No, we are not offered to talk about our dreams, lying at home on the couch and looking at the lamp. The leader of the world lighting technology market, the company Signify (ex-Philips Lighting), has developed a new line of Philips Hue products, which is not only integrated into the smart home system, but also adjusts to the biological rhythms of the people living in it. We are talking about the so-called circadian lighting, which corresponds to the circadian rhythms of the human body and minimizes the negative impact of artificial light on the production of melatonin, solving sleep problems and more.
The Hue Go portable lamp can be used in different parts of the house or garden, both indoors and on the terrace or gazebo. On the bedside table, it will be useful as a night lamp, promoting falling asleep and sound sleep
Developments in this area have been carried out for several decades and were aimed primarily at increasing efficiency in offices and production. At the same time, circadian lighting began to be used in medical centers as an auxiliary means that accelerates the recovery process of hospitalized patients. When LEDs, which give the opportunity to dim and mix colors, took over the world, dynamic lighting systems imitating changes in light during the day also reached home interiors.
Circadian-oriented design is an important component of a healthy environment for humans
Today, there are several circadian lighting standards, the main one being WELL, established by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) to stimulate the design of buildings that improve the level of comfort, health and well-being of users. To receive points in the category "Circadian lighting design" (L03), all common areas in the project must have lighting that reaches a minimum of 120 EML (equivalent to melanopic lux).
During the day, the temperature of sunlight varies from 10 K to 000 K
Melanopic lux is measured in a vertical plane at the level of a person's eyes. This same standard can be used in residential interiors to develop lighting solutions that support people's visual and biological needs. Given the amount of time we spend in illuminated buildings, circadian-oriented design turns out to be an important part of creating a safe environment for humans.
How it works
An area of the brain called the hypothalamus controls the circadian rhythm of each person, receiving signals from the eyes that read the intensity and color of the light and communicate the time of day. When at the beginning of the XXI century. the third type of photoreceptors of our visual system was discovered - ipRGC, which is sensitive to the spectrum of sunlight and its change during the day, the puzzle was put together and the exact biomechanics of the process became clear.
The Philips Hue wireless system allows you to personalize lighting preferences and diversify the feeling of being at home, depending on how busy you are and your mood
At sunrise, the cool blue light causes the ipRGC receptors to "turn off" the production of the hormone for rest and sleep (melatonin) and to stimulate the hormones of awakening and wakefulness (dopamine, cortisol, serotonin). As the sun sets, the colors become warm, orange-yellow, and this promotes the release of melatonin. Simply put, cold blue light wakes us up, and warm yellow light puts us to sleep, which means that the desired effect can be achieved by adjusting the temperature and color of artificial lighting.
In the middle of the last century, when such masters of lighting design as Dane Paul Henningsen (1894–1967), the author of the legendary PH and Artichoke lamps, were creating, the understanding was not so deep, and the technological possibilities were not so advanced. But even then, Henningsen strove to create, first of all, a lamp that would give soft, diffused light without glare, comfortable for the eyes. All his experiments with the form were aimed precisely at this.
The Philips Hue White smart lamp has almost unlimited possibilities. Creates warm and cold lighting in the range of 2200 - 6500 K, synchronizes the light with music and movies, works in alarm mode, is controlled remotely, can be turned on in your absence
The designer assembled concentric rings-reflectors of the PH series and "Artichoke" leaves into multi-layer lampshades and painted each detail on the outside with glossy paint, and on the inside with matte paint, so that the soft light was reflected evenly. "It doesn't take a lot of money to properly light a room, but it does require culture," Hennigsen wrote. — I started experimenting with light at the age of eighteen, and all this time I tried to find harmony in lighting.
People are like children: as soon as a new toy falls into their hands, they unrepentantly part with their culture and get into trouble. Electricity gave us the opportunity to literally bathe in light. In the evenings, looking from the upper platform of the tram into the windows of the first floor, you can't help but shudder at the despondency of human housing. Furniture, style, carpets — all this is not important compared to the location of the world." And this is what Hennigsen wrote about his compatriots who know how to create a hygge atmosphere, one of the foundations of which is lighting.
The Philips Hue product line corresponds to the circadian rhythms of the human body and minimizes the negative impact of artificial light on the production of melatonin, solving sleep problems and more
As Mike Viking writes in his bestseller, "the lower the temperature of the world, the more hygge." For comparison, the flash temperature of a camera is about 5500 Kelvin (K), a fluorescent tube — 5000 K, an incandescent lamp — 3000 K, and a sunset, burning logs, and candle fire — about 1800 K. This is where, according to Viking, the golden mean of hygge is found.
A self-sufficient lighting system
Modern light sources (luminescent and LED) can have different color temperatures and, accordingly, different intensity of light radiation with a cold color temperature, high indicators of which, as we already know, block the production of melatonin in the evening and lead to sleep disturbances. To take the situation under control, Signify developed three versions of Philips Hue smart lamps: with white light and a constant warm color temperature, with a changeable CT (cold - warm), as well as a lamp that can emit any of the 16 million colors of the TrueColor palette. Having the ability to control the CT, users can set the required light temperature in the range of 2000 - 6500 K to get the desired effect: cheer up or calm down.
The Signe floor lamp with gradient light combines several colors and allows you to create various spectral combinations
The simplest type of smart lamp control is directly from a smartphone via Bluetooth (up to 10 light sources, but only within the limits of one room), more advanced - the lamps are controlled using an additional wireless controller that connects to a WiFi router. The latter option makes it possible to use a Mesh network for the interaction of devices with each other, which allows you to significantly increase both the number of lamps in the network and the distance between the lamps and the controller - up to 50 lamps and accessories throughout the house, and also ensures the joint operation of lighting with other devices "smart home" systems and remote control.
"The Philips Hue smart lighting system is a classic example of innovations that are ahead of their time. In 2012, when the first Philips Hue lamps went on sale, they were the first representatives of "smart" lighting in the consumer segment. None of the competitors believed that this product had any prospects. Nevertheless, the visionary approach and powerful technological background of the Philips company allowed this product not only to "live" until the appearance of the corresponding infrastructure (Apple Home, Google Home), but also to become a growth point for the company in the consumer lighting market.
Having Philips Hue in your arsenal makes it easier and more convenient to experiment with interior lighting
By the way, one of the first partners of Philips Hue was the Apple company, which believed in our product and provided its stores for its sale. Now Philips Hue "smart" home light clearly dominates its segment and provides users around the world with the opportunity to experiment with light, creating a special home atmosphere. And Philips Hue lamps and lights have repeatedly received prestigious design awards: Red Dot Design Award and IF Design Award," says Aleksey Deghtyar, head of Signify Ukraine's marketing department.
Philips Hue is not only lamps, but also LED strips, portable and table lamps, lighting panels, wireless motion sensors and switches that help to illuminate the house intelligently. The line includes all the components for creating a wireless lighting system that allows you to personalize preferences and diversify the feeling of being at home, depending on your busy schedule and mood. In addition, today it is the only smart lighting on the market that works with all popular voice assistants, which greatly simplifies management.
The Philips Hue application helps users navigate the installation, daily control and numerous functions of the lighting system
Creating light scenarios, which used to be the prerogative of interior designers, thanks to Philips Hue has become available to users themselves through a mobile application. The use of three components — the application, the control unit, and the Hue cloud service — which exchange information in real time, allowed Signify to create a progressive system that becomes even smarter with each automatic update. At the same time, do not worry about security either - the system is equipped with protection against external hacking and ensures user confidentiality.
According to Alexey Degtyar, "one of the important advantages of the Philips Hue ecosystem is the open architecture, which allows external developers to write their own applications, which reveal new possibilities for the application of the "smart" light. The second important aspect is taking care of cyber security — the company constantly studies potential risks and regularly releases updates that allow maintaining the security of the system at the highest possible level."
If Paul Henningsen had taken a tram not in the middle of the last century, but in our days, then, having looked into the windows of houses with the Philips Hue system, he would surely have been pleased with the level of modern culture of lighting aimed at human well-being.
Text: Kateryna Oshemkova
