Energy Focus works hard every day to provide premier LED retrofit technologies to the world. To create the most innovative lighting products, we use a variety of resources from grants to suggestions, patents and more.
The Military M1 Intellitube
In 2011, Energy Focus was awarded four successful DARPA projects that resulted in four military tough and energy efficient LED luminaires being installed in the U.S. Navy fleet. Energy Focus recognized the need for a sailor-proof retrofit LED lamp to replace the ubiquitous 2’ T12 fluorescent lamps that were the mainstay light source since the 1960’s.
The M1 Intellitube serviced this need perfectly. Its advanced integrated driver is able to install into any compatible fixture and operate on an existing fluorescent ballast. The upgrade was literally as easy as changing a light bulb. The M1 was one of the first “dual-mode” products as it was also able to run directly from line voltage, in a direct wire installation. In this case, fluorescent ballasts and starters are completely removed and power routed directly to the socket. This type of installation improves performance, reduces the number of failure-components installed, the number of inventory spares necessary to replace them, and removes the deadweight that both represented.
The M1 produces over 120lm/W when the LED field was struggling to make 80lm/W cost-effective. At this level, it cut energy consumption in half and made the return on investment time to less than one year. More importantly, the M1 dramatically reduced necessary maintenance. The high vibration shipboard environment limited the failure of a fluorescent tube down to just to 90 days. The expectation of the M1 was to extend this to three years.
Currently, there are over 500,000 M1’s installed. The M1 has far surpassed this expectation, with less than half of 1% reported returns. This innovative LED tube saves the Navy $19 million dollars in fuel, every year.
Read more: ENERGY FOCUS LED LIGHTING INNOVATIONS
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