Products, Materials + Tools | Jul 27, 2010

ERCO colour compensation - new technology for LED varychrome luminaires

For the first time, ERCO is introducing a new colour compensation technology in its LED varychrome luminaires which meets the highest light quality requirements through digitally controlled equipment for coloured light. Colour compensation allows the designer to produce exactly the same hue of light from all luminaires which are of the same type.

This technology ensures that the most exacting uniformity requirements - such as for coloured wallwashing using LED wallwashers with varychrome technology - are satisfied. There is no perceivable difference in hue between any of the individual luminaires.

 

Previously, variations in hue between the individual coloured LEDs were not uncommon. For production-related reasons, the luminous flux of LEDs and their dominant wavelength, which determines the hue, extends within certain limits. Semiconductor manufacturers sort LEDs by measurement parameters, called "binnings". Yet despite the strictest specifications provided by ERCO for the selection, the light colours produced by RGB colour mixing, even when using the same DALI control values, can still visibly deviate from one luminaire to the next if colour compensation is not applied. Lighting designers, however, require lighting equipment that consistently relataes a specific DALI control value into the same light colour even in difficult applications, because when they are close together, the human eye is able to register even the slightest deviation in colour.

To ensure precise and consistent colour, each colour-compensated ERCO luminaire is measured and adjusted individually in the factory. To do this, a computer-aided measuring device measures the luminous flux and the dominant wavelength of each RGB channel of the luminaire and compares the measured values with the prescribed specific values. Based on this comparison, the software then calculates compensation factors which are permanently stored in each separate control gear unit. ERCO monitors and adjusts these specific values regularly to accommodate technical progress. The resulting product versions are identified on the label of the luminaire to ensure that it can be reordered or reproduced as and when required. The new technology is available in the LED varychrome versions of the Optec spotlights, the Quadra wallwashers, the Grasshopper projectors, the Tesis recessed floor luminaires, and the Focalflood façade luminaires.

Further information on colour compensation, LED varychrome luminaires and other new products in the ERCO Program is available online in the "Products" section of the ERCO Light Scout at www.erco.com.
 
About ERCO
ERCO Leuchten GmbH, Lüdenscheid, is one of the leading companies in the luminaire industry. The family business founded in 1934 now operates with over 60 subsidiaries, branches and agencies all around the world. Working together with internationally renowned designers, lighting engineers and architects, ERCO develops hardware and software for all areas of architectural lighting: luminaires and lighting systems for indoor and outdoor areas, as well as lighting control and software for scenographic lighting applications. In keeping with the corporate philosophy of "Light not luminaires," lighting equipment is not offered simply as furnishing for rooms, but rather luminaries are offered as instruments of lighting design. Many demanding architectural projects are illuminated using ERCO equipment, including the Berlin Reichstag, the Louvre in Paris and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. In 2005 ERCO's over 1000 strong worldwide workforce produced sales of 140 million euros.
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