LED architectural lights are now more innovative and smart

The latest LED architectural lights are sleeker, more compact and come with tunable LEDs, i.e., the colour temperature of the LED fixture can be changed as per requirements, without changing the fixture itself

By Kartiki Negi

Friday, November 07, 2014: Architectural lights play an important part in today’s world. Aware about the immense benefits of LED lights, more and more people are opting for them as architectural lights. These now come in trendy, sleek and compact styles, and can be moulded as per one’s choice and convenience.

Several types of architectural luminaires are available in the market, such as wall applique and surface lights, downlighters and spotlights, linear LED strips, LED post tops for pathways, LED bollard lights, LED troffers, etc.

What the market offers

The latest LED architectural lights are water proof and rust proof. Today, these lights come in various shapes and sizes for different applications, offering consumers a wide choice to select from. These lights have become technically more advanced in terms of lumens, performance and energy efficiency.

Each luminaire is now designed to focus on higher efficacy, better illumination, and longer life with high electrical efficiency; it has ingress protection and is aesthetically pleasing.

“Since the LED source is very small, the luminaires are now very sleek, compact and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They are potentially flexible and can be bent into any shape. So whether columns are round or square shaped, these LED lights can be easily wound around them,” says Arun Gupta, managing director, NTL Electronics (holding company).

Another advancement is that these LED architectural lights come with tunable LEDs, i.e., the CCT (correlated colour temperature) of the LED fixture can be changed as the occasion demands, without changing the fixture. “During the summers, the colour of the light can be tuned to cool daylight of CCT-6000K and during winters, the colour can be changed to warm light of CCT-3000K without changing the fixture,” said Arun Gupta.

LED light modules are perfect for architectural applications because they are easy to use and can be installed just about anywhere. The lead wire between each wire makes it simple to cut and re-connect to light any architectural surface. These lights are available in single colour as well as in colour-changing RGB variants.

LED spot lights: NTL Lemnis’ latest offering, ‘Orion’, is a series of LED spot lights that are a perfect blend of high performance and superior quality. With the two most sought after colour temperatures of neutral white and warm light, Orion spot lights create the perfect accent and ambient lighting effect for retail and hospitality applications.

“These lights can be adjusted up to 30 degrees to create the desired lighting effect, while the serrated aperture creates the perfect beam and uniform fade out. Its aluminium body ensures efficient heat dissipation and long LED life, making it the perfect replacement for the traditional Halogen MR16 spot lights,” says Arun Gupta.

LED wall pack lights: In September 2014, GreenStar Research and Development India Pvt Ltd launched a new wall pack light called LUNA. It offers advanced thermal management, effective illumination, and directional light control. “LUNA is an aesthetically pleasing and versatile solution for many applications. Its luminaire is equipped with high power LED technology to provide better illumination and ensure significant energy savings. LUNA delivers high efficiency without sacrificing application performance,” says Diksha Vaid, lighting application designer, Greenstar Research and Development India Pvt Ltd.

LED facade lights: Goldwyn Ltd offers a range of facade lights, manufactured with the latest LED light sources, secondary optics and robust drivers. “We have used the latest LED technology that has made it possible to achieve various beam patterns, different light colours and crisp lighting, combined with energy savings of above 50 per cent, apart from longer, maintenance-free life spans,” says Ajay Goel, CEO, Goldwyn Ltd.

LED troffers: Cree offers its AR series of LED architectural troffers that delivers soft, high quality light with an efficacy of 100 lumens per watt. With its flush mounted white housing, the AR series is equipped with a creative optics design to deliver a visually appealing and smooth fixture, with superior colour quality and unobstructed highly efficient light.

The AR series of troffers is available in two models, the AR22 and AR24, and a range of colour temperatures (3500K to 4000K) to match existing fluorescent technologies. The series supports dimming down to 5 per cent with industry standard 0-10V controls.

The AR22 architectural LED troffer delivers up to 3200 lumens of exceptional 90+ CRI light while achieving 100 lumens per watt. It is fully luminous and is available in neutral or cool colour temperatures. Its sleek, lightweight design makes the AR22 troffer perfect for use in new commercial constructions or renovated spaces.

LED floodlights: Philips’ existing ColourBlast Powercore floodlights are high powered LED fixtures with 36 LED pieces. They combine rich, saturated, wall washing colour and colour changing effects, and are simple to install. The series offers a single solution for both indoor and outdoor applications, while a range of beam angles make the fixtures ideal for washing, grazing, floodlighting and spot lighting.

The low profile mounting canopy, rotating mounting bracket, and the feature of locking fixture rotation combines to offer exceptional versatility. Integrated Powercore technology ensures rapid, efficient and accurate control of power to the fixture, directly from line voltage, eliminating the need for external power supplies. Use of standard wiring dramatically simplifies installation and helps lower the total system’s cost.

LED strip lights: LED strip lights are the most widely used product for architectural applications. Available for both indoor and outdoor use, they can be used to light any type of building, creating a uniform and even lighting. iLux Electricals’ LED flexi lights are available in different colours. These lights have a longer operating lifetime and require lower maintenance. These lights are easy to install and can be cut to sizes as small as 8.33cm. Flexi lights are available in 24V and 12V, and can replace all kinds of neon glass lights directly.

GE Lighting’s existing Tetra Contour LED strip light consists of a flexible LED light engine and a rigid, optically diffused light guide. With a variety of colours to choose from, designers can mix and match components to create bold designs and attractive accent lighting without the typical worries of working with fragile neon lights. It is ideal for external border lighting, interior art, cove and accent lighting. It comes with the GE 0-10V dimming driver or the GE dimming module and compatible dimming controller, and is up to 40 per cent more energy efficient than neon lights.

Buying tips

Architectural lights are very different from normal lighting; hence, one needs to be extra careful while buying them. They involve heavy investments, which makes it even more important to judge them on certain key parameters, before selection. The following are some factors that buyers should keep in mind while purchasing these lights.

Application area: One should ascertain the purpose for which LED lights are being bought well in advance, and the fixture should be used according to the furniture layout of the area so that it gels with the overall setting. There are several options of light beam angles and light colours. It is advisable that one avoids fixtures that produce too much of glare.

Luminaire photometric performance: Customers must evaluate the optical performance of the luminaire, taking into consideration uniform illumination with total luminous flux and colour characteristics. Luminaire efficacy should be ≥85 lm/W. These characteristics are being assessed by the Luminaire LM-79 report. The luminaire should be NABL certified and also offer high ingress protection such as IP 65/66/67/68.

Luminaire electrical characteristics: Customers should look for products with a power factor of ≥ 0.90, LED driver efficiency of ≥ 85 per cent and THD <20 per cent with 10kV/kA surge protection for trouble free operation.

Heat dissipation: While buying high powered LED luminaires, customers should ensure the luminaire has a well designed heat sink to dissipate the heat generated by LEDs.

Low maintenance: Knowing that architectural lights will be used outdoors, it is very important that the product is low maintenance. Customers should clarify this factor when purchasing the lights.

Installation: With LED architectural lights, the installation process can become a bit complex sometimes. So the buyer should ask for an installation guide along with the fixture or, maybe, the vendor can provide some sort of assistance too.

Warranty: There should be a minimum five year warranty to ensure a return on the higher investment made in LED architectural lights.