• • • LIGHTING & CONTROLS • • •
SMART LIGHTING FOR SMARTER WORKING
E
ven before lockdown, LEDVANCE have gradually seen more and more workplaces moving over to smart automated lighting systems. The choice of products available to choose from is amazing – smart lamps in a wide variety of shapes, smart luminaires, products for indoor and outdoor use or plugs for integrating conventional light sources into more advanced systems. Using Bluetooth, ZigBee, an app or simply their own voice, office lights can easily be adapted to suit the changing workplace, especially as many more of us now have an office at home. The ‘unprecedented times’ we are living in have already shone a light on the hygiene hazards that come from multiple hands touching a shared light switch, but there’s even more reasons for workplaces to adopt these smart systems. Firstly, automated systems provide managers with the valuable opportunity to adapt workplace light- ing to workers’ circadian rhythms. The circadian rhythm is our 24-hour body clock that governs natu- ral cycles of activity and rest by managing hormone levels. Humans are known to be heavily influenced by variations in natural light throughout the course of the day. A human oriented lighting concept such as BIOLUX uses smart controllable LED lighting systems to simulate the characteristics of natural daylight, combining the visual and non-visual bio- logical effects of light. Artificial light that synchro- nises with our circadian rhythms is proven to make us happier, healthier and more productive not only in office scenarios, but also classrooms, ware- houses and health facilities. Once the timings of the workday have been touchlessly programmed, an automated lighting system can co-ordinate with our own natural rhythms, providing an optimum workspace. It has been scientifically proven that workspaces which use human centric lighting sys- tems have improved employee wellbeing, concen- tration and reduced staff sickness. Furthermore, smart lighting installations require offices to transition their lighting to LED lumi- naires, which are significantly more efficient than traditional incandescent or fluorescent lights. Too many workspaces are lagging behind and still
20 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • APRIL 2021
using yesterday’s inefficient energy-hungry light- ing, at the expense of reduced financial cost. More- over, the fluorescent lighting that many workspaces and facilities are settling for contains harmful mer- cury gases and produces a yellow-tinged lighting, which can cause migraines and eye strain amongst workers. An upgrade to SMART lighting brings an office up to date with 21st century tech- nology, improving employee health and wellbeing in the process. In addition, lights that are not switched on all
the time and tailored to the individual require- ments of an office provide excellent energy sav- ings. Luminaires can be programmed with the start and end times of a working day to illuminate the office only when necessary. They can be fur- ther programmed to turn themselves off when a room or floor of an office is unoccupied. Besides convenience, these systems eradicate unneces- sary cost caused by a light being left on acciden- tally overnight, consequently saving employees time when they leave and need not check for this sort of mistake. Smart lighting systems achieve ul- timate energy efficiency by protecting themselves against our own human inefficiency. When considering the benefits of automated light-
ing systems to their workplaces, facilities managers will generally note convenience and cost benefits. However, these systems can have an additional posi- tive impact on employee wellbeing and productivity as well. In short, an upgrade to automated lighting can quite simply revolutionise how we work.
HUMAN CENTRIC LIGHTING
A human-oriented lighting concept known as human centric lighting (HCL) uses smart control- lable LED lighting systems to simulate the charac- teristics of natural daylight with brighter, bluer light during the day which reduces in brightness and blue content in the evening. The easy controllability of LED lighting makes it possible to replicate and even idealise natural light, to better support human circadian rhythms. This enables everyone to be happier, healthier, and more productive.
Traditional electric lighting has typically allowed dimming but provided few, if any, other practicable options to adjust the light to suit the users’ needs. Now, with simple electronic or software control and the right combination of emitter types, an LED light engine can manage the spectral content with great precision to produce almost any colour or adjust “white” light throughout a range of correlated colour temperatures (CCT) expressing ambiences from warm, to cool, to daylight white. At any de- sired dimming ratio.
Arising from this new-found flexibility, concepts such as colour quality, mood lighting, and human- centric lighting have gained traction. Each offers an approach to creating a more comfortable, com- pelling environment.
Large lights from above that imitate a sunlit (blue) sky have the greatest biologically activating effect. Therefore, at the start of the day until lunch time and after the lunch break, bright, cold white light with a high blue component (such as 6500 Kelvin at an illuminance of 300 lux at the eye) should be used. Indirect light which includes both ceilings and walls is ideal for this. Towards the evening the lighting should be changed to direct warm white light without blue components (such as 2700 to 3000 kelvin) to help our bodies relax and prepare for the night. The BIOLUX HCL Controller has been designed to automatically adjust the intensity and spectral con- tent throughout the day in keeping with current knowledge about human responses to natural lighting. The controller is easy to install, with auto- mated self-configuration, and is designed to apply correct circadian timing to let users begin applying human centric lighting without any prior knowl- edge. A simple rotary switch and display allows ad- vanced users to optimise the lighting for individual needs or specific situations. Wirelessly connected luminaires such as LEDVANCE‘s 4000lm HCL Panel and 2000 lm HCL Downlight convert the settings into optimised light that complements the effects of natural light throughout the day.
LEDVANCE
ledvance.co.uk
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk
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