Fiberstars, Inc., was awarded $2 million for an R&D project to develop a continuous manufacturing process to produce a new class of very large core optical fibers with properties that today are considered mutually exclusive. Its goal is to create superior performance and cost features to enable lighting systems that are five times more energy efficient than conventional lighting at one-fifth the operating cost. The award was made by the Advanced Technology Program of the US Dept. of Commerce National Institute of Standards Technology.
It is expected that the optical fiber technology will dramatically expand the market for fiber-optics in applications such as accent/down lighting, neon sign replacement, and display lighting. By 2010, the technology could boost the US fiber-optics lighting market by more than $1 billion and create more than 3,000 jobs in the United States. The project also could have spin-off benefits in the communications and video fields. ATP support will accelerate the project cycle by three to six years, enabling the United States to maintain a technological lead in plastic fiber manufacturing over foreign competitors.
Further details are available at www.fiberstars.com.
