LED TECHNOLOGIES SALES MANAGER
Light & Building 2018, one of the most important events in lighting world, was held between March 18 – 23 with the participation of more than 2700 companies from 55 countries. We visited the fair, which took place in 25 halls on an area of more than 260,000 square meters, with a team of 3 people. We want to share with you our impressions and general opinion about the fair. Light & Building set out this year with the motto ”Connected – Safe – Comfortable”. The aim of this motto is to highlight the smart and networked solutions, future-oriented technologies and current design trends that increase not only the economic efficiency of buildings, but also the comfort, health and safety of the users. In line with the opinions received from manufacturers and designers, the trends that will pave the way for the lighting designers in our country in 2018 and 2019 are
gathered under 4 main titles:
Activate Emotions
With the ”Activate Emotions” trend, the designs that will reveal your mood and make you feel healthy are referred to. The designs that make themselves the language of emotions and integrate these emotions into daily life with the help of smart materials and products are underlined.
Imagine The Mutation
The focus of ”Imagine the Mutation” is based on the concepts of differentiation and adaptation. It refers to the designs that create a striking, artistic impression and create a deep impact. This trend actually refers to the designs that create an effect like the creations of modern art unlike the ordinary designs, and do not care about being abnormal or different.
Give Life to Simplicity
This trend, as the name suggests, is about simplifying the life. It includes honest, unpretentious, open and simple designs. Intimate designs that create an inviting, warm, relaxing and harmonious atmosphere and welcome the dark areas in the general ambiance are collected under this title.
Create History
“Create History” is about designs that will evoke the nostalgic past. It refers to the designs that not only use highly functional modern technology but are also in harmony with antiques or rare items dating back to ancient times, or giving the impression that they are one of them, that is, combining historical deceptions with the promise of the future. Although we had the opportunity to encounter designs, in which each of these trends was processed separately, and the designs bearing the traces of a combination of these, the trends that attracted use the most were networked lighting systems, the importance given by the European fixture manufacturers to optical designs, that is, to direct the light correctly, and especially human-centered (“HUMANCENTRIC”) lighting designs. The idea of human-centered lighting has emerged as one of the recent trends of the lighting industry. The products developed by the leading companies of the sector in this field were among the product groups that attracted the most attention at the fair. We also had the opportunity to participate in the “Human Centric Lighting & Health” conference about the Sunlike product family and the human-centered lighting concept developed by Seoul Semiconductor for these applications. With the help of some notes we have taken at this conference, we would like to focus on this new trend in particular. Human-centered lighting is based on the idea that with the correct control of lighting, the emotional well-being, comfort, health, attention and therefore the productivity of individuals can simply be improved. People have adapted to the natural lighting cycle of the world over time. The light levels changing cyclically as low light and low CCT values in the morning, high light and high CCT values at noon, low light and low CCT values again in the evening, and very low light and average CCT values under moonlight at night, also form the basis of human daily biological clock, that is, the circadian rhythm. Therefore, light not only allows us to see, but also “stimulates” us and “affects” our mood and activity level.
“Light not only allows us to see, but also “stimulates” us and “affects” our mood and activity level.”
So, how does this mechanism work?
The human biological clock is controlled by light. Scientists have been studying the biological effects of light for years. In 2002, it turned out that the main functions of the intrinsically photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells (ipRGC) in the retina are not vision, and these cells, especially sensitive to blue light, have a significant role in adjusting an individual’s biological clock. Therefore, it was determined that the light re-calibrates our biological clock, which activates our body and organs to perform necessary functions at any time of the day, through this photo-receptor.
Ganglion cells send signals to the brain according to the light they are exposed to and regulate the production of hormones. During daytime, with a natural circadian rhythm, dopamine is released in appropriate amounts for happiness, agility and muscle coordination; serotonine is released for stimulant, motivating and impulse control; cortisol is released for stimulating stress response, metabolism and programming the body for daytime mode. At night, the secreted melatonine creates fatigue, slows down body functions, reduces activity during listening, allows us to sleep and refreshes our body. That is, light and dark particularly affect us by controlling our body’s hormone production. While we spent 90% of the time when we were awake outside until 200 years ago, but today we have started to spend 90% of this time under electric light inside buildings, and the characteristics of the artificial lighting we are exposed to have become much more important. At this point, human-centered lighting solutions based on controlling the color, timing and luminous intensity of light specific to different activities at different times of the day can support the circadian rhythm, increase concentration, prevent sleep disorders and improve our overall well-being. For example, at schools, the lights are set to 12,000K in the morning to eliminate students’ sleepiness, to 5000 – 6500K during learning and other activities, and to 2700K during their rest time, in order to increase their academic performances.
The idea of human-centered lighting has emerged as one of the recent trends of the lighting industry.
The products developed by the leading companies of the sector in this field were among the product groups that attracted the most attention at the fair.
It has been observed that controlling the light in the patient rooms similar to the natural light cycle increases patient satisfaction and supports recovery, exposing the employees to more intense light in offices increases feelings of agility, creativity and vitality during daytime and nighttime shifts, and that the circadian effective light control during daytime has a positive effect on the sleep of office workers the following night. Perhaps the next stage in human-centered lighting is another topic of the symposium, which is the Seoul’s Sunlike product family. This product family, which uses TRI-R technology, stands out by having a light spectrum similar to the sun, as the name suggests.
So why is this important? Ganglion cells, which determine the human circadian rhythm, are especially sensitive to the blue component of light. For example, when a blue light component such as a normal white LED or fluorescent is exposed to high illumination while resting at home at night, melatonin secretion is suppressed as a result of stimulation of these cells, and this type of suppression can disrupt your circadian rhythm and lead to insomnia problems. The fatigue caused by insomnia, on the other hand, can cause numerous psychological effects such as stress and wrong decisions, as well as poor memory, loss of concentration and attention problems. At this point, Sunlike offers a light spectrum similar to sunlight (natural light) with its TRI-R technology, unlike the regular white LEDs that use a blue LED chip as a light source. Sunlike thus promises a healthy, comfortable and peaceful lighting that is almost provided by sunlight even indoors.
“Human-centered lighting is based on the idea that with the correct control of lighting, the emotional well-being, comfort, health, attention and therefore the productivity of individuals can simply be improved.”
