Osram, a leader in lighting solutions and services, specializing in innovative design and energy saving technology, has lately presented a luminaire in the form of the Rollercoaster designer luminaire featuring industry-mature, transparent OLEDs for the first time. The 'luminous glass panels' are intended for series-production from 2014 onwards, and OLED will be the first choice in the future for transparent light designs.
 
The luminaire has the appearance of a glass and metal sculpture in switched-off state and is transformed into a luminous element of design when switched on, reminiscent of a roller-coaster with its möbius form. The 30 wide-area light sources within were developed as part of the TOPAS2012 research project supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and each have a luminous surface of 18 x 6.5 centimetres. Efficiency of 20 lm/W with a transmission ('transparency') of 57% was achieved for the first time for transparent OLEDs of this size. "The next step for transparent OLEDs is industrial series production, and we'll be tackling that in 2014," remarked Ulrich Eisele, responsible for the OLED sector at Osram. OLEDs have no visible conducting path and feature secure encapsulation, until now a major deficiency with the transparent light source. New is also the possibility of defining a specific light distribution side with the transparent OLEDs featuring distribution on both sides: in the one direction the light merely has a decorative function as it is weaker, but in the other it can be used functionally, for purposes of illumination. OLEDs in this way unite the photometric benefits of both direct and indirect lighting. Panels and the luminaire itself were developed at the Osram location of Regensburg in Germany.