Lighting system for museums, shops and much more: ERCO consistently expands its spotlight programme

Lüdenscheid, July 2017. With more than 3,000 spotlights, floodlights and wallwashers, which thanks to track mounting can be flexibly used in shops, museums and many other applications, ERCO is one of the leading suppliers in this major lighting segment. The key to planning the rational, safe use of this comprehensive range of products is the strictly logical luminaire system - which ERCO is constantly updating with the most recent upgrades for the spotlight programme.

Track mounted lighting is the most flexible way to bring light into architecture - and it is indispensable for lighting effects, for example, in museums, in the retail and hospitality sectors and in the home. There are always two design dimensions to light concepts with spotlights: on one hand the qualities of the spotlights as lighting tools with respect to light distribution, colour of light or lumen package - on the other hand the design of the spotlight, which must be suitable for the use and the individual interior design. These qualities of light are the means of expression, with which the lighting designer interprets and creates the architecture, defines spaces, displays objects and captures the observer's attention.

Luminaire system creates planning reliability

The ERCO luminaire system makes complex lighting technology easy to understand and use. The added value for designers is contained in the consistent quality, compatibility and comparability of the spotlights, floodlights and wallwashers - even if the manufacturer's various spotlight families are differentiated by their design, their standard of equipment and their areas of application. This starts with the uniform qualities of the LEDs used with respect to colour temperature, quality of colour, and luminous flux. ERCO offers neutral white (4000K) and warm white (3000K) as a starting point. In this way the light can both create subtle contrasts in the space and emphasise the character of colours and materials.

Extra wide flood - new light distribution for extra efficient lighting

The specific lens systems in the spotlights, floodlights and wallwashers with their different distributions form the core of the ERCO luminaire system. Designers can rely on it: narrow spot remains narrow spot - with the exactly identical narrow beam angle in every spotlight family. Overall the light distributions encompass the rotationally symmetric spotlight characteristics of narrow spot through spot, flood, wide flood up to extra wide flood, the axisymmetric oval flood light distribution and the asymmetric wallwash light distribution. The latter, the jewel in the crown in ERCO light technology, determines the consistency in wallwashing, which is essential for perception oriented lighting design.

The new extra wide flood light distribution, which is available from January 2017 for all ERCO spotlights, forms the bridge between spotlights and the downlighter programme: Even with track spotlight concepts the wide >80° beam angle makes uniform levels of ambient flood lighting possible, which offers high energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness through wide luminaire spacing - and with outstanding glare control. It also offers a new possibility of accentuating large objects even when there is very little distance between luminaire and object.

Fine nuances in luminous flux for subtle contrasts

Together with spatial light distribution, brightness contrasts are the central design tool for lighting design. In the ERCO luminaire system the lumen packages are bound up with the various sizes. As of now for many spotlights ERCO is offering two additional lumen packages per size. Thus, for example, a spotlight with 3 LEDs and optional 8W connected load and lumen package of 551lm is also available with 12W connected load and a lumen package of 740lm. This provides a lighting tool ideally suited to every application - both for the differentiated lighting required for the conservation of vulnerable exhibits, as well as for powerful light for an open, inviting atmosphere in shops.

All ERCO spotlights are DALI-controllable, potentiometer and phase dimmable as well as switchable. They dim from 100% to 0.1%, which produces the maximum gentle fade-out. The control gear for the spotlights - an ERCO in-house development -is of the highest quality.

Parscan: Systematically expanded

The Parscan family is the perfect example of the added value of the ERCO luminaire system. This extensive spotlight family in the ERCO programme can perform the most varied of lighting tasks in museums and prestigious retail projects. A new, extremely small size creates even more scope for creative applications. Its dimensions have been minimised to give it the proportions of a classic museum spotlight. The control gear is integral to the luminaire head. Like its big brothers and sisters its compact swivel mechanism makes it suitable for mounting in ceiling channels and of course, it is available not only with all seven light distributions, but also in two performance levels and colour temperatures.

In this way the ERCO luminaire system combines two apparent opposites. On one hand an extremely differentiated, rich offer in flexible lighting tools and on the other particularly easy, safe planning and application - so that lighting designers can make the most of their decision-making freedom.