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Grote debuts thin, flexible sheet of LED lights

May 1, 2009
Grote Industries unveiled its breakthrough LightForm technology during a press conference at the Mid-America Trucking Show, which was held March 19-21
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Grote Industries unveiled its breakthrough LightForm technology during a press conference at the Mid-America Trucking Show, which was held March 19-21 in Louisville, Kentucky. The announcement came on 20th anniversary of Grote Industries' introduction of the first commercially viable LED marker lamp.

The initial lightForm products will be for marker light applications and on the market before the end of 2009. Cost will be comparable with current LED marker light products.

“LightForm is a game changer that will dramatically alter the way the industry uses lighting, while challenging all of our imaginations in the process,” said Dominic Grote, vice-president of sales and marketing.

The audience got its first glimpse of LightForm as Grote walked around the room, holding an illuminated sheet of paper-thin material, which he flexed, bent, twisted, and rolled. The LED strip was powered by a small handheld battery pack.

At less than one millimeter thick, LightForm is a highly-advanced, thin-film, solid-state lighting device. It is also an environmentally-friendly lighting technology. Mounting a LightForm lamp can be quickly accomplished via a peel-and-stick method, using the familiar adhesive now found on conspicuity tape and other similar products.“We can achieve the same FMVSS 108 photometric requirements for a P2-rated marker lamp, with just 2% of the material used in a traditional LED lamp, all while eliminating the installation cost and time associated with drilling holes, affixing mounting brackets, and utilizing traditional fasteners,” Grote said. “Tomorrow's truck interiors, as well as a variety of other vehicle interiors including aircraft and watercraft, will be much more interesting, attractive and functional because of LightForm.”