Show of hands, how many have heard of Oree? The company's product is attractive but it's not winning many hearts and minds. Why is that?
No, it's not a typo for "Cree." Oree is an Israeli company (the name means "my light" in Hebrew) founded in 2006 to make planar LED lighting. The company has taken in at least $22 million from investors. Two years ago Oree hired a senior Philips executive to be CEO, and another followed to head up sales and marketing.
Oree LightCell Plus, left, and Ivory White, right (source: Oree Advanced Illuminations ltd.)
Oree has been called an "innovator" and a "pioneer." Their light engine, called the LightCell Plus, is almost thin enough to be used in place of OLEDs, but it costs far less (according to this review) and has greater illuminance and higher efficacy. It has been available commercially for two years.
The light engine has a light-guide, remote-phosphor design. It claims an efficacy of 70 to 95 lm/W and a CRI above 90. It's 4.76mm thin and produces up to 350 lm from a 7cm x 7cm (2.76" square) surface.
The base model, LightCell Plus, comes in three sizes ("Solo, Duo, Quad") and two power levels each. Driven at 1W, they produce 95, 190, and 380 lm at 95 lm/W. Driven at 5W, it's 350, 700, and 1400 lm at 70 lm/W. The remote phosphor is egg-yolk yellow when unpowered. An alternate version, the LightCell Plus Ivory White, has a phosphor with a more neutral appearance at the cost of 10% in efficacy (63 lm/W at 5W).
The specs (LightCell Plus; Ivory White) seem to be rough approximations. For example, the same efficacy is claimed for panels at 2700K, 3000K, and 4000K, which is physically unlikely if not downright impossible. The CRI for all models is given as 90 to 95. An IES file is supplied for the LightCell Plus Solo only. Mechanical dimensions are given but no thermal data.
Why hasn't this light engine made more of a splash? For one thing, Oree is concentrating on finding customers in Europe and Asia; they have signed distribution partners in these regions. A knowledgeable source speculated to me that perhaps Color Kinetics patents were keeping the company out of the US market.
Here is a capsule history of the company in links to news coverage.
- January 2006: Start-up claims 'flat' optic fiber could reduce LCD cost
- May 2007: Oree raises $7 million in financing from Genesis Partners and GIMV
- November 2008: Oree Lights Up With $4M For Credit-Card-Size LEDs
- August 2010: Hot debut in even hotter market: Oree's LED-based planar lighting
- August 2010: Taiwanese $15 M. Investment Shines Light on Israeli LED Start Up Oree
- May 2012: Peter Van Strijp Takes the Helm at Planar LED Lighting Pioneer Oree
- November 2013: A visit to OREE, a planar LED lighting innovator
I wasn't able to find any commercial products using the Oree light engine. If you locate any, please let us know in the comments.
— Keith Dawson 
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