purpose ECS Philips control system.

Commissioned by Skansa, Philips needed to produce a solution which not only met the MOD’s many strict requirements, but also

acknowledged the official building’s unique power problems.

The government body stated that it required a highly efficient system which had overall central computer supervision, but supplied

total flexibility to control any luminaire or group of luminaries from any manual or automatic switching device. Additional demands

included the individual and centralised control of light levels throughout the building, emergency lighting testing facilities and corridor

linking to light escape routes during building evacuation.

These aims had to be achieved whilst working within the restrictions inherent in the fact that the MOD structure had three separate

power supplies, but no space within the ceiling voids to incorporate three separate lighting control systems.

The technology company’s solution was to fit the ECS Philips LightMaster 100 centralised lighting control system with Digital

Addressable Lighting Interface hardware (DALI). Each DALI luminaire ballast has a unique address to which is sent its own specific

switching and dimming instructions from a digital data stream carried round a building by a two-wire low-voltage cable. A DALI ballast

can also transmit information concerning its own serviceability, or that of the lamps it controls, back to the supervisory computer. In

addition, the mains wiring is simple and completely independent of the control circuits. All DALI equipment is addressable individually

and luminaires can be controlled together regardless of power source, therefore the MOD’s multiple power sources posed no problem

at all.

The MOD’s new lighting complies with rigorous emergency light testing requirements. Linking of luminaires in corridors and exit

routes will provide safe evacuation by ensuring that lighting remains on for a pre-selected time in an emergency. Any future workspace

function or occupancy changes will need no more work than a simple reconfiguring of the centralised computer and relocation of the

portable wireless infra-red controls. This can be done outside normal business hours, eliminating office downtime altogether.

DALI works with a number of supervisory systems recommended by Philips Lighting to provide the optimum match to a specific

customer’s needs. LightMaster was selected as the most appropriate system for the MOD. This system is specifically designed to

simplify reconfiguration through its powerful Windows-based LightManager software. LightMaster systems have been installed in more

than 100 projects, including Credit Suisse in London and Singapore.

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