Electrical Contracting News (ECN) May 2016 | Page 28

LED INNOVATION

Mimicking the look and
feel of halogen has, for
many, been the holy grail.

Fire rated downlighters
Fire rated downlighters such as the mPro
are dimmable and convertible, making
them suitable for residential and hospitality
installations. Highly efficient SMD chips
and miniaturised drivers can achieve
efficacy of >91lm/W.
NanoDrive technology features a
miniaturised integrated driver which is
detachable from the light source to allow
for better heat dissipation leading to
longevity, even under blown insulation
material. This clever convertible design

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means that the downlight can be installed
in ceiling voids as shallow as 47mm.
Flexibility is key to aesthetics, so
interchangeable lenses and bezels, and
colour temperature choices as help
achieve the desired look.

Human centric lighting
Human centric lighting is intended to
promote a person’s wellbeing, mood and
health, which can improve concentration,
safety and efficiency in the workplace in

educational environments and can support
healing processes and help to alleviate
chronic health problems with people
that have irregular daily routines. Human
centric lighting widens the applications
of light from simple visual tasks to that
of providing beneficial biological and
emotional effects.
Recognising these benefits, it allows
the designer or user to create their own
environment according to their needs,
mood and tasks to provide the optimum
lighting solution to improved performance
and motivation.
Solutions such as Colour Xchange
can be used to create an ultra dynamic
interior lighting project that creates the
appearance of the external environment,
offers visual performance for tasks and
visual comfort, allows for creativity and
adapts to differing moods.
It is known that productivity improves
within the workplace with the application
of a suitable lighting scheme and products
featuring this technology allow the creation
of application specific environments from
a Warm (3,000K) through an Intermediate
or Neutral (4,000K) to a Cool (6,500K) in
order to suit mood, task and time of day.
In the UK, desk based task areas
are expected to have an illuminance of
300-500 Lux on the working plane with a
glare rating of UGR19 or less and a task
specific light source can introduce both
the lighting level required and optimum
colour temperature. Introducing increased
blue in the light can help supress

melatonin and raise alertness with the
working environment.
Historically, most people spent time
outside under a blue sky, however, today’s
24 hour a day culture means that around
90 per cent of time is spent indoors under
artificial illumination at constant colour
temperature, whilst outside, the natural
daylight is ever changing throughout the
day in quantity, directional characteristics,
colour temperature and colour rendering.
Natural daylight has the ability to
invigorate and promote a sense of
wellbeing and the therapeutic quality of
natural light has never been in doubt.
However, its benefit has not been fully
understood until more recently. Probably
the most important findings are that
light controls the biological or body
clock through regular light-dark patterns
known as the Circadian Rhythm and
that dedicated lighting applications can
enhance a plethora of environments.

Paul Davidson is Aurora Group
technical & project manager, a position
he has held since March 2014. Prior to
this Paul was Aurora’s technical trainer
and business development manager
for two and a half years. Wi