Lighting Systems

More Than Just a Light

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So What All Goes Into A Lighting System?

That’s a great question! The answer is… a lot.

When designing your lighting system, there is more than just the actual light source that you need to consider. Everything from overlays and modifiers to electronics circuitry and cables, all play a crucial role in making sure your lighting system helps you meet the goals of your overall project.

Our team supports all aspects of your lighting system design and development, navigating through the thousands of technology providers for each part of the system so you don’t have to.

These are the types of lighting technologies that make up a lighting system:

overlay

Overlays

Overlays provide a clean user interface that protects layers underneath. Overlays are important to any human-machine interface such as touchscreens, keypads, and membrane switch applications. They can allow for tactile feedback or indicator lights, informing the user that something has changed.

Lumitex has worked with many producers of overlays, and understands the difficulties of matching unilluminated surfaces and intensity matching illuminated surfaces.

modifiers

Modifiers

The light immediately available from a light guide or source may require certain modifications to achieve the desired effect. These modifications could include brightness enhancement, color filtering or tuning, or diffusion to create a more even glow.

Lumitex has a toolkit of materials and processes capable of providing the desired cosmetic result for your application.

guides

Guides

Light emits from most sources in a particular output pattern. Light guides function to redirect this light to particular areas of interest.

Unique geometries can cause particular headaches. In addition to our knowledge of many potential technology providers for guides, we also have our own proprietary technology that we can utilize when it makes sense for your application. Find out more about our light guide and fiber optic panel proprietary technologies.

overlay

Sources

Light can be emitted from bulbs, LEDs, laser diodes, or even printed electronics. Each source has its own trade-off in regards to features.
 
Lumitex loves to navigate its customers through the complex decision-making process of selecting a source and will help you design in the right solution.
Electronics Circuitry

Electronics Circuitry

Much like light, electricity needs to be guided and transformed to meet the desired end result. Illumination sources need careful consideration to Voltage, current, power, thermal management, and a host of other parameters.

Lumitex can be your partner in choosing the right approach to solve your technical challenges.

cables

Cables/Connectors

We have the capabilities in-house to produce lighting systems and also do component and final assembly.

We will work with you to develop manufacturing processes.

layers

Functional Layers

Connectivity isn’t just limited to solder and wire. Each component of your design needs to work seamlessly as a system. Vibration, orange peel, thermal dissipation, electromagnetic interference – these are just a few of the issues that can be effectively managed with properly chosen and designed layers.
 
From selecting the right adhesives to masking films to optical grade encapsulant, Lumitex is there to support its customers with a service-minded approach.

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Designing a new lighting system or component starts with the Feasibility stage. A design and engineering team comes up with potential approaches to meet your needs and assesses the pros and cons of each. An experienced team is fast and can provide a predictable cost of development. The feasibility and definition of a new system idea usually takes between 30 and 80 hours, depending on the complexity of design, number of custom components, product safety requirements, and documentation.

Experienced and integrated product Design/Engineering teams in North America have rates from $125 to $400 USD dollars per hour. Our location in the Cleveland area allows us to offer hourly rates near the lower end of this scale. We will start by providing a customized Concept Design budget, based on your project’s specific needs.

For further details, please call and talk to us.

Product Design Stage:

Depending on how complex your new product design is, it will take from 2 to 6 months to complete our first 4 stages of the development process. Your design idea goes from discovery/feasibility to engineering and 3D prototyping & user testing. It is then possible to develop multiple manufacturing solutions to meet your geographical, quality, regulatory and pricing needs.

Our creative team will find a solution that differentiates your product and delivers a desired result or aesthetic, at the target business cost.

Need help to manufacture?

Our manufacturing setup experts (with experience producing lighting systems and components) will help you identify and secure trusted production capabilities onshore and/or offshore as your project objectives require. We can facilitate the process or produce the finished product for you.

Need help with your first pilot product build?

We set this up for you and fine tune product quality during the initial production batch builds and on to continuous production. Whether you want to keep you overhead structure low or develop internal production capability our process ensures we bring value as your trusted production or partner or as your transition specialist to an internal/external production team.

NDA’s ensure confidentiality for both parties during conversations. We provide a mutual NDA where the terms apply to both parties. If your organization has an NDA that requires our signature, we can handle this through email.

Yes, we can help you create what you need for your project. We have deep experience producing components and finished products for customers in Phototherapy, Automotive, Surgical, Medical Device, Aerospace, HMI, and Other Transportation. We also offer in-house production capabilities (feel free to check out our proprietary technologies) and we can outsource production too.

No, all we need is the idea in your head. We offer an add on brainstorming session with our expert engineers who can help bring your project to life. If you have any design ideas, drawings, files, etc., please bring them so our team can get a better idea of what you're looking to create.

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