Scientific Interest

In recent years, there has been an increasing push from the scientific community to better understand the neurophysiological effects that artificial lighting systems have on humans. This research was brought to the attention of Eulum Design after being introduced to Professor Steven W Lockley of the University of Surrey’s Sleep Research Centre, and Harvard Medical School’s Division of Sleep Medicine.

After this introduction, Eulum Design was employed to create true Circadian Rhythm boards for the Sleep Labs at the University of Surrey. It was made clear to us that nearly all Circadian Rhythm LED solutions being sold in the market were simply using the term for marketing, featuring no blue-light enrichment or fine spectral tuning. Rather they were more akin to regular tunable white LEDs.

To resolve this, Eulum Design created a custom LED board with 7 LEDs; 3 whites for detailed Tunable-White, Red, Green, Blue and a specialised Enriched-Blue.

The results gained from this research and similar studies, have been published in many Scientific Journals, including Nature, PLOS Biology and Nature of Science and Sleep. These results have shown the incredible effects enriched light can have if used correctly, including:

• Reducing rates of anxiety and depression in shift workers. (1)

• Reduced likelihood of road traffic accidents involving workers returning from a shift. (1)

• Increasing the focus levels, reaction times and critical thinking skills of workers. (2)

• Reduction in the number of falls occurring and medicine requirements in care homes. (3)

After centuries of outdoor living, Humans developed innate neurophysiological responses to lighting conditions - whether it be the dim, warm light of a campfire at night or the bright, cool light of the afternoon sun. This is now known as Circadian Rhythm.

High-End LED lighting is trending towards a human-centric approach. Instead of simply meeting targets of luminosity and CCT, Lighting Designers require low-glare, high CRI lights that improve the feeling of the space. The next step on this path is enriched lighting. With the improvements to mood, focus and health research is indicating, blue enriched lighting will be desirable for factories, offices and classrooms worldwide. However modern solutions are inefficient and far too cool (from 6500K up to 10,000K!). This is where Eulum Design can help.

Eulum’s HCL LED board combines the high output, CRI and enrichment requirements, into a single, 4-channel, highly efficient package. Featuring 3 white chips (2000K, 4000K, 6000K) as well as our speciality enriched-blue LED, tuned to the exact wavelength that our non-visual receptors require.

The combination of these features is a high-output LED board capable of providing a tunable DER (up to 1.4), whilst retaining a 90CRI output, tunable to any colour temperature within a 2700-6500K range.

Available as custom shaped rigid boards, linear boards, flexible tape or flexible panels, HCL LEDs can be integrated by OEMs into nearly any product. Allowing the health benefits of this technology to reach the market rapidly.

Controllable with any 4-Channel PWM controller, the HCL LED range pairs perfectly with the NDRV-L-CSB-4, bringing the additional benefits of wireless Casambi control and day-cycle automation.