The challenges and difficulties that arise when making an installation for an outdoor event can be easily solved with good planning and the support of equipment designed to work in these conditions.
By Alejandra García Vélez
Sun, wind and rain can become the worst enemies when making an installation for an outdoor event. That is why it is important to have adequate planning that takes into account the external factors that can affect the installation, as well as the use of equipment optimized for this type of situation.
Jorge Orillac Martinelli, marketing director for Latin America at Lutron Electronics, and Jose Silvio Capuzzi, director of Light System spoke with AVI LATINOAMÉRICA and shared with us some guidelines for successful lighting an outdoor show.
The Lutron executive recommends integrating several lighting strategies that provide flexibility of integration with new technologies, while enhancing energy savings. Also remember that, because the intensity of the lighting depends on the times of the day and sunlight, it is advisable to install automatic controls for the lights.
The lights must also have individual controls, either by remote control or with local attenuators, which allow them to be adapted to the needs of each event. The size of the environment is another important factor to evaluate.
For his part, Capuzzi stressed that access to the site, equipment protection and electrical safety must always be kept in mind. In the first aspect there may be benefits as a result of the event being outdoors, for example, this circumstance can facilitate the access of suppliers for the unloading of equipment, but in others the hauling can be complicated by the conditions of the terrain (swamp, sand, etc.).
Special care should be taken of the electrical part, the distribution system (wiring) and the safety, both of the mounting structures and the electrical one. "It is vitally important to provide effective grounding and ensure the protection of the entire system with circuit breakers. All possible risks have to be foreseen contemplating humidity, dew and rain," Capuzzi said.
Of equipment and difficulties
As for the equipment, the first condition that dictates the type of devices to be used is the need to manage the intensity of the lighting; due to the very nature of outdoor events, technologies must be combined to be attenuated at different levels as the event progresses.
"The ideal is to have a control system that allows monitoring and adjusting the lighting from a central system, so that the lighting producer of the event can create different lighting scenarios in an easy and comfortable way," explained the Lutron executive.
In that sense, he highlighted the use of astronomical clocks, "these allow to calculate the schedules of natural light to be able to dim the lights as more or less artificial lighting is needed".
Capuzzi points out that the most important thing is to take measures to protect the equipment from moisture. In addition, he added that "lately LED type luminaires are being imposed on the market that are resistant to weathering and replace with important improvements to traditional luminaires. There is already an offer of Pair Led, flashes, mega flashes, blinder, swimsuits, intelligent bars and very powerful and compact laser systems".
It also emphasizes that one of the most common drawbacks are the cuts produced by the electric circuit breakers; "While these are there to protect people, they are very sensitive and are affected in their functioning by factors such as dew and rain. Luckily there are specific circuit breakers on the market prepared to avoid those small voltage spikes," he explained.
Another aspect to take into account is the rapid wear and tear suffered by equipment used outdoors. In this sense, the use of technologies that allow minimizing the tension exerted on the lights when they are on to ensure that they last longer and require less maintenance stands out.
Case Study
The Omnilife Stadium in Guadalajará, Mexico, is considered one of the most modern in the world and the first fully automated in Latin America. In it Lutron Electronics installed its lighting systems integrating sustainable and control strategies for energy saving.
The equipment used in the stadium had to be optimized to operate steadily throughout the year; because in addition to football matches, this stage was planned to present different types of shows.
"Due to the great magnitude of the project and taking into account that the different areas of the stadium, such as the court, the architectural lighting and the outdoor areas, must have different levels of lighting all the time and in each of the events, we install equipment with very specific characteristics," explained the Lutron official.
Specifically, the centralized Grafik 7000™ system was installed to control 96 automated XP SoftSwitch type lighting boards, 1600 circuits, 900 zones and, 426 NTOMX2B wall stations that allow to create different scenarios, such as the preparation of the court, the access periods, the pre-event, the event, the half-time, the post-game, the exit of the concurrent, the cleaning and closure of the stadium.
"The importance of being able to create this large number of scenarios is that the stadium will never be on in its entirety, but only in the areas that need it, representing a great saving of energy," said Orillac Martinelli.
Lutron also developed the installation of the Legoland theme park in the city of Günzburg, Germany, in this case Grafik 5000™ lighting control systems were installed that control the outdoor lighting of the park by means of astronomical clocks.
These devices use the latitude and longitude of the location of the space to be illuminated to calculate both sunrise and sunset, also taking into account daylight saving time, if used. In addition, these systems make the light sensors adjust to the conditions of autumn and winter when these climates present many cloudy days, as well as fog and snow.
Finally, Orillac Martinelli believes that "when a project is proposed, it is important to integrate strategies and solutions that help create lighting scenarios and offer the possibility of controlling the different spaces from a single system".
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