Study on Conservation Aspects Using LED Technology for Museum Lighting

The use of LEDs in museums is becoming more and more frequent. Benefits are claimed in terms of lighting quality, conservation and maintenance. Nonetheless the impact of LED light on collections preservation is not yet completely explored. The goal of this study was to evaluate, through exposure tests, the colour degradation and fading produced by LED: several white LEDs, with different colour temperature, and a traditional halogen lamp, were used to light up light-responsive samples. The results stressed the importance of the spectral distribution with respect to effective wavelengths in causing colour degradation, and in general white LEDs resulted more suitable, in terms of fading prevention, than traditional halogen light sources

Design and prototyping of a family of OLED luminaires for indoor environmental applications: results from the ODALINE project

Results of the project ‘ODALINE’ (OLED Devices Application in Luminaires for Interior and Exterior lighting) are presented. A team of academic and industrial partners worked together to design and manufacture a family of OLED luminaires. The project went through the following phases: i) analysis of the state-of-the-art of OLED technology; ii) identification of scenarios and application fields for OLED-based lighting systems and definition of requirements and performances expected for each scenario; iii) definition of the concept of new OLED lighting systems and development of their preliminary design; iv) executive design and manufacturing of some prototypes. After the identification of the most suitable OLED unit and of the application scenarios, the concept of the new luminaires was conceived: the luminaires rely on a suitable aggregation of a base module (consisting of an array of 6 OLED units, measuring 30 cm ∗ 20 cm) to provide systems with enhanced properties in terms of high efficiency, high quality light and flexibility as the luminaires can be combined to respond to different lighting tasks for indoor environmental applications. Final output of the research project was the manufacturing of three prototypes: a suspended luminaire (6 basic modules), a free-standing luminaire (4 basic modules) and a task lighting luminaire (1 module). The power supply system, consistently with the general concept, was developed for a single module rather than for the whole luminaire. Its architecture was conceived to allow the control of the luminaire (switching on/off, dimming) through the DALI digital protocol. Furthermore, some secondary optics were conceived and designed to concentrate the Lambertian light output and to increase the utilization factor of the flux

Sheep Wool for Sustainable Architecture

AbstractSheep wool is a natural material, already used for thermal insulation of pitched roofs, in the form of soft mats. The paper presents a research project called Cartonlana, concerning a new sheep wool-based product with two main innovative features: it is a stiff panel, unlike the existing soft wool mats; it has a low environmental impact, using local recycled sheep wool, otherwise disposed as special waste. Physical and chemical properties of Cartonlana panel were determined by measurements, in order to demonstrate its effectiveness as insulation for buildings: thermal conductivity, acoustic absorption coefficient, absorption of formaldehyde, thermal transmittance of a wall

PoliTo in Light. Progetto e realizzazione di un'installazione temporanea luminosa nella corte d'onore del Castello del Valentino a Torino.

L'articolo presenta gli esiti del progetto PoliTo in Light, attività ideata da un gruppo di studenti e resa concreta grazie al sostegno della Commissione Contributi e Progettualità studentesca del Politecnico di Torino. Sotto la referenza scientifica delle Prof.sse Chiara Aghemo, Annalisa Dameri e Costanza Roggero e la guida tecnica del Laboratorio di Anali e Modellazione dei sistemi ambientali (LAMSA - DAD), gli studenti si sono confrontati con il tema del lighting design e del suo rapporto con contesti di eccezionale valore culturale, come il caso del Castello del Valentino. Il progetto, nato con la collaborazione di numerosi Partner esterni all'Ateneo (Città di Torino, Iren Servizi s.p.a, AIDI, AEIT, Elettrogruppo ZeroUNO), ha avuto il suo incipit con un concorso di idee da cui è stata selezionata l'dea vincitrice, approfondita in un secondo momento sino alla costruzione di un prototipo in scala reale

A Urban Lighting Renovation Project to Optimize Environmental Performance and Reduce Energy Consumption: Results of a Measurement Campaign

In the last few years, the need to reduce costs and to limit energy consumption, together with the availability of financial and carbon reduction incentives led many public authorities to undertake the renovation of public lighting installations. In the North of Italy, a major program of public lighting renovation is being implemented in Torino since 2015. To verify the effectiveness of the interventions, the performance of the new LED lighting systems compared to the previous installations were assessed through measurement campaigns and computer simulations. The paper presents the main features of the project, the methodology adopted for the performance evaluation campaign and the results obtained in terms of both lighting performance (measured luminances and illuminances over representative areas) and energy performance (calculated Power Density and Annual Energy Consumption Indicators as defined in the EN 13201-5:2015)

Development and Metrological Characterization of a Multi-sensor Device for Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) monitoring

Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), which affects people's health, comfort, well-being and productivity, combines thermal, visual, acoustic and air quality conditions. This work deals with design, development and metrological characterization of a low-cost multi-sensor device that is able to detect the quality conditions of indoor environments for IEQ purposes. The device, hereafter referred as PROMET&O (PROactive Monitoring for indoor EnvironmenTal quality & cOmfort) embeds a set of low-cost sensors that measure air temperature and relative humidity, illuminance, sound pressure level, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, particulate matter, formaldehyde, and nitrogen dioxide. The basic architecture of the device is described and the design criteria that are related to the measurement requirements are highlighted. Particular attention has been paid towards the traceability assurance of the measurements provided by PROMET&O by means of specifically conceived calibration procedures, which have been tailored to the requirements of each measurement quantity. The calibration is based on the comparison to reference standards following commonly employed or ad-hoc developed technical procedures. The defined calibration procedures can be applied both for the single sensors and for the set of sensors integrated in the multi-sensor case. For the latter, the effects of the percentage of permeable case surface and the sensors allocation are also investigated. A preliminary uncertainty evaluation of the proposed multi-sensor device is reported for the carbon dioxide and the illuminance sensors taking the defined calibration procedures into account

Solid State Lighting systems for application in museums

This thesis presents the results of an experimental study dealing with conservation of artefacts and visual perception for visitors when Solid State Lighting (SSL) is used in museums. The characterization of white LED sources with different spectral distribution has been carried out, focussing on colour rendering properties and potential damage for museum collections. Conservative aspects have been further investigated with experimental series on fading of light-responsivity materials, showing the suitability of LEDs with respect to traditional light sources such as dichroic halogen lamps. The study on visual comfort and perception of artworks under SSL has been conducted through objective and subjective evaluations of different LED system configurations within a typical museum showcase. The results have demonstrated the potential suitability of LED lighting for this application, but also outlined some drawbacks with respect to lighting quality and visibility of displayed object