Lights, let history tell its story

Different from other application fields, the design should give full consideration to the proper protection of these precious historical and cultural properties, which must be protected from optical radiation (including visible radiation, ultraviolet radiation and infrared radiation) as much as possible. At the same time, in the museum lighting, different exhibits have different requirements for the illuminance, illuminance uniformity, glare, color rendering, and color temperature of the light source. Therefore, it is necessary to meet the lighting standards of exhibits and exhibition halls to provide a good visual environment for the audience. This puts high demands on all aspects of lighting design, such as the choice of lighting products and light sources.

Different exhibits choose different lighting methods
In addition to the use of general lighting to achieve uniform lighting of the entire scene, museums need to choose lighting methods according to the characteristics of the exhibits in order to present the exhibits in all directions. For example, two-dimensional exhibits require vertical lighting or horizontal lighting with uniform brightness to make all the exhibits appear stably. Three-dimensional exhibits require light to illuminate from different angles. By controlling the light and dark ratio of the light receiving surface and the backlight surface, the exhibits present a full three-dimensional sense. The specific method can be the coordination of several concentrated lights, or the coordination of diffused light and concentrated light.

Picture
The exhibition lighting should reflect the three-dimensional artistic effect of cultural relics through different brightness contrast, light and dark collocation, light and shadow combination, and use light to give cultural relics vitality and lifelike presentation.

LED light source is the only choice for museum lighting
At the beginning of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) released solid-state lighting (SSL) applied to museum lighting test report shows that the survey of 46 museum curators using LED lighting, directors, lighting designers and other professionals overwhelmingly believe that the most important factor in deciding to use LED lighting is the low potential harm to works of art. The report takes into account key factors such as light quality, the possibility of damage to works of art, and energy efficiency to evaluate LED lighting.

LED lighting application at the Santa Cruz Museum in Toledo, Spain

The hazards of lighting equipment in the work of cultural relics exhibits mainly include ultraviolet radiation hazards, infrared radiation hazards, photochemical reaction hazards and so on. When the exhibits are exposed to light, they receive both thermal and ultraviolet radiation, and long-term radiation can cause damage to the exhibits. In addition, it is necessary to control the illuminance, and in particular, it is necessary to low-illuminance irradiation or control the exposure time for an article having high sensitivity to light.

Since the spectrum of LED can be almost entirely concentrated in the visible light band, there is no infrared and ultraviolet radiation, the damage of the light source to the exhibits can be minimized, and the functional requirements of museum lighting can be met, that is, the shape, color and texture of the exhibits can be correctly expressed through lighting, while controlling glare, shadows, etc., to prevent the exhibits from being damaged by thermal radiation and ultraviolet radiation. Moreover, the dimming function of the LED makes the control of the illumination relatively easy. At the same time, LED also has the characteristics of low energy consumption and high energy saving. Therefore, LED products are a very suitable choice for museum lighting.

In addition, if the traditional lighting equipment is selected, it can only present a large area of uniform illumination distribution, and lacks a clear three-dimensional sense. The LED is a discrete spectrum, the spectral line is narrow, the color is rich, bright, can have a variety of color selection and light distribution. The spectrally tunable nature of the LED light source can also enhance the beauty and atmosphere of the display.