MBR_ISSUE 42_LowRes

Malta Business Review
TECHNOLOGY & MANUFACTURINGM
LOCALLY MANUFACTURED
LED LIGHTING
Lighting design plays a key role in the
functionality of sporting facilities. As well
as providing illumination for players,
officials and spectators, sports lighting
must also fulfil various characteristics to
optimise the quality of indoor and outdoor
sports and recreation spaces.
Altern limited (www.altern.com.mt) have
been working on INNOVLED, a project
whose aim is to develop an LED floodlight
for sports applications. The project is funded
through FUSION, a research and innovation
programm launched by MCST. Altern brings
in extensive expertise and experience within
the sustainability and lighting industry, today
offering a range of locally built LED lights.
In order to better understand the required
characteristics of the product, the project
team have been working with a number of
local sports facilities to gain an insight into the
lighting needs of different sites, as well as the
current challenges faced.
Following in depth research into the lighting
requirements for different sports, the design
team visited multiple facilities and conducted
site surveys and interviews with Facilities
Managers. The surveys revealed that there are
lighting installations of widely varying quality
in the sports facilities, with some falling below
recommended guidelines for lighting levels
and lighting uniformity. Further, through
interviews it became apparent that sports
facilities face various challenges relating to
their lighting. While some installations may
meet the lighting output requirements,
most are hard to access, difficult to maintain,
and are relatively high energy consumers.
Further, control of these lighting installations
was highlighted as an issue, with most of the
on-site staff having issues switching on only
those luminaires which were required, and
not being able to dim or vary the light output
from the current installations.
Using the findings from interviews and
surveys, together with research carried out,
the project team at Altern have been designing
a high-power LED floodlight which will satisfy
lighting requirements and provide additional
functionality. LEDs are ideal for sports
applications as they have high light output to
power ratios, have long lifetimes, require low
maintenance and provide lighting instantly.
They can also be closely controlled and
programmed to vary light output depending
on the particular use of the space, making
them suitable for multi-use spaces such as
sports halls used for conferences or events.
Over the past months, Altern has built and
installed prototypes in selected sports facilities,
and carrying out in-depth monitoring, the
findings from which have been used to further
develop the luminaire and control system
design. This shall ensure that INNOVLED
luminaires meet all required characteristics
and provide high quality sports and leisure
facilities which can be enjoyed by participants,
officials, spectators and building managers.
Altern is a company based in Malta which
specialises in sustainable energy services
and solutions. Altern can offer complete
custom design and manufacturing of LED
luminaires for different applications, with
in-house expertise on digital lighting design
and light manufacturing. MBR
For Further Information:
www.altern.com.mt | info@altern.com.m
|+356 2099 6465
Credit: Altern
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