread light over a flexible surface.
Mr. Smith said: “Twenty years from now, we’ll walk into a room and OLED is going to be covering your entire ceiling and it’s going to dim automatically and it’s going to be able to figure out your mood and it’s great.”
中譯
儘管美國法規正逐步將傳統的白熾燈泡淘汰，在大型零售商場裡，這種老燈泡銷售量仍然遠遠超過其他燈泡。
紐約州特洛伊市壬色列理工學院照明研究中心專家雷亞說：「我們今天所製造的光源，在照明方面無論從任何你所期望的照明優點來看，都比白熾燈好。但這回卻並非如此。」
儘管政府官員及生產廠商致力提升並推廣LED科技，研究人員與企業家卻在追求別種技術，他們深信目前市場上沒有一樣替代品能在價格夠低的條件下，提供與消費者所熟悉的傳統燈泡光感夠接近的照明品質。現在兩家新創公司即將開始銷售一些新型燈泡，採用與省電燈泡及LED截然不同的科技，一種借自重工業子，另一種來自於老式電視機。
緊鄰波士頓的麻州伍伯恩市一處小型實驗室，正在研發稱為「最終點 （Finally）」的新式燈泡。這是30歲的研究人員葛斯加執意開發的產品，而他原本已經開發出一種新創產品：點子塗料，能使大多數表面具備寫字板功能。大約三年前他想要搞出些新名堂，向奇異公司前工程師羅伯茲求助，於是羅伯茲加入這家新創公司。在兩人搭機飛往香港途中，因為飛航時間很長，於是他們談到電磁感應這種從家用電器馬達到營建用起重機都廣泛應用的科技。但這種科技在家用照明方面卻不常用到；因為在一般燈泡內放入光亮且全方向照明所需的電子裝置，不但困難，成本也高。
但隨著體積更小的電晶體問世，加上其他技術進步，該公司現在已將將燈芯縮小到7.6公分，並用銅絲包覆。於是在燈泡內產生一個磁場，藉由刺激水銀發出紫外光，再與塗在燈泡玻璃上的特殊磷光體相互作用，產生光源。
這種成品在美國已經通過必須通過的一切審核，將在印度製造。葛斯加打算以每只8美元的價格出售，能夠與市面上一些最便宜的LED燈競爭，由於前景看好，這種產品大約已經吸引了1900萬美元投資資金。
另外一種是名為「小把戲（Vu1）」的燈泡，原計畫於三年多前上市，但因生產問題而作罷。公司執行長史密斯表示，製造地點已由捷克改為中國大陸，目前正準備開始出貨。
史密斯說，這種燈泡將先用於壁燈，採用與老式電視機相似的陰極射線管，以電子撞擊玻璃表面的混合磷光物發出光亮。這可是「1940 年代的頂級科技」，
研究人員眼見市場十分寬廣，正在研究更多其他科技，包括電漿及所謂的有機LED，能把光線散布在可彎曲的表面上。
史密斯說：「20年後，我們房間整個天花板上將布滿有機LED，明暗度會自動增減，且能隨著你的心情而變化，這實在太棒了。
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