Sensor Switch is one of the leading providers of lighting control products. It was established in 1987, and it continues to be an authority in sensor products and lighting control products and technology. With its long standing experience in providing lighting solutions to a wide array of clients and companies, it has proven itself capable of being innovative and creative in dealing with lighting challenges.
Sensor Switch is also an engineering driven company, with many of its products and technology patented for their sole use. They continuously strive to develop new lighting solutions so as to keep up with the ever changing demands for lighting, and to provide efficient and effective lighting solutions for every client. Sensor Switch seeks to maintain an environment that welcomes ideas and innovation as well as an environment that thinks out of the box so as to keep progressing.
Sensor Switch is part of the umbrella of companies of Acuity Brands Lighting, one of the leading lighting corporations of the United States. Sensor Switch shares Acuity dedication to sustainable development and green lighting, and strives to uphold green values both in its products and within its own work environment.
As a prominent company for lighting sensors, networked lighting controls, and advanced sensor technology, Sensor Switch plays a significant role in Acuity Brands dedication and commitment to green lighting.
II.Sustainable Design
Sustainable design is fast becoming an important part of architecture and building design. As the need for buildings to maintain a green environment and to have a minimal impact on its natural environment grows, sustainable design also grows and develops as an answer to those needs.
More than being the latest architectural trend, sustainable design is well on its way to becoming the norm in the near future. Not only does it minimize pollutants and other negative emissions from a building, it also conserves essential resources such as water and electricity. Sustainable design also best suits longevity and efficiency, which would prove beneficial for any building, whether industrial or residential.
The need for sustainable design has been recognized by numerous prominent companies, including Acuity Brands Lighting with its dedication and commitment to green lighting as an important aspect of sustainable design.
Of the various components of sustainability in a building, lighting or green lighting is being practiced by designers more than others. This is because the benefits of green lighting extend far beyond that of environmental friendliness but is also significant in terms of cost cutting and energy saving. Thus, the return of investment is evident, making it the better and greener choice for most buildings.
III.Green Lighting
Green lighting involves designing the lighting for a building to be in line with the principles of sustainable design. Sustainable design means designing a building to have minimal negative impact on its natural environment. This means making use of recycled or reused materials, having an efficient waste management system, and lessening the consumption of energy.
While there are several ways in which a building can consume energy such as the heating and cooling of a building environment lighting consumes the most energy, with energy consumption for lighting generally reaching 40-50%. Sensor Switch seeks to lessen the energy consumption of lighting by creating a networked lighting control system that can ensure that the lights are not unnecessarily consuming energy for unoccupied areas and by making full use of natural light. Thus, having lighting control products is an essential part of green lighting.
More and more companies are opting for green lighting for its numerous benefits. Green lighting consumes a significantly lesser amount of energy, cutting down on utility costs. And because green lighting also features more advanced lighting products that outlast traditional bulbs and lamps, the necessity for constantly replacing lighting products also lessens, thus cutting down on maintenance costs. Most importantly, having properly functioning lighting products that can be configured and controlled to the clients specifications means that an ideal and visually conducive working environment can be achieved. This can translate to a comfortable working environment for a company employees which means a higher productivity rate with fewer instances of absenteeism.
Lighting control is a key element of green lighting. With the ability to control lighting and configure it to a building specific needs, the end user is ensured that lights are never needlessly consuming vital energy. A lighting control system would generally include the dimming of lights, day lighting or daylight harvesting, light scheduling, and light networking. These can be achieved with a variety of products offered by Sensor Switch such as occupancy sensors and vacancy sensors, daylight harvesting sensors, lighting control systems like nLight, among others.
IV.Products and Technology
Sensor Switch strives to develop the technology and the products for every lighting control needs of its clients. Its current products are already designed to fit every building setting, including industrial buildings, warehouses, schools, government buildings, and even residential buildings. These products have also been tested and fine tuned to make sure that they will constantly perform and deliver to its clients.
Occupancy and Vacancy Sensors
Some of Sensor Switch more notable products include the occupancy and vacancy sensors. These sensors have been designed to detect whether a specified area is in use by detecting the presence of people. When the area has been detected as occupied, the sensors can then turn up the lights to its optimal setting. However, when the room is left vacant the sensors will either dim the lights to a reconfigured setting or turn the lights off completely so as not to needlessly consume energy, depending on the clients settings.
These occupancy and vacancy sensors are incorporated with a dual technology Passive Infrared (PIR) and Microphonics. In making use of not just one but two ways of detecting occupation, it ensures that the sensors are always accurate and functional.
The Passive Infrared technology makes use of lenses and collector beams to detect the presence of people. These beams are bounced out to the room and as they are blocked by a persons body, the sensor is informed that the room is occupied. The Passive Infrared technology is designed in such a way that obstructions in a given room or area will not get in the way of its ability to detect people or its accuracy.
As the Passive Infrared technology functions as the sensors eyes, Microphonics is its ears, allowing the sensors to hear sounds and make them out as sounds created by people. This will allow the sensor to respond appropriately to their presence. Microphonics has been designed to make out sounds naturally made by people such as talking and laughter. It is also capable of detecting and filtering out ambient sounds as well as repetitive sounds such as those made by the ticking of a clock.
With the two forms of technology working hand in hand within Sensor Switchs occupancy and vacancy sensors, clients are ensured of its efficiency and effectiveness in controlling lights to specific configurations and settings.
Daylight Harvesting Sensors
Another way of cutting down on energy costs is by daylighting, a term used in sustainable design to mean making full use of natural light in illuminating a building. While this involves designing windows to let natural light in, it also involves daylight harvesting sensors to monitor the level of natural light coming in and to match the amount of light emitted by artificial lights in place.
These daylight harvesting sensors function by making use of sensitive photocells that allows it to perceive natural light, thereby adjusting the affected areas artificial lights accordingly to save energy.
Daylight Harvesting sensors work hand in hand with a networked lighting controls system. Since not all areas will be accessible to natural light, lighting can be separated into zones so that those areas which can make use of natural light can be configured separately and accordingly.
nLight
nLight is a new lighting control system that has been designed to incorporate what is termed as distributed intelligence. The nLight system will allow a user to connect all of a buildings sensors through one system by bringing together the sensors, the power packs, the photocells, and wall switches. By incorporating all of the lighting control technology through one portal nLight allows for ease of use and ultimate accessibility.
With nLight, a buildings lighting can be controlled via a stylish LCD gateway or through a web based software designed and provided by Sensor Switch called SensorView. nLight eliminates the need for centrally hardwired lighting equipment, allowing access wherever convenient for the end user.
nLight also incorporates both sensor-based controls and time-based controls, allowing the end user to configure the lighting settings for both. For example, a lighting zone can be configured to go on at the opening time but will also allow for an added configuration that will make use of occupancy sensors so that the lighting system can respond to employees who may arrive earlier than the designated on time.
By incorporating a wide array of settings, modes, and schedules, nLight allows the end user to configure the lighting control system to exact specifications. It also allows for flexibility to fit every buildings lighting needs. Mixing and matching the different settings and modes will also make for efficient energy allocation and optimum energy savings.
V.Client Support
More than offering products and technology for lighting control, Sensor Switch also offers a variety of technical services to ensure that the client will be adept in making full use of the systems and products provided by Sensor Switch.
These would include hands on training at an on-site center for the end user, the modeling of facility occupancy patterns to be used for the Data Logger Monitoring System, and a project layout and design created through AutoCAD with sensors indicated through symbols and menus.
