25 YEARS LAB FOR LIGHTING TECHNOLOGY

CAMPUS NEWS

What do Paris, Eindhoven and Ghent have in common? All three are called ‘city of lights’. If Paris owes its name to the Enlightenment, and Eindhoven to Philips’ light bulbs, Ghent can call upon not only a true Festival of Light, but also the Laboratory of Light Technology. On 6 September 2022, the lab celebrated its silver jubilee on the Ghent Campus of KU Leuven.

Measuring light, manipulating light, assessing light, doing business with light ... these are just a few of the experiments and demonstrations with which the researchers of the celebrating lab displayed their knowledge and skills. From a one-man initiative of Prof. Peter Hanselaer, the lab has grown into a sizeable SMB with more than 20 employees: professors, researchers, and PhD students. A significant proportion of them were not yet born when the lab saw the light of day.

Visual comfort

The Laboratory for Lighting Technology was founded in 1997 at the then KAHO Sint-Lieven University College, which was already a pioneer in applied scientific research at the time. Actually, the lab owes its existence to the HOBU fund with which the Flemish government wanted to upgrade technological research at the university colleges and stimulate knowledge transfer to companies. The research focus of the lab evolved from solar cells (from light to electricity) over LED lighting (from electricity to light’ to the perception of light. From the outset, the Ghent lab combined PhD research with services to industry and cooperation in many fields such as indoor lighting, perception, optical design and metrology.

A common thread running through the now impressive research work is the influence of light on people, more specifically on health, well-being and visual comfort in general. Appropriate lighting improves sleep quality and the ability to concentrate, and thus efficiency at the workplace, school or office. Two of the lab’s research projects recently appeared in the media in this connection: one on the importance of daylight in classrooms and another on the positive influence of light on elderly people suffering from dementia in residential care centres. Pioneering research on sensor-based control systems was further carried out by the lab. Via daytime control, presence detection and remote control, such systems contribute greatly to optimal lighting. From there, it is only a small step to the Internet of Things and intelligent systems.

In recent years, the lab has profiled itself as a knowledge and innovation centre on sustainable lighting technologies. In cooperation with the government and business partners, projects on energy-efficient and sustainable lighting of buildings, roads, business premises and public places are set up.

Green light

During the anniversary celebrations on 6 September, the new batch of Enlightenment experts was also officially proclaimed. Eighteen students successfully completed the eighth edition of the specialisation course in lighting and received the corresponding certificate from KU Leuven. The course participants are architects, designers, prevention consultants, installers, energy experts, facility managers who are fascinated by the applications of lighting technology.

The specialisation course is organised by Groen Licht Vlaanderen (GLV), a spin-off of the Laboratory for Lighting Technology. GLV is a lighting cluster to which more than 80 companies belong and which has been recognised by the Flemish government as an Innovative Business Network. GLV organises training courses and study days and acts as the voice of the lighting sector. As a member of the European Lighting Cluster Alliance, GLV represents the sector at foreign forums. Well-known publications of the consortium are ‘Light and Schools’, ‘Human Centred Lighting’ and ‘Energy-efficient Lighting for SMEs’.

Masters

The icing on the cake of the Ghent lab is the Erasmus Mundus Japan-Master of Science in Imaging & Light in Extended Technology (IMLEX) that started in the academic year 20-21. This is a two-year programme from four partner universities in Finland, Japan, France and Belgium that combines lighting, light processing and ICT with practical applications such as Extended Reality, Mixed & Virtual, robotics, rending, etc. Students are expected to take part of the course at three of the universities involved. In December 2021, the lab set up a collaboration with TU Eindhoven’s Intelligent Lighting Institute (ILI) and TU Delft’s Perceptual Intelligence Lab with the aim of putting a world-class Dutch-Flemish lighting institute on the map.

Farewell

At the conclusion of the anniversary celebrations, Prof. Hanselaer announced that in the next few years, he would concentrate primarily on his new duties as campus chair and academic administrator of the Ghent Campus. After 25 years, the founder leaves behind a monument that is among the world’s best. A new generation of seasoned specialists is ready to take up the torch and shine its light on ... light.

Yves Persoons

www.iiw.kuleuven.be/onderzoek/lichttechnologie

Left to right front row: Frédéric Leloup, Stijn Beuckels, Tamara De Jaegher, Hang Phung, Ujjayantha Bhaumik, Begga Karadza, Eva Bauwens, prof. Peter Hanselaer, Catherine Lootens 2nd row: prof. Kevin Smet, Laurens Van de Perre, Ravi Kishore, Inneke Huts, Jeroen Cerpentier, prof. Wouter Ryckaert, Kaveh Ahmadian and prof. Youri Meuret 3rd row: Rik Spieringhs, Nick Rondelez, Jan Audenaert, Roel Daneels and Ching-Wei Lin

©Yasmina Besseghir