Professional Courses on 3D Printing for Lighting
The course will begin on October 22, 2025 and will run through November 20, 2025. Classes will meet online on three Wednesdays from 12:00 PM to 2:15 PM US Eastern Time, and then in person on November 19 and 20 at the LRC’s laboratories in Troy, NY from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM.
Oct 22, 29, and Nov 5 will be online (live sessions). Nov 19 and 20 will be in person at the LRC.
Who should take the course?
Professionals from the lighting industry interested in learning more about the use of 3D printing in the design, development, and manufacturing of lighting components and products.
Professionals from the 3D printing industry interested in the application of 3D printing technology to lighting.
Anyone who wants to better understand the possibilities and impacts of 3D printing in lighting product lines, including:
Equipment and materials manufacturers
Product and innovation managers
Industrial designers
Engineers
Product developers
Research and development professionals
Course Objectives
At the conclusion of the course, attendees will be able to:
Appraise the value of 3D printing for manufacturing lighting systems
Understand the 3D printing process from design to manufacture and post-production of components as it applies to lighting systems
Understand the performance requirements of electrical, mechanical, optical, and thermal components in lighting systems; and the needs of different lighting applications
Compare the most common methods of 3D printing processes and technologies, and the pros and cons of each related to the fabrication of various lighting components
Assess material, print parameters, and finishing requirements for lighting fixture components and systems
Design a 3D-printed component for a lighting fixture and learn the steps involved to characterize and optimize the designed component
Understand the process that goes into testing, evaluating, and quantifying the performance of 3D-printed lighting components
Course Certificate
Participants who successfully complete the course will be awarded a certificate from the Lighting Research Center including 15 continuing education units (CEUs).
Course Description and Schedule
The course will provide training in the application of 3D printing to the design, prototyping, and manufacturing of lighting system components, and give participants the knowledge and skills needed to begin applying this technology in their own companies.
There will be three weekly (approximately 2.5-hour) live, interactive sessions hosted by course faculty via an internet-based conferencing system, as well as supplemental activities and assignments to be completed by course participants throughout the five-week course period. Industry leaders from HP, Signify, and Stratasys will join LRC faculty to present updates on the state-of-the-art of additive manufacturing technologies.
Course participants will work interactively with course faculty in live, remote laboratory sessions. Participants will also design components that will be additively manufactured at the LRC and returned to participants for evaluation as part of the course sessions.
The course will begin on October 22, 2025 and will run through November 20, 2025. Classes will meet online on three Wednesdays from 12:00 PM to 2:15 PM US Eastern Time, and then in person on November 19 and 20 at the LRC’s laboratories in Troy, NY from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. A more detailed schedule of course activities, presentations, and assignments will be provided upon registration for the course.
An overview of the course content is included below.
October 22, 2025 - Session 1 (Online, live session): This session will begin with an introduction to the lighting and 3D printing industries, including an overview of 3D printing processes, their pros and cons of each in terms of rate, quality, value engineering, and flexibility and their potential for application to lighting systems. The session will also cover availability of materials, material properties needed for lighting products and their certification, and the impact of printing parameters and post-processing on final product characteristics. LRC researchers will share relevant case studies of the current best uses of 3D printing in the manufacture of lighting components and review best practices for 3D printing design. During this session, attendees will learn more about two course projects for which attendees will design, 3D print, and characterize two light fixture components. The session will end with a discussion of how 3D printing can support product innovation and differentiation.
October 29, 2025 - Session 2 (Online, live session): Discussion of optical component printing, including a review of the printing process for both transmissive and reflective optical components, as well as 3D printing design and fabrication parameter pitfalls, tips, and suggestions. The discussion will begin with an introduction to photometry and colorimetry terms, followed by an examination of the short- and long-term requirements of optical components for various lighting applications. This session will also include a live interactive lesson in which the course faculty will lead participants through the measurement and evaluation of 3D-printed optical components. This session will also include research results of short-term and long-term performance characterization of both transmissive and reflective components. The session will discuss 3D object creation with computer-aided design (CAD), including a review of slicing software programs and requirements for 3D printing of optical components. As part of this session, each participant will design an optical component as a take home assignment. The participants will share the CAD model(s) with the LRC. The LRC team will guide the design fabrication using selected 3D printing technologies and materials at 3D printing service vendors. The fabricated components should be shipped to the LRC for characterization in advance of the in-person sessions.
November 5, 2025 - Session 3 (Online, live session): This session will cover the design principles and 3D printing of heat sinks, including an overview of thermal management theory, analysis of the thermal performance of heat sink components, heat sink build orientation, print parameters, application orientation-related performance, and the effects of LED junction temperature on light output, color, and other factors. The presentations will cover the short-term and long-term impact of 3D-printed components under environmental stressors. This session will include an interactive lesson on junction temperature measurement. After this session, each participant will design a heat sink for an LED lighting product. Similar to the previous session, 3D object creation with computer-aided design (CAD), including a review of slicing software programs and requirements specific to thermal components, will be demonstrated and discussed. Participants will design the CAD models as a take home assignment and share the designs with the LRC. The LRC team will guide the participants in fabricating the designs using selected 3D printing technologies and materials at 3D printing service vendors. The fabricated components should be shipped to the LRC for characterization in advance of the in-person sessions.
November 19, 2025 - Session 4 (In person, all day): The first day will include a review of the material covered on-line, an overview of the different characterization and post-processing options for 3D-printed parts, and a review of the designs that each participant produced. This session will include hands-on activities to measure the photometric properties of the attendees’ optical designs produced during the previous weeks, such as light output, optical efficiency, beam and color quality, among others.
November 20, 2025 - Session 5 (In person, all day): The second day will focus on the thermal characterization of the heat sinks produced in the previous weeks, including LED junction temperature, and material and 3D-printed part thermal conductivity. This session will include hands-on activities to understand the importance of post-processing of 3D-printed parts and its impact on optical or thermal performance of the final part. The day will end with an overall discussion and review of the course material, and a question-and-answer session.
Cost and Registration
The cost of this five-week course is $1,800. Registration availability is limited. You can register at the link below.
Register Now
Faculty
Indika Perera, PhD — Dr. Perera is a research scientist at the LRC. His research interests include thermodynamics, heat transfer, material characterization, and additive manufacturing of solid-state lighting components and systems. Dr. Perera’s expertise is in the thermal management of LED lighting systems and of phosphor and down conversion materials used in LED packages, including the development of a mathematical model for predicting the temperature distribution in an LED phosphor layer. His current research includes investigations of the thermal properties of 3D-printed heat sinks and components for use in LED lighting systems, characterizations of composite materials used in additive manufacturing, and analysis of theoretical models for predicting the thermal conductivity of 3D-printed components.
N. Narendran, PhD — Dr. Narendran is a professor and director of research at the LRC. He is well known for his pioneering research in the field of solid-state lighting, including LED performance improvement through novel packaging, development of accelerated life-testing methods, and the use of LEDs in high-value lighting applications. His current research focuses on 3D printing for lighting, specifically investigations of the functional properties of materials to produce components for lighting fixtures, including mechanical, thermal, optical, and electrical subcomponents. Additionally, Dr. Narendran organizes the Additive Manufacturing for Lighting Consortium at the LRC, which brings together key stakeholders from the 3D printing and lighting industries to work collaboratively to revolutionize lighting manufacturing. Through these activities, Dr. Narendran and his research group are leading the lighting industry transformation to supply on-site, on-time delivery of cost-effective lighting components and fixtures, and thus changing the current lighting practice. Dr. Narendran has authored more than 130 articles in archival journals and proceedings and holds over 50 patents. He is a Fellow of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America and a member of the committee on the assessment of solid-state lighting for the National Research Council of the National Academies.
Jean Paul Freyssinier, MS — Professor Freyssinier is a senior research scientist and adjunct assistant professor at the LRC. His research includes solid-state lighting, LED performance, technology transfer, energy-efficient lighting design, photometry, the spectral effects of lighting, and education. Since 2000, he has been involved in lighting technology research, development, and evaluation at the LRC. His previous experience includes working as principal of design at a full-service architectural lighting and automation design firm and as project manager at an energy management firm. He has taught in the LRC's graduate education program for nearly 25 years and lectures frequently at conferences and seminars. He is the author of more than 35 scientific and technical articles related to energy efficiency, photometry, improved LED performance, and field applications, and co-author of six patents on LED remote phosphor technology.
For more information
Please contact LRC's Director of Research, N. Narendran, at narenn2@rpi.edu to learn more.
