Grote unveils flexible light strip

Louisville, KY. A new solid-state light technology from Grote Industries is thinner than a penny and is mounted on self-adhesive flexible strips that can be bended, twisted and even cut to size. Called LightForm, the proprietary technology will see its first commercial application as a P2 marker lamp before the end of the year, according to Dominic Grote, vp of sales and marketing.

The commercial vehicle lighting company introduced the industry’s first LED marker lamp here at the Mid-America Trucking Show 20 years ago, Grote said. LightForm is the “most radically innovative lighting product to come along” since that introduction, he said.

Using 98% less material than a standard LED marker light and measuring only 1 mm thick, the marker is being called “a light stamp” because of its extremely light weight and profile, and because it can be affixed with peel-and-stick tape, doing away with brackets, fasteners and drilling. Cost for the new light “will be competitive with standard LEDs,” according to Grote.

The marker application is just the first for the technology that Grote says “will change the shape, design and application of interior and exterior vehicle lighting in ways we haven’t even begun to imagine.” Currently, LightForm can produce red, amber, green and blue light, and a white-light version is under development, according to the company.