Lighting Science's Group at Lightfair

True to its name, Lighting Science has incorporated the results of human factors science and research into its products.

At Lightfair in Las Vegas last week I had the pleasure of meeting Lighting Science's Alex Hundsdorfer and Greg Aufderheide. They gave me a tour of the company's booth, and shared with me their newest technology as well as their vision of the future.

Studies at Rensselaer’s Lighting Research Center have shown a correlation between light and our circadian rhythm. Shorter wavelength light, such as blue, signals the body that it is daytime: time to be alert and active. The lack of the shorter wavelengths does the opposite. It signals the body that day is coming to an end: time to rest. The body produces hormones in response to these variations in light.

According to Greg, the average person spends as little as 10% of her or his day in actual daylight. The rest of the time is spent in monotone artificial light. A large part of the spectral variation of the solar day is lost on us. This can have negative consequences, such as increased fatigue that results in accidents.

Spectral content

Lighting Science has invented a dynamic lighting system that changes spectral content over the course of a day. It reinforces the natural circadian rhythm. At the start of the day, the light output is rich in blue. It reinforces the wake cycle and forestalls the onset and effects of fatigue. As the day winds to a close, the spectral content changes to reinforce the normal rest cycle.

Greg pointed out that the applications extend beyond the obvious home, office, business, or factory environments. The system can improve conditions and help workers stay alert in environments that are out of synchronization with the normal solar day, such as in shift work (particularly third shifts, with their statistically much higher accident rates), for submariners (who normally work 18-hour shifts), or in space (on the International Space Station the sun rises and sets once every 90 minutes).

Following

Another novel Lighting Science product is a smart light that has built-in occupancy sensors. Unlike the standard occupancy sensor, that turns an entire room either on or off, the smart fixtures turn on the individual room lighting fixtures as needed. If one person is using a conference room designed for 20, only the lights in the vicinity of the one person turn on and follow her or his movement.

Lighting Science concepts are an example of how LED technology has the capacity to significantly improve the quality of lighting systems in a way that was never possible before.