Getting The Basics Of Adaptive Lighting Right
The utility of lights and luminaires in a building has traditionally been to support illumination, aesthetics, and some degree of visual comfort. Naturally, since these three were quite convincingly fulfilled by conventional lighting equipment, only static lights were preferred until now in both commercial and residential spaces. However, there has been a paradigm shift in our approach towards living and working, and that’s the reason why our lighting requirements are also changing for the good.
Dynamic lighting solutions that are adaptive to our needs have become the norm today. Adaptive lighting comes across as a logical concept because both illumination and occupancy requirements keep changing even within a single day. Further, without dynamism in our lighting systems, we cannot achieve a satisfactory level of energy efficiency as well. With many other reasons why adaptive lighting is crucial for businesses today, let us take an in-depth look at the idea and what it holds for us in the future.
Table of Contents
What Is Light Adaptation And The Ideology Behind Adaptive Lighting
Since lights are so closely associated with our lives and our daily activities, it is imperative for them to be centered around the users. This means that the focal point of any lighting application or the plan to set up a lighting system should be the user. Building on the same ideology, the concept of adaptive lighting was popularized. A diverse set of photometric parameters have been analyzed to create adaptive lighting solutions. These parameters include the likes of illuminance distributions, vertical and horizontal luminance and illuminance, light source chromaticity color dispersion, and many more.
The early models for adaptive lighting were created to enhance visual comfort and ensure that all types of visual needs are catered to by existing lighting systems. As more smart solutions were developed in related industries, there was a rising demand to include certain parameters that could guide lighting systems to change illumination according to the changing intensity of daylight. This approach came to be known as human-centered lighting, because It is believed by scientists that our body clock is greatly influenced by the sequencing of sunlight. Thus, any good dynamic adaptive lighting system should cater to this particular need as well.
Levels of Adaptive Lighting
The adaptability of a lighting system can range between simple dynamic lighting to truly intelligent systems in technical terms. Based on such classifications, there are four levels of adaptive lighting that are available to us today.
Level 1: The level 1 adaptive lighting solutions provide benefits of a technique called Sequencing. Here, time sequencing is done as per preset values. Therefore, lights in certain sections of the building will be turned on automatically when the right time as set by the user comes. Similarly, other lights at that moment will be turned off accordingly so that energy saving can be done effectively.
Level 2: The problem with level 1 adaptive lighting solutions is that the degree of dynamism is quite low. To upscale the technology, level 2 adaptive lighting solutions were invented. In these, the light adaptation can be witnessed by the user on demand, all thanks to local sensors that are installed in the luminaries individually.
Level 3: Level 3 adaptive lighting solutions are more about integrating lighting automation systems with other intelligent systems. The most common use case of level 3 adaptive lighting is when you integrate lighting control panels within an existing building management system.
Level 4: Level 4 adaptive lighting solutions are best described as a combination of level 2 and 3. Within the domain of level 4 adaptive lighting solutions, there are several different applications that users can avail. For example, Daylight harvesting is one of the best ways in which commercial spaces can make use of level 4 adaptive lighting.
When the sunlight is bright enough, the control system automatically dims the equipment lighting so that energy can be saved and asset life can also be preserved. As the sunlight starts dimming, the reverse procedure is initiated automatically, and therefore, a balance is maintained in daily energy consumption. Luminance monitoring, lighting-on-demand, and use of occupancy data for building management are other ways in which such solutions work.
But There’s A Problem
We are already living in times where adaptive lighting equipment and technologies are readily available in marketplaces. It is definitely an encouraging sign for the lighting industry. However, a big problem lies in the fact that the jurisdiction of such adaptive lighting systems is highly limited at present.
For instance, the Building Management Systems that are currently used for commercial spaces like malls, hotels, hospitals, etc., do not come with a lighting control panel in the first place. So, installing any compatible adaptive lighting product, like LED light adapter, but not having the desirable technical capabilities to achieve their benefits is a big loophole in this whole scenario.
elitedali: Making Adaptive Lighting Accessible
The adaptive lighting industry is faced by inadequacy of expertise which results in installations that do not serve the users well. In this existing turmoil, elitedali offers the best integrating solutions for adaptive lighting technologies. We offer vendor agnostic services that aim to establish convergent lighting. In simple words, we help in bringing lighting automation technologies and building management systems together, so that they can work in conjunction and make your lives easier.
The biggest hallmark of our services is that by knowing this industry in and out, we are capable of integrating lighting control panels with any Niagara framework BMS without making you pay for third-party protocol converters or software. So, to access the unimaginable benefits of adaptive lighting for your commercial space, contact elitedali today.
