Illumination expert Genlux Lighting has introduced a new laboratory to its facility in Germiston, on Johannesburg’s East Rand, bringing specialised light testing equipment to its already impressive factory.
“We are now able to conduct a greater variety of tests than previously, when we were wholly reliant on external certified third-party labs for testing purposes,” says Ian Marais, Genlux’s Systems Engineer who is in charge of the brand’s product developers and lighting designers. “Having our own in-house test facility enables us to do batch testing to more accurately establish the integrity of our products in accordance with their official certification requirements. We can now do more detailed and customised testing than before. In addition, it gives us much more scope than previously to develop and test workable new lighting designs.”
Marais says that Genlux’s new facility gives the company an advantage in that it can now meet customers’ requirements more efficiently, accurately and rapidly. “The cutting-edge high-tech test equipment Genlux has acquired for this lab comprises a goniophotometer and a spectrometer that operate automatically in tandem when testing lighting products or simulations of lighting designs,” says Marais.
The synergy between the two instruments enables Genlux to optimise lighting designs, ensure uniform illumination, evaluate colour quality and enhance energy efficiency. The goniophotometer may best be described as a sophisticated specialised computer and is situated at one end of the rectangular lab, while the spectrometer, which is situated at the other end of the lab facing the goniophotometer, is a specialised high-tech camera.
“A luminaire that has to undergo testing is mounted on the top of the goniophotometer and in the test procedure the luminaire is rotated in a series of different angles to enable the two instruments to register and record the luminaire intensity and distribution,” says Marais, concluding, “The instruments are able to produce photometry data files in accordance with an internationally recognised data file format that is fed into lighting design software, which in turn generates the lighting design simulations that are tested for accuracy and effectiveness.”
Enquiries: www.genluxlighting.co.za
