R& D Tax Incentives

[IanF]

Why not try kickstarter here is a link to a 32watt LED lamp that was funded this way.

[Greig Whitton]

I think I have tried all avenues at the DTI to try and acquire a small grant ( < R500,000) to finalised many years of self funded R&D in creating a range of first class LED based lighting products for both mains and solar use.
I have self funded five prototypes and now have a solution that gives me a light that is > 95% efficient irrespective of the power source.
I have spent more than R600,000 of my own money and cannot get a grant to finalise the design for SABS approval as I am a white designer.
How will SA ever get over the past and start moving forward ?
So much for government assistance to entrepreneurs.

Which DTI programs have you tried applying to? The reason why I ask is because very, very few of them have mandatory black ownership requirements.

Are you actually selling your products or are you still in a pre-commercial R&D phase? If the latter, you are barking up the wrong tree with the DTI (since they very rarely fund entrepreneurs without a trading history) and are better off pursuing other sources of funding.

[Justloadit]

So what makes your light different to what is already currently available in the market?
What are the features and benefits?

[Daven]

I am at the last stage of R&D on this range - finalisation of artworks and parts lists in order to go into production.
These lamps have an efficiency of > 95% and, as such, do not need a heat sink. They run almost cold to the touch.
They are all controlled either directly or indirectly via a microcontroller which has been secured to prevent duplication.
All AC lights are dimmable, even the tubes.
Apart from the obvious electronic components, all else is locally manufactured.
I own the injection mold for the downlighter shapes and the extrusion die for the extrusion of the polycarbonate tubes for fluorescent tube replacements.
I have been running these for 24hr/day for over four years without failure or loss of light output.
Hope this answers some questions.

[Justloadit]

I am at the last stage of R&D on this range - finalisation of artworks and parts lists in order to go into production.
These lamps have an efficiency of > 95% and, as such, do not need a heat sink. They run almost cold to the touch.
They are all controlled either directly or indirectly via a microcontroller which has been secured to prevent duplication.
All AC lights are dimmable, even the tubes.
Apart from the obvious electronic components, all else is locally manufactured.
I own the injection mold for the downlighter shapes and the extrusion die for the extrusion of the polycarbonate tubes for fluorescent tube replacements.
I have been running these for 24hr/day for over four years without failure or loss of light output.
Hope this answers some questions.

What does 95% efficiency mean? You can run any LED to the point that no heat is generated, but it also does not illuminate much. Alternatively if you get small LEDs which are low power but still rated at a high Lumens per Watt rating, by assembling them over a larger area, no heatsink is required, and the copper on the PCB laminate will suffice tomaintain the LEDs cool.
How many Lumens per Watt? Currently the highest Lumens is approximately 126 Lumens per Watt. Depending on the supplier, and LED type, the amount of heat generated may be negligible, but then the LED is really a small LED, some where around 300mWatt. It then requires many LEDs to make up a usable light.
There are numerous circuits available to drive LEDs directly or indirectly from mains from reputable manufacturers such as PI, BCD, Linear, Texas to name a few with near unity in the Power Factor measurements.

The secret here is cost to the user. The more smaller LEDs used, the higher the PCB laminate cost due to physical size, and accompanied by assembly cost. In many instances one wants to distribute even light over a larger area, and the placement of many small LEDs is a solution. Currently if you wish to get any decent light out of a small down lighter, you musty be in the order of approximately 600 to 700 Lumens, requires a high amount of LEDs concentrated in the space of the down lighter to get the intensity. The moment you bring all the LEDs into a small area, then the amount of PCB material can not dissipate the heat, and hence the use of aluminium PCB along with aluminium extrusion for heatsink.

What is now being produced by a number of manufacturers, is to change the way a down lighter is designed, and use a plastic disc to project the light indirectly as opposed to using LEDs directly. Using this method, there is a larger circumference area to dissipate the heat generated by the LEDs.

[Daven]

My typical downlighter replacement has a light output of 460 Lumen which equates to just over 100 Lumen/Watt.
Typical imported equivalents have a light output between 200 and 350 lumen.
Price comparison wise, I am in the same price range as the imported lights.
The advantage, however, is if there is a problem with my lights, people have a place to contact to remedy the situation. Not so with imported lights.
From empirical experience the imported lights may last a year, if you are lucky.
Manufacture overseas, we all know where, is fraught with problems. Ask a few manufacturers in the US that have had to recall large numbers of lights due to faulty manufacture, some of which were hazadous.
I have disected a few of these lights and the stresses that the components are subjected to make failure a matter of when and not if.
Underated capacitors are very common.
Non of the imported products are subject to IEC, or in our case, SABS testing, yet I must comply before any serious distributor will even consider distributing my products. Most of the products I have disected would fail miserably.

[Justloadit]

My typical downlighter replacement has a light output of 460 Lumen which equates to just over 100 Lumen/Watt.
Typical imported equivalents have a light output between 200 and 350 lumen.
Price comparison wise, I am in the same price range as the imported lights.
The advantage, however, is if there is a problem with my lights, people have a place to contact to remedy the situation. Not so with imported lights.
From empirical experience the imported lights may last a year, if you are lucky.
Manufacture overseas, we all know where, is fraught with problems. Ask a few manufacturers in the US that have had to recall large numbers of lights due to faulty manufacture, some of which were hazadous.
I have disected a few of these lights and the stresses that the components are subjected to make failure a matter of when and not if.
Underated capacitors are very common.
Non of the imported products are subject to IEC, or in our case, SABS testing, yet I must comply before any serious distributor will even consider distributing my products. Most of the products I have disected would fail miserably.

True with respect to imports.
SABS and SANAS are on a drive to change this, although I have not heard any shipments being stopped.
What pees me off, as you have said, when they buy local manufactured, they ask for all the certification, yet they import with out even asking the question, and purely based on price.
I have heard that a very well known supplier has had approximately a 50% failure rate on their off shore manufactured product.

The failure rates come from trying to save every single cent on cost, to the detriment of the product. In one case the capacitor they should have used was a few US cent more expensive, and they opted for the cheaper one, with a 40% destructive failure rate. The mind boggles at this kind of approach.

[Daven]

So here we all sit, seeing the problem but doing nothing about it.
I am happy to say I have another chance with the DG of the DTI early next month and will let you all know what happens.
Maybe there is a very dim light at the end of this tunnel - hope it is not an imported one that fails before I get there.
Thanks for all the comments guys, will keep you informed.
Regards to all, Dave

[Greig Whitton]

I am happy to say I have another chance with the DG of the DTI early next month and will let you all know what happens.

Are you actually selling your products or are you still in a pre-commercial R&D phase?

How much funding do you need and what, exactly, do you need it for?

Which DTI programs are you planning to apply to and which have you already tried applying to?

Which other sources of funding have you tried?