Digital Addressable Lighting Interface or DALI or simply lighting control systems

The Benefits and Application of DALI Lighting

The term DALI is appearing more and more within the intelligent building industry, but what is it and how can business and home owners benefit from it…

DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface) provides detailed, digital control over lighting, from one user-friendly interface. With an impressive and simple wiring system DALI is able to both send and receive signals from individual lamp ballasts, allowing the user to manage lighting on a group or individual level, and also to receive a certain level of feedback from each ballast on usage and maintenance. This flexibility in control combined with communication between all elements makes for a highly functioning and user-friendly system, configured to require minimal cabling for ease in installation.

The capabilities of DALI lighting controls are well suited to commercial buildings, particularly to hotels, and now an increasing number of large private residences are also turning to DALI for lighting control. To highlight an example within the commercial sector, DALI can be hugely effective when implemented into a conference facility. In a room with say 16 light sources DALI can simultaneously control each on an individual level to gain optimum control over the space as a whole. Controls can also be linked to other electronic devices within the space, for example, on beginning a presentation, the room lighting can dim near to the screen to improve viewing, whilst simultaneously brightening in other areas, for example at the back of the room to highlight doors or refreshment areas.

With the use of lux and movement sensors DALI lighting can automatically provide ‘daylight harvesting’ – the maintaining of an optimum level of light, by only topping-up the natural daylight in a room as and when required. This facility invariably has a huge effect on energy saving, and is particularly useful in public areas such as offices, hotel foyers, health centres, schools and universities.
In a situation where a room has multiple user areas i.e. an open plan office, over-all control can be allowed to be over-ridden on a local level by the occupant/s of any given area, giving them freedom over their own space. On a larger scale where the system spans over rooms and floor levels this function can also be used to monitor usage, and then to charge accordingly on a tenant-by-tenant basis, useful in both residential and commercial settings. The ‘conversation’ held between each lighting element and the central controller also allows for automatic maintenance alerts to be flagged, minimizing repair times and maximizing occupant / tenant experience.

In privately owned residences DALI can be implemented to achieve optimum energy efficiency and comfort for residents. With digital dimming and lamp selection the user has incredible flexibility and the ability to enter pre-sets i.e. bright morning kitchen lighting for reading the paper with breakfast, and low evening wall lighting for relaxing after work. The settings can also be arranged to gradually fade or interact with other controlled electrical devises within the home.
It is accepted that best practice when looking to utilise the benefits of DALI is to use KNX protocol to provide the overall system back bone. Switches, movement detectors and any other field devices would be provided by the KNX system along with the high level of intelligence and control which is necessary

Ref: INTECH.com