Bayer MaterialScience Develops Polycarbonate Diffuser Sheets for Modular LED lighting system

Makrolon polycarbonate is ideal for intelligent and innovative solutions, and that includes in lighting technology. This is illustrated by “QuadLED” lighting tiles developed by Aachen-based QuadLED GmbH. Such modular, frameless LED (light emitting diode) tiles can be used to build lighting systems that enable precise monitoring of light color, light quantity and color balance.

“This results in lighting solutions that create a controllable, emotion-inducing environment at the touch of a button, whether through dynamic lighting effects with sharp contrasts or soft light transitions and color gradations up to fine pastel shades,” says Christian Möllering, CEO of QuadLED. A diffuser sheet made from Makrolon® polycarbonate conveys light outwards in the flat tile. It is designed to maximize the light generated by an LED PCB using four-color technology and convert it into diffused, uniform and evenly distributed light.

“Our polycarbonate offers excellent optical properties for this purpose,” explains Dr. Klaus S. Reinartz, Makrolon lighting applications specialist at Bayer MaterialScience. “The diffuser sheets provide a bright light, combined with a highly uniform surface brightness.”

Makrolon is superior to PMMA, for example, in its mechanical and thermal properties such as heat resistance and dimensional stability. It absorbs less water, which is why the diffuser sheets barely deform and glow uniformly throughout their entire service life. For sheet assembly, the polycarbonate’s excellent impact and break resistance pays dividends over glass and PMMA. Enhanced safety also results from the greater flame retardance of polycarbonate as it does not drip when burning.

QuadLED is available in different versions. One version, for example, is used for designing illuminated floors, while another involves four light fields that can be controlled individually or jointly. The tiles can be used either as individual lights or combined into large light fields that can be integrated with a low installation depth into ceilings as well as walls.

QuadLED can be used as a conventional architectural application to provide atmospheric lighting, enabling the atmosphere to be changed to match different locations such as the home, business premises and doctors’ practices. Other applications include trade fair stands, studio and stage lighting, occupational therapy and neurology. Further information on this new lighting system can be found at www.quadled.com.

Customized products and service for the lighting industry
Bayer MaterialScience has devised a comprehensive package of materials, know-how and services for the lighting industry, based on the benefits that polycarbonate offers over other transparent plastics and glass in manufacturing lamps and lights.

“Our range is tailored to the needs of the sector. For example, it includes particularly easy-flowing products for intricate component geometries but also metallizable grades, special polycarbonates that are stable up to 220 °C and highly robust product variations for manufacturing anti-vandal lights,” says Reinartz.

Bayer MaterialScience is also taking up innovative developments for materials and processes both independently and in collaboration with partners. The latest demonstration of this expertise is the new, cost-effective Aura additive infusion process that can be used, for instance, to give outside lights made from Makrolon long-term protection against damage caused by UV light. Collimator lenses, which focus LED light as a single entity without almost any loss, are another key field.

Appropriate injection molding technology has been developed to enable high-precision manufacturing of these lenses using customized grades of Makrolon. The injection molding process has also been honed in such a way that microprisms with extremely fine structures can be manufactured cost-effectively.