From a “green perspective” the ParaBeams provide great energy savings.
For example: 2000Watt Quartz softlight = 16 amps
220Watt ParaBeam 400’s = 2.0 amps
Both have the same light output.
The air conditioning load to handle heat generated by lighting is calculated in Btu/kWhr.
2000Watts = 6826 Btu/kWhr
220Watts = 750.86 Btu/kWhr
Factoring this type of power and energy differential in a studio adds up to monumental savings in
green house gases, not to mention money saved.
Long Lamp Life
Lamp life of a compact fluorescent for the television and motion picture industry is determined more by its
lumen maintenance than by its actual burn time. All fluorescent lamps display a lumen depreciation curve.
This means that over time the light output gradually drops and lowers in color temperature. A lamp may be
rated at 10,000 to 20,000 hours but its useful light quality is shorter. It is realistically more in the 2000 to
2500 hour range. In a Studio environment this adds up to about 1 year of continous use.
All fluorescent lamps require some "burn in" time before they operate at their rated Kelvin temperature and brightness. For dimming products, the lamps perform best after 100 hours of operation.
True Match Color Correct Lamps
True Match lamps are formulated to correspond to the spectral distribution curves of film and television cameras
as well as look correct to the eye. They are designed to match the colors from studio quartz units or daylight sources such as HMI’s. This gives the lighting director the option of mixing quartz hard light sources with fluorescent soft sources. Most lighting designers want the ability to use both qualities of light to enhance the set.
Architectural lamps are designed to optimize government-mandated standards for lumens per Watt efficiencies (energy savings targets). In order to achieve these standards the lamps contain high levels of green spectrum, which our eyes don’t perceive as inaccurate. Film and television cameras do record this added green. For example, green renders a Caucasian skin tone as grayish and unattractive. The architectural lamps do not match with other studio lamps. They render colors inaccurately and make correction in post almost impossible.
In 1995 Kino Flo received a technical achievement award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
for the development of the first color correct lamps for film. Kino Flo continues to be a leader in their field introducing new developments and constantly improving the efficiencies and formulations of its lamp technology.
Heat Management Design
The physical heat of the lamp directly influences color temperature and lumen performance and lamp life.
In order to maintain a stable color performance the lamp requires:
- a cool spot at the tip of the lamp
- a horizontal orientation
- or a vertical orientation where the base of the lamp is above the lamp tip.
The ParaBeam design addresses these requirements:
- Two special cooling chambers at opposite ends of the fixture provide ventilation. This ensures that the heat from the lamp is drawn out of the fixture and away from the body of the lamp. A temperature-stabilized lamp will provide consistent color performance.
- The deep parabolic reflector further prevents the heat from lower lamps to be transmitted to the lamps above.
A well maintained lamp temperature extends the lumen maintenance, color temperature and life of a lamp.
Many manufacturers do not emphasize heat management as a critical design element. They place lamps so close together that they heat each other up and never provide a stable temperature environment. A True Match lamp
in a poorly ventilated fixture will not perform as well as in a Kino Flo fixture. We have seen customers of other manufacturers buy True Match lamps and wonder why the performance is not as good as in a Kino Flo fixture.
The answer is all in the heat management.
Reflector Design
The parabolic reflector design puts out a narrow lateral beam. When lighting a news set you very often are
lighting two to three people at a news desk. The effective area to be lighted is a broad rectangle. With
conventional lights, the lighting projection would be a large round area. Barndoors or flags would be used to
remove the light from above and below the rectangular area. This constitutes tremendous loss of light and efficiency. The ParaBeam puts the light where it is needed most. Barndoors or flags can still be used to eliminate
spill above and below the rectangular area without reducing the efficiency of the instrument.
Another great advantage of the ParaBeam over conventional quartz softlight units is the efficiency of the
reflector design. Quartz soft lights rely on a white painted reflector that yellows and gathers dust. This alters
the color temperature and reduces light output. The drop off is much like a bounce card. For this reason
soft lights have to work close to their subject matter. The ParaBeam reflector is a precision design using
highly reflective material that is shaped to project a beam of soft light at a focal distance of about 16 feet.
This explains how 110Watts of good design can equal 2000Watts of inefficient design.
Reflector designs by other manufacturers of fluorescents tend to be shallow and inefficient. In order to get more light output they add expensive and time consuming accessories called intensifiers. These are large reflector panels that attach to the four sides of the fixture. They make the fixture twice as big and add unnecessary cost.
High Efficiency Output
The ParaBeam's lumens per Watt out performs all other units in the market, using a 110Watt fixture
to do the work of another manufacturer’s 220Watt fixture. Photometric performance is very important.
It is also important to note that other manufacturers use high green-spiked lamps to boost artificially their photometric values.
Center, Yoke and Pole-Op Mount
The Center Mount includes a ball center mount design enabling the beam to be oriented at any angle. This allows the beam to be rotated and have the same effect as rotating a barndoor on a Fresnel. The Yoke Mount includes a welded alloy yoke bale offering 360 degrees of fixture movement to focus the soft beam when lighting from a grid.
The Pole-Op Yoke Mount includes an attached junior pin and offers an advantage of lighting from a grid and eliminating the need for ladder access or costly automated rigging and hoist systems.
Dmx Control
The ParaBeams can be controlled through a Dmx 512 digital protocol. They do not require dimmer racks.
This saves capital costs as well as energy costs.
Most studios are designed with dimmer racks that are regulated from a lighting board. The lighting board sends out a Dmx signal to the rack that adjusts the voltage to the lamps through pulse width modulation. The more quartz lights are used more dimmer racks need to be added. These racks generate heat and noise and require a special soundproof room.
Studios using Kino Flos can rely on a simple Dmx lighting board to control the fixtures. The dimming electronics are contained in the fixture and do not require expensive dimmer racks to adjust line voltage. The Dmx signal regulates the dimming levels. There is no additional noise or heat generated by this process. Small studios can use dimmer control boards that cost as little as $400.
Ballast Maintenance
The ParaBeam features a unique method of servicing the ballast. By removing one of the side ventilation panels
you expose the lock tabs for the ballast trays. Unlatch the tabs and pull the ballast out. Electrical contact is made through the edge card. No hand tools are required to remove and replace the ballast. This process can be done
in seconds. The simplicity of maintenance is important for a studio that is operating for many hours per day.
Cost Savings
- Cost savings attributed to fluorescents cover a broad range of concerns:
- Lower energy costs
- Less heat so lower air-conditioning expenses
- No gel replacements because of low heat
- Fewer lamp replacements due to longer lamp life
- Lamp replacement labor reduced by a factor of 10
Energy Savings Calculations
With the push for reducing fossil fuel consumption, TV studios are looking at cooler more efficient lighting systems
to reduce costs and save energy. Part of this process involves generating energy values to determine savings.
One of the most important values is Btu/kWh.
British Thermal Units per Kilowatt Hour
Any light generates a percentage of usable light and the rest in heat.
For example, a standard incandescent light bulb converts only 11 percent of its electrical input into visible light, while the rest is dissipated directly as heat. There are energy costs involved in cooling the studio environment.
The measure of Btu/kWh is a means of calculating the thermal loads related to operating lighting.
Use the following information to calculate Btu/kWh
Watts to BTU
1 KWH= 3413 BTU/Hr.
1 watt= 3.413 BTU/Hr.
3.413 BTU per watt-hour
Example: ParaBeam 400 = 220 watts
220 x 3.413= 750.86 Btu/kWh
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