PureSpectrum Announces Dimmable Ballast Technology Compatible With Daylight Harvesting & Sensor Lighting
PureSpectrum, Inc. announced that it has developed proprietary dimming ballast circuitry which it claims would lower the cost to manufacture lighting technologies such as daylight harvesting and other sensory lighting.
Daylight harvesting refers to the recently introduced practice of regulating artificial light according to the available amount of ambient or natural light in a room. A dimmable ballast equipped with a sensor detects the amount of ambient light and reduces electric light when more sunlight is available. Because less light is needed during daylight hours, energy cost and consumption are both dramatically decreased.
According to the company, until the development of its dimming technology for linear fluorescent ballasts, the high cost of dimmable ballasts has kept daylight harvesting and other sensory lighting control systems on the fringes of the lighting industry. PureSpectrum expects its ballast technology to bring daylight harvesting into mainstream usage by making it more affordable to implement for large commercial settings with abundant natural light.
PureSpectrum’s dimmable ballast is expected to be substantially less expensive to manufacture than conventional dimmable ballasts for linear fluorescents, because it only contains about 30 electronic components compared to well more than 100 components found in conventional dimmable electronic ballasts. The PureSpectrum ballast is operated by approximately the same number of parts found in inexpensive, non-dimmable ballasts for linear fluorescents.
"The secret to our technology is in the circuitry rather than the expensive individual components and pieces," said PureSpectrum President and CEO Lee Vanatta, who said PureSpectrum’s preproduction prototypes were built for less than $10 in components cost without bulk purchasing discounts and using readily off-the-shelf electronic components. "When coupled with photovoltaic daylight harvesting controls, this technology would enable the installation of lighting control system to regulate energy usage without an enormous up-front capital investment. The cost savings in production for the manufacturer would ultimately be passed on to the end user, making the use of daylight harvesting a more viable energy conservation solution in the short term."
Recent independent testing showed that a two-tube, 32W T8 prototype bulb powered by PureSpectrum’s proprietary ballast circuitry surpassed the requirements for the National Electrical Manufacturers Association’s premium efficiency ballast program. The circuitry addresses any fluorescent lighting application, enables linear regressive dimming and features high power factor correction.
