Champaign firm has big plans for its microplasma lamps
CHAMPAIGN – Bye-bye, fluorescent lighting. Hello, microplasma.
That's one of the goals of Eden Park Illumination, a locally grown company that hopes to revolutionize the lighting industry with microplasma lamps that are lightweight, energy-efficient and nontoxic.
"It's Eden Park's intent to replace all fluorescent fixtures in the future," said Philip Warner, Eden Park's president and chief executive officer. "We'll take out tubes of light and replace them with panels of light."
The company, founded in 2007, is based on technology developed by J. Gary Eden, a University of Illinois professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Sung-Jin Park, an adjunct associate professor in the same department.
Eden Park established a headquarters last year in Somerset, N.J., and plans to introduce its initial products in about a year.
It expects to showcase microplasma lighting at the LightFair in New York this May and unveil its first
true products at the Light & Building show in Frankfurt, Germany, in April 2010, Warner said.
Illumination office at EnterpriseWorks on the University of Illinois campus in Champaign last week. By Robert K. O'Daniell
Already, the company is on the move in Champaign. Eden Park plans to move its research and development lab in the UI Research Park to a new facility on Country Fair Drive in west Champaign later this month.
Eden Park has leased about 5,000 square feet there and plans to install equipment that will help semiautomate early production, Eden said.
The company currently employs about 10 people – five researchers in Champaign and five people at the Somerset headquarters, Warner said.
Eden Park's flat-panel lighting weighs less than conventional fluorescent fixtures, and doesn't contain mercury as fluorescent lights do, Warner said.
"The application of the flat-panel light source is something the industry has been striving toward for many years," said Warner, a native of England who was hired by Eden Park last April after working in various management positions for Philips Lighting.
At this point, Warner said, Eden Park's first two products are expected to be: – A retrofit product for cylindrical "downlights." Users can simply unscrew the existing light recessed in the ceiling and screw in the flat-panel replacement. – A thin, lightweight, under-cabinet light that can illuminate countertops.
The retrofit product is expected to sell for less than $50, and the under-cabinet light is expected to sell for between $50 and $75 Warner said. The lights are expected to have at least 50,000 hours of life, which Warner said ought to be "enough for anybody."
Later, Eden Park plans to introduce a lightweight, flat-panel light that can replace the fluorescent lighting used in drop ceilings.
That could have huge potential. Warner said the U.S. lighting market is pegged at $15 billion, with the professional indoor lighting market making up $5.6 billion of that. That's the portion of the market Eden Park is focusing on.
The company expects to generate initial revenues this year, with "significant" revenues expected to start coming in next year, Warner said.
IllinoisVentures, the UI entity that provides startup services for promising firms, supplied early capital for Eden Park Illumination.
John Regan, a senior director of IllinoisVentures, said that in addition to investing in Eden Park, IllinoisVentures brought along an angel investor, RPM Ventures of Ann Arbor, Mich., and an individual investor. Altogether, the three invested $1.8 million in the company, he said.
Regan said Eden Park was attractive because "their technology led them to very low-cost and energyefficient lighting in a lightweight and flexible format." He said IllinoisVentures generally looks at a fiveto seven-year time frame in making its investments.
To be successful, Eden Park will need to manufacture its devices at a reasonable cost and continue to improve the energy effnciency of its lighting, Regan said. Currently, the level of efficiency is better than incandescent lighting and gaining on fluorescent lighting, he said.
Warner, who normally visits Champaign "every other week," said the Champaign lab will produce a small number of devices at the outset. Eventually, the company will make a pilot line, then go to contract manufacturing, he said.
Eden said he doesn't know where full-scale manufacturing will take place, but added, "I would love to see it here."
Once Eden Park establishes itself in the broad market, it would like to move into specialty lighting markets, Warner said. Microplasma technology allows for flexible lighting, in terms of shape and different colors of light.
Eden said microplasma's possibilities extend beyond lighting.
"There are so many different possible applications, and we thought quite a while about it before focusing on illumination," he said. "It's also valuable for the purification of water and air and can be used for the sterilization of medical instruments and air in a medical facility."
It can also improve the resolution of plasma displays, he added.
As for Eden Park's immediate future, Warner said the company intends to market its products under its own name.
"It's our intent to grow the Eden Park name," he said. "If your brand is out there, it is much more attractive for an eventual acquisition."
Getting to know Eden Park Illumination
What it is: Company developing microplasma lighting as alternative to fluorescent lighting.
Headquarters: Somerset, N.J.
Local office: To move this month from UI Research Park to new location on Country Fair Drive in
Champaign.
Employees: 10
President/CEO: Philip Warner
Co-founders: Sung-Jin Park and J. Gary Eden, both of the UI Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering.
Founded: Spring 2007
Web site: www.edenpark.com
Contact Information:
The News-Gazette.com:
Don Dodson
