economically be made to serve custom lighting opportunities

allows customers to provide CAD files of the designs, which are directly printed in optics using a proprietary form of 3D printing. This removes the need for moulds, intermediate steps, and post-processing. Further, the Printoptical manufacturing process can print one optic or 10,000 – the customer only needs to order what they need. The reduction in the time taken to manufacture the optics, minimizes time-to-market and helps the manufacturer to better cater to customer demands.

Therefore, LUXeXceL’s technology provides the system integrator the flexibility to manufacture the desired volume, preventing wastage of the manufactured product. The system integrator also has the advantage of changing the LED chip manufacturer, depending upon the market trends, as there is no need for stocking optics. In addition, variations of an optic design for an existing fixture can easily, quickly and economically be made to serve custom lighting opportunities.

Further, the smoothness achievable in mould-making through subtractive machining is inherently afflicted by tool marks and abrasions and can never match the perfect smoothness formed by surface tension using the Printoptical process. The lack of flexibility in designing variety of textures and colours is another disadvantage of injection moulding that LUXeXceL has overcome.

“The outstanding benefits Printoptical offers is expected to obliterate the hesitancy LED system manufacturers have been showing in introducing newer products with different optic designs,” noted Krishnan. “Using LUXeXceL’s technology, the customer can manufacture optics like Fresnel lenses as well as free-form lenses, prisms, micro-structures, and optical laminates, and complex designs with complete colour graphics and textured surfaces, bringing LED out of its niche bracket for wider applications.”