California Lighting Technology Center - Self Commissioning Dual Loop Sensor Dimming Technololgy for Daylight Harvesting

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Self Commissioning Dual Loop Sensor Dimming Technololgy for Daylight Harvesting

The proposed project is a partnership among the California Lighting Technology Center, WattStopper/Legrand, Wal-Mart, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric to develop a daylighting control system with increased reliability in sensing daylight variations in the controlled space.

Unreliable daylight sensing has been the main barrier to realizing the benefits of daylighting in practice since the initial implementations of this energy efficiency strategy. The goal of this project is to increase the reliability and effectiveness of daylighting control systems by improving their daylight sensing capabilities in a cost-effective way. This project is focused on removing this main barrier by increasing the reliability of daylight sensing.


Testing space at CLTC to simulate an infinite space		Big-box retail stores provide an ideal application for the dual loop system		Dual loop system installation at Wal-Mart

OBJECTIVE:

To increase the reliability and effectiveness of daylighting control systems by utilizing multiple sensors and intelligent control algorithms in a cost-effective way

APPLICATIONS:

Residential: Kitchens, hallways
Commercial: Hallways, lobbies, meeting spaces, accent lighting

DESCRIPTION / FEATURES:
Self commissioning dual loop sensor dimming technology solves short comings of open loop and closed loop daylight harvesting approaches by combining the two technologies into one.

Employs a closed loop control photosensor and references an open loop photosensor to determine if changes to the closed loop photosensor signal are from daylight or space changes.
Utilizes the information from the open loop system to operate the electric lighting when the closed-loop control sensor is being affected by occupant interference.
Provides a self-commissioning system that determines the closed loop set point and dimming curve by measuring the electric light levels in the space. The system updates every night to adapt to permanent space changes.

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