Lighting control is a fundamental part of an intelligent building. New developments in co-rollers and dimmers make them increasingly easy to install and use.
By Adrian Morel*
In San Francisco, on June 12 of this year, the "US Green Building Council" at its headquarters in Northern California, brought together more than 500 professionals to share and discuss smart building projects.
In the showroom, products and novelties were presented that make the day-to-day buildings of such sophistication increasingly green and more oriented to the use of natural resources, including energy saving and energy efficiency.
The traditional "dimeadores or dimmers", which were created with technology presented by Tomás Edison and the development of products based on the Tungsten filament, even if they appear as "approved", do not work as they should with the new SSL technologies (solid-State Lighting) that is, lighting with LEDs.
When we work with traditional "Dimmers" applied to LED lighting, the visible incompatibilities of dimmers are as follows:
1. Lack of homogeneity in the decrease in the intensity or power of light.
2. Do not reduce or diméa to 100% that is, from greater power to reach zero.
3. Fliquéo or blink.
Traditional and LEDs
This incompatibility is due to the very nature of traditional dimmers, which were created for incandescent lamps or bulbs, not LEDs.
Traditional dimmers for halogens (which are a variant of incandescent dimmers), also called "dimmer legacies", operate in a "linear" way, coinciding with the oscillatory wave of voltage and current. Traditional lighting follows Ohm's law (I=V/R) where Resistance (R) establishes the different stages.
On the other hand, dimmers for LEDs incorporate a diode-capacitor to use constant current. This diode rectifies the alternating current voltage, allowing the capacitor storage to be charged. Among the most outstanding companies that work with dimmers we can mention Lutron, Levinton, GE, among others.
The "controllers" had a very important participation in the use of infrared technology and its use in basic functions such as energy management in intelligent systems. It is increasingly common to see applications to raise or lower blinds, curtains, curtains, etc. Audio and video systems already use pre-recorded functions in controllers installed on the walls or with their corresponding "apps" that can be downloaded to cell phones with LCD display (IPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Nokia, Microsoft, Sailfish, Bada, etc.)
With the advance of WiFi and Wireless technology, you can leave the house without worrying if you have left the lights on, or the garage door open (in the United States this is very common), or activate the Alarm System of the house, all this, through the phone.
At the event, LED lighting was present with the firm RS LED, where it deployed technology using LEDs from Nichia and Samsung.
In the solar panel sector, you can already see "diy- Do it yourself" products where the installation of a photovoltaic panel is no longer anyone's mystery. The solar panels receive power during the day and store current and then, through an "inverter" go from low voltage to line voltage (in the USA it is 110 volts). However, the issue is changing because now many LED products require 12 or 24 volts, that is, solar panels are the ideal product for smart buildings that take advantage of the use and simplicity of low voltage.
Within the trend of smart buildings we also find the use and recycling of rainwater, where they store it to then heat it with the energy of the sun and use it as hot water for its inhabitants. These smart buildings increasingly emphasize the use of natural light and green spaces with plants within the premises.
Conclusions
The world is preparing for a decline in power generation. The search for energy generation by alternative means is not only a matter of pollution or getting out of dependence on oil, but it is a reality kept with seven keys.
Smart buildings are the logical alternative for when the world begins to perceive that the cost of electricity is rising, and even with money, energy is often not obtained due to infrastructure. Everything points to rationing, to the decrease in consumption, to the use of dimmers and controllers to make the most of it, spending as little as possible.
*Adrian Morel is a technology consultant in Silicon Valley, California-USA and can be contacted at the following email: [email protected]
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