A new model for digital working light - The ERCO Lucy task light

Lüdenscheid, April 2016. From public reading rooms and home offices to open-plan environment and coworking spaces: lighting always requires special consideration to ensure the right balance of ambient light and focused workplace lighting for enhanced concentration and accuracy in the completion of the task at hand. With the new, digital task light Lucy, ERCO offers a solution to the architectural landscape of modern workplaces that breaks new ground in lighting and design: formally minimised, the desk light distances itself from traditional models in favour of a slender aesthetic - equipped with highly efficient LED technology specially developed by ERCO for enhanced visual comfort and energy efficiency.

Public reading rooms and media libraries are well-visited places. Used extensively by hundreds of people a day, they require robust yet flexible equipment, all the while emphasising a high standard of design in their capacity as institutions that reflect the culture and education of the community. With this in mind, the lighting in a public work environment must facilitate the transition in scale from expansive space to individual workplace whilst managing the balance between accentuating the architectural “Gesamtkunstwerk” (in which every detail is designed to be part of a concerted work of art) and meeting the requirements of the individual user.

The Lucy task light was designed by ERCO as the digital response to the challenge of illuminating a demanding environment as efficiently as a modern office or home based workstation. Breaking away from traditional ideas, this lighting tool has the potential to become a model and archetype for working light in the digital age, with a slender yet robust vertical cylinder of almost 75cm and three perfectly shielded light apertures emitting the light in precise yet wide beams for uniform illumination of the horizontal work surface. Lucy can be dimmed down to 1%, with intuitive operation, and the central tubular element can be rotated by 180° for flexible beam alignment. This enables the user to adjust the light individually to the task at hand whilst giving the immediate work environment a clear spatial frame.

Design feature with high visual comfort

As a minimised solution, Lucy makes for a fascinating functional design feature. In a linear arrangement, the luminaire emphasises the lines and structures of the architectural space without detracting from the architecture. The desk light is available in two versions: with a pedestal for flexible positioning in the room or as a permanently installed version for desktops of 10 - 40mm thickness. The excellent visual comfort of the luminaire demonstrates once more expertise of ERCO in guiding light with specialised LED technology. The optical system is recessed into the luminaire, ensuring perfect glare control particularly when facing into the luminaire at a very shallow angle whilst the three projection fields with black anti-glare elements made of polymer additionally minimise reflections.

Precise photometrics for concentrated working

Specially developed ERCO LED control gear and lens systems further enhance the functional design and user-friendly effectiveness of Lucy. The result is flicker-free light of exceptional uniformity with outstanding colour rendering properties as well as a dimming range down to 1% using a dimmer switch, thereby enabling flexible and intuitive adjustment of the light to the task at hand based on the general lighting conditions. This invariably ensures working in the right light, whether on paper, a laptop or a tablet. Lucy is perfectly suitable for the illumination of horizontal surfaces in lighting concepts that include vertical illuminance for balanced light in the working environment, thereby improving concentration and performance by eliminating the need for the eyes to adapt constantly to changing lighting conditions.
 

Efficient and durable

ERCO only uses high-power LEDs with a high luminous efficacy as light sources. With a connected load of just 10W, Lucy produces a luminous flux of 1230lm for neutral white light and 930lm for warm white light. Efficient thermal management ensures that the LEDs and electronics operate permanently under the best conditions, ensuring a long life with high lumen maintenance over a very long period of time. Despite its slender form, the Lucy task light is designed for deployment in the challenging environment of a public space. The aluminium housing is exceptionally robust, with a scratch and impact resistant powder-coated finish, whilst the control gear and sealed optical systems are encased within the luminaire.

Technical features Lucy

LED module: High-power LEDs on metal core PCB, light colours: warm white or neutral white, 3000K / 4000K
Lens system: Softec lens and aluminium vaporised reflector, black anti-glare element made of polymer
Housing: Aluminium profile powder-coated, white (RAL9002), 180° rotation, push-button with integrated dimmer
Pedestal: Cast aluminium, powder-coated, base made of non-slip polymer, anthracite
Desk fixing: Installation bush, brass, powder-coated, for desk thicknesses of 10 - 40mm, screw fixing
Control gear: Dimmable