Could a simple change in the shape of LED light bulbs help them make the breakthrough into the mainstream that has so far proved elusive? That is the hope of UK-based clean tech firm Zeta Controls, which is poised to launch a new patented LED light bulb design dubbed the LifeBulb that employs the same shape as conventional incandescent bulbs.
The company, which is taking part in this week's Clean and Cool Mission to San Francisco, has developed an aluminium cage fitted with small light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that are positioned to diffuse light in the same way as a 60W incandescent bulb while using just 9W of energy.
"The aluminium cage structure allows air to flow through the bulb, cooling it without the need for a heat sink," explained Anthony McClellan, commercial director at Zeta Controls. "That means you can create a bulb that is the same shape as standard bulbs. One of the main obstacles to deployment of LED bulbs has been they have tended to be different shapes and tend to diffuse light in a different way - this design gets round that challenge."
The hope is that the design could also overcome the periodic campaigns on both sides of the Atlantic that have challenged legislation to phase out incandescent light bulbs that many people still feel attached to.
One of the other main barriers to adoption of LEDs has been the high up front cost, but McClellan argued that the company's first shipment of bulbs, due next month, will be cheaper than current alternatives and there is the potential to reduce the price further if Zeta proves successful in its search for a manufacturing partner.
"The first bulbs are being made by hand and we will sell them for £19.99, but once we get a licensing deal with a manufacturer we reckon the price will fall to $15 and then at scale you could get the price below $10 a bulb," he said, adding that the heat dissipation of the new design also extends the life of the bulbs allowing the company to offer a 25 year guarantee.
The company has patented a manufacturing process that would allow a firm to stamp out the aluminium cages that are central to the design and is looking to meet with large lighting firms to discuss potential licensing deals.
"We're looking to get a licensing deal where a manufacturing partner pays an initial fee and then pays us 50p per bulb as a royalty," McClellan explained. "The only way to get the market to scale quickly is by working with the firms that already have the manufacturing and distribution processes in place."
The US is also the obvious market for any licensing deal, boasting 112 million homes with an average of six lamps in each.
Zeta hopes that if it can secure a licensing agreement it will provide it with the investment required to expand its other two product lines: LED lighting for commercial and retail properties and street level solar installations for powering advertising billboards and bus stops.
However, should the company's new patented design prove successful it could become more famous as the firm that finally managed to bridge the gap between Thomas Edison's popular incandescent bulbs and the next generation of super-efficient LEDs.
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