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THECOMMERCIAL GREENHOUSEGROWER • APRIL 2018
LIGHTING •
Therewereplenty of lightingdevelopments at lastmonth’s
IPM, inEssen. StevenValeprovides a reviewof some
of the highlights from the 2018 editionof thepopular
German show.
Bright lights at the
Essen Fairgrounds
Hall 3was theplace tobe for anyone keen to catchup
on all the latest grow light developments. Exhibiting at
IPM for the third successful year, Austrian firmSANlight
sells a range of top-lights, inter-lights andmulti-layer
lighting systems. Designed for the latter, and covering the
spectrum 400-780nm, the FlexSeries comprisesmodular
andpassively-cooledLEDmodules that canbe connected
in series. Improvements since the last show a year ago
include further fine-tuningof the spectrum and improved
efficiency, and the company has developed several new
systems to simplify installation. This includes a supporting
rail intowhich the fixtures are clicked, withplenty of room
for thepower cable.
Last year, the company launched theP-4Series top light
LEDs, and at this year’s IPM showed an easier installation
system to allow these toquickly replace traditional HPS
lamps. The newly-developedmodule allows different
numbers of P-4 luminaires tobe combined, todevelop
a system to replace 400, 600 and1000watt HPS lamps.
SANlight says it is currently talking tonumerousBritish
contacts and expects tohave a trial project up and
running in theUK sometime soon.
HortiluxSchréder continues todevelop newgrow lights,
both LED andHPS, but therewas no hardware on the
stand. Instead, the company put the spotlight on a new
digital tool calledHortisense, which allows cropmanagers
to use grow lights correctly to increase efficiency/sq.m.
Previewed at the last show in 2017, anddescribed as a
system that takes lighting to the next level, Hortisense
provides growerswith all relevant informationon
grow light processes and systems in a single easy-to-
understanddigital platform. Sensors andPLC’smonitor
and safeguard various greenhouse grow light processes.
Software applications interpret thedata andpresent it
IPM REVIEW: GROW LIGHTS
SupplyingLEDmanufacturerswith cooling systems remains the corebusiness ofMTXMechaTronix.
