Lead Performer: Eaton Corporation – Southfield, MI
May 31, 2022
minute read time
Lead Performer: Eaton Corporation – Southfield, MI
Partners: Eaton Cooper Lighting Innovation Center, Synopsys, Eaton Crouse Hinds, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
DOE Total Funding: $2,538,409
Project Term: October 1, 2021 – September 30, 2024
Funding Type: Buildings Energy Efficiency Frontiers & Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT)
PROJECT OBJECTIVE
Eaton Corporation will validate a new design methodology that applies automated luminaire design and additive manufacturing (AM) to optimize LED lighting for the built environment. The new method will save energy and reduce costs by optimizing luminaire beam distribution for high application efficiency and using additive manufacturing to create an automated process to mass-produce customized luminaires. Luminaire fixtures will include AM mechanical housings with thermal management features, customized AM optics, and AM electronics for the LED engine. Luminaire performance will be tested and validated in an application space to verify achievement of the technical targets and to validate cost and manufacturing models.
PROJECT IMPACT
Additive manufacturing makes possible the fabrication of custom optics for LED luminaires without the expense and long lead times of traditional manufacturing technologies. Deploying this customized lighting approach means that optimum solutions can be achieved, with higher energy efficiency, better lighting quality, and higher end-user satisfaction. This new manufacturing model has the potential to transform the lighting industry through the use of customized designs to replace infinite numbers of catalog SKUs, and to increase the feasibility of replacing traditional offshore manufacturing with local U.S. manufacturing.
CONTACTS
DOE Technology Manager: Wyatt Merrill, [email protected]
Lead Performer: Sam Mills, Eaton Corporation