Working under the open sky – it sounds enticing, but it’s seldom really a practical option. Now, a dynamic luminous ceiling brings the sky into office spaces by creating the effect of passing clouds. This kind of lighting generates a pleasant working environment.

Enlarge image The dynamic luminous ceiling gives the feeling of working under the open sky (© Fraunhofer IAO) The innovative luminous ceiling, which was developed by the Fraunhofer researchers in close collaboration with their partners at LEiDs GmbH, consists of 50cm by 50cm tiles.

“Each tile comprises an LED board with 288 light emitting diodes (LEDs),” states Dr. Matthias Bues, head of department at the IAO. “The board is mounted on the ceiling. A diffuser film in matt white is attached approximately 30cm beneath the LEDs and ensures that the individual points of light are not perceived as such. This diffuser film creates homogenous lighting that illuminates the room throughout.”

The researchers use a combination of red, blue, green and white LEDs in order to produce the full light spectrum. This combination makes it possible to generate more than 16 million hues. What’s more, the white LEDs are more energy efficient than the coloured lights, which keeps the energy costs to a minimum.

A prototype of this virtual sky has now been developed that contains a total of 34,560 LEDs spanning an area of 34 square meters. At full power, the “sky” lights up with an intensity of more than 3,000 lux, but 500 to 1,000 lux is sufficient to create a comfortable level of lighting.