Gentex Corporation Announces Smart Lighting Technology for Medical Applications
January 07, 2020 at 11:00 am EST
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Gentex Corporation unveiled an innovative lighting technology for medical applications that was co-developed with Mayo Clinic. This new lighting concept represents the collaboration of a global, high-technology electronics company with a world leader in healthcare. Gentex’s new smart lighting system combines ambient room lighting with camera-controlled, adaptive task lighting to optimize illumination for surgical and patient-care environments. The system emerged during the last 18 months of collaboration between Gentex engineers and Mayo Clinic surgeons, scientists, and operating room staff. The teams researched, designed, and rapidly iterated multiple prototypes in order to develop unique features that address major gaps in current surgical lighting solutions. The result of this collaboration is a series of flush, ceiling-mounted lighting units containing banks of dynamically adjustable LED arrays that work in concert to place focused illumination when and where it’s needed. The system uses voice commands, hand gestures or a hand-held tracking device to establish a target lighting zone. An integrated machine-vision camera then orchestrates light-array activation, intensity, and direction to mitigate shadows and create optimal lighting conditions within the defined surgical field. The project allowed Gentex, best known for supplying advanced electro-optical products to the automotive, aerospace and fire protection industries, a chance to apply its expertise and platform technologies to the medical industry.
Gentex Corporation is a designer, developer, manufacturer, marketer, and supplier of digital vision, connected car, dimmable glass, and fire protection products. The Company provides automatic-dimming and non-automatic-dimming rearview mirrors and electronics for the automotive industry; dimmable aircraft windows for the aviation industry; and commercial smoke alarms and signaling devices for the fire protection industry. The Company's business segment involves designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing interior and exterior automatic-dimming automotive rearview mirrors that utilize proprietary electrochromic technology to dim in proportion to the amount of headlight glare from trailing vehicle headlamps. Within this business segment, the Company also designs, develops and manufactures various electronics that are value added features to the interior and exterior automotive rearview mirrors as well as electronics for interior visors, and overhead consoles.