Question: What matters most when it comes to shop and office lighting: the luminaire or the light?
Unlike the famous chicken/egg question, this question practically answers itself: It’s the light, of course. After all, in the retail sector it is not the luminaire but the product that is supposed to attract all the attention, and in offices the light primarily serves the purpose of concentrated work. And that is precisely why the size of lighting systems is so important in these cases. Because we also follow the motto that applies here: Bulky is out, compact is in!
In today’s retail stores, but also in supermarkets and in offices, artificial light is used quite specifically to fulfill certain purposes. In the first and second case, the main aim is to present the merchandise in the best possible light and to create a pleasant shopping experience that customers will remember positively, even after longer stays. And in the third case, the right light supports a good working atmosphere that allows people to concentrate for many hours without getting tired prematurely. In both cases, however, the luminaires used to generate this light are now increasingly taking a back seat, at least visually. This is because the trend here in recent years has clearly been toward miniaturization and connectivity – and thus toward increasingly compact and intelligent components. As a system provider for state-of-the-art LED lighting solutions, we have exactly the right products in its portfolio with which such compact systems can be implemented, quickly and without much effort. So welcome to a little excursion into the world of our latest compact solutions!
To produce the high quality of light required today for shops, supermarkets and offices, there is a wide range of high-performance LED lighting components and system solutions. They make it possible to use light in a much more targeted, energy-efficient, ergonomic and sales-promoting way than just a few years ago. On top of that, bulky, visually unattractive devices are no longer needed – on the contrary, more and more compact lighting solutions are gaining popularity. They can, for example, disappear into suspended ceilings or drywalls or be installed in very slim lighting track systems. With its particularly compact solutions, we are helping to ensure that luminaires in areas such as retail or office can be integrated very elegantly and unobtrusively into their surroundings – allowing the quality of the light they produce to shine all the more impressively. This means that compact components and their capabilities are prerequisites for these appealing solutions: Through an intensive dialog with our customers, we have been able to make our LED drivers and LED modules not only more compact and energy-efficient, but also more intelligent. Here are some solutions for this from our current product portfolio:
- Our compact SELV constant-current LED drivers ICUTRONIC FIT CS (IT FIT CS) and ICUTRONIC FIT CS I (IT FIT CS I) offer a wide range of design-in possibilities and high flexibility for luminaire manufacturers. Depending on the requirements profile and version, the drivers can either be installed directly in the luminaire or – thanks to an integrated cable clamp – also outside of the luminaire body. In any case, both the installation and configuration of these drivers are extremely simple: they are available in 20 W, 30 W, and 40 W versions, each of which in turn offers a choice of eight different output currents, selectable via DIP switches.
- These LED drivers optimally combine high flexibility with low complexity, because they allow the right power level to be set for every lighting task without much effort. At the same time, a high level of light quality is always achieved with a very low ripple current of <3 %. IT FIT CS and IT FIT CS I are designed to work with various LED modules such as tracklights, spotlights and downlights, but can also be used very effectively for panel and ceiling luminaires. Of course, they work optimally in combination with our PrevaLED COIN LED spots, PrevaLED CORE CoB downlights, as well as with various linear LED modules. Additional benefit: Instead of the usual 5-year warranty on individual components, OSRAM DS offers a 7-year system warranty on such system solutions!
- Our digitally configurable and controllable LED driver OPTOTRONIC intelligent (OTi) DALI 40 NFC Track opens up an even wider range of possibilities to offer your customers high levels of flexibility, energy efficiency, and lighting quality. This compact technology is built into a housing that is only 206 mm long. It is designed for use in lighting track systems with LED downlights and spotlights such as PrevaLED COIN. The driver is available in the colors white and black, and compatible with most commercially available track systems (such as Global). Using our powerful configuration software Tuner4TRONIC and near-field communication (NFC), it can be programmed very quickly to optimally perform the intended tasks. This, by the way, does not require each driver to be processed individually: Box programming via the NFC feature offers the ability to wirelessly and simultaneously configure entire shipping boxes with multiple drivers (e.g., 10 or 20 pieces), which significantly speeds up the workflow for luminaire manufacturers. This also makes shorter delivery times possible – and boosts your customers’ confidence in your reliability practically by itself.
- The minimized design of the drivers also allows significantly more LED spotlights and downlights to be installed side by side on the lighting track. This is an important advantage, especially in the retail sector, where several light points are often grouped closer to each other to illuminate certain shelves, displays or vertical presentation areas.
- On site, the wired devices then show that, although they are compact, they are also very versatile and powerful. Because, despite the small form factor, OTi DALI 40 NFC Track – in addition to the wide operating range of 150 to 1050 mA – offers many well-known programmable features, such as amplitude dimming from 100 to 1 %, Constant Lumen Output (CLO), Touch DIM or the Corridor Function. They all help to optimize the system’s energy consumption and thus reduce CO2 emissions and electricity costs.
- The integrated DALI-2 functionality enables bi-directional data exchange – and thus also the use of leading-edge and useful functions such as Luminaire Info & Monitoring Data. This means, for example, that retail operators or facility managers are always well-informed about their lighting installation and can carry out predictive system maintenance any time – for example, by detecting excessive operating temperatures, excessive energy consumption, a malfunction in an LED module or the imminent end of the device’s service life. And this, in turn, enables them to react immediately. In short, with OTi DALI 40 NFC Track, you get quite a long list of benefits for such a short LED driver!
But there is an even more compact, more modern and more powerful solution: OPTOTRONIC Wireless intelligent (OT Wi) NFC Track. This state-of-the-art LED driver is also available in the colors white and black, and offers practically all the advantages that the OTi DALI 40 NFC Track also has up its sleeve. In addition, however, it can also boast the fact that all digital communication is wireless. With a length of only 200 mm, OTi Wi NFC Track is even a little bit shorter than the wired version. This radio-controlled LED driver for lighting track systems can be operated optimally via our own QBM-based HubSense system – as well as optionally via Casambi. The driver versions for HubSense and Casambi are part of our standard offer. On request, however, integration into other well-known digital systems such as Wirepas, Zigbee or Thread is also possible.
Would you like to learn more about our innovative and high-quality compact solutions for today’s modern lighting systems? In our product catalog, you will find lots of technical details and further information.
