International. Paris-based rental company Lumière & Son has been the official equipment supplier for the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix for years. In this edition, the company decided to illuminate the well-known tunnel located between the Fairmont hotel and the Monte Carlo Casino with LED lighting. To achieve this, they used 80 units of the SGM Q-7 RGBW short throw flood luminaire and 170 units of the SGM P-5 RGBW wash with a 43º lens.
At the beginning of the 90s, and under the request of the pilot Alain Prost, it was decided to illuminate the tunnel for the first time. Considering that cars reach speeds of up to 300 km/h, driving through a dark tunnel can result in a fatal outcome. The effect is multiplied at the exit of the tunnel, when the pilots must face the dangerous glare produced by sunlight.
Emulating sunlight
The tunnel was illuminated for years with two types of conventional luminaires: halogen lamps (thanks to their ease of providing light instantaneously) and HPI-T lamps (of great light intensity). It was always considered important to install both types of lights, as HPI-T discharge lamps could not be turned back on in a few seconds if a voltage outage occurred. Halogen lamps would be responsible for providing light if such a thing happened.
SGM's IP65-certified LED technology was presented as a solution to the problems arising from lighting the tunnel. Pilots had always complained, among other things, about the dominant yellowishness caused by halogen lights. Using SGM luminaires the problem was eliminated, as they are able to deliver a color temperature very close to daylight. The drivers valued the change very positively.
Another great challenge for the lighting of the tunnel is caused by the fact that there is a closed part and another laterally open to the coast, so that any luminaire installed in that section has to face the possible corrosion caused by constant splashes of seawater. This problem does not affect SGM's P-5 and Q-7 luminaires at all, which are protected under IP65 certification. Pierre Heyligen, director of Lumière & Son, commented:
"The truth is that if we wanted to ensure a high light intensity inside the tunnel, we did not have too many alternatives to conventional luminaires. We had several problems with different luminaires, which despite being IP65, were not sealed well enough to withstand the splashes of the sea. We can now use SGM's LED technology, which gives us high light intensity and ensures a waterproof airtight seal."
