Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions of Burlington, Massachusetts USA, announced that its chief scientist, and Color Kinetics co-founder, Dr. Ihor Lys has been named 2008 National Inventor of the Year. The Intellectual Property Owners (IPO) Education Foundation selected Dr. Lys for the award for his invention of Powercore technology that integrates power management and data management within a fixture. The company says that the patented Powercore technology increases electrical efficiency and lowers production costs.
The company points out that Powercore eliminates the need for external low-voltage power supplies and special cabling that were historically required to operate solid-state lighting systems. For this reason, the company contends that Powercore reduces installation cost and complexity while making these fixtures far easier to use in existing lighting environments. According to the company, the realm of solid state lighting requires that LEDs must be integrated into precisely integrated systems that can be adapted to existing infrastructure. Power management is a critical component of a well designed LED-based lighting system, the company indicated.
Dr. Lys co-founded Color Kinetics in 1997, which was later acquired by Philips. During his ten-years with Color Kinetics, prior to its acquisition, Dr. Lys led the development of the company's breakthrough Chromacore and Chromasic technologies. Chromacore and Chromasic technologies control color mixing with LED light systems to produce any color of light and color temperature of light. Philips Solid State Lighting Solutions says these technologies continue to support and differentiate Philips' solid-state lighting systems today. The company notes that Dr. Lys has been a prolific inventor, having contributed to more than 50 issued patents and numerous patent filings.
The National Inventor of the Year Award, one of the top honors bestowed to U.S. inventors, will be presented in a ceremony on June 10, 2008 in Washington , D.C.
