Innovative SIRIUS® high-performance floodlight combines great brightness with pleasant glare control – also thanks to ACRYMID® optics

• energy-efficient alternative to traditional floodlight systems
• ideally matched LED system comprising reflectors and high-performance optics made from ACRYMID^® TT50
• ACRYMID^® TT50 is highly heat-resistant and alongside its good optical properties, it also has precise mold surface reproduction

High contrasts for athletes and audience, flicker-free brightness for super-slow-motion replays, intense colors for emotional moments – the lighting in sports arenas and event locations has to fulfill different demands. “Our new SIRIUS^® high-performance floodlight combines great brightness with pleasant glare control and excellent color rendering,” says Wieland Rödel, Head of Sport & Area Lighting at Siteco Beleuchtungstechnik GmbH. “This is quite revolutionary when it comes to LED systems and the first energy-efficient alternative to traditional 2000-watt floodlights.” Core element of the innovative light is a perfectly matched LED system comprising reflectors and high-performance optics made from ACRYMID^® TT50, a highly heat-resistant polymethyl methacrylimide (PMMI) from Röhm.

Efficiently guide light

Along with its good optical properties, ACRYMID^® also provides precise mold surface reproduction, thereby enabling the easy three-dimensional design of injection-molded lenses. This contributes to the highly efficient and precise projection of light onto the playing field. “The optics are a significant element in our new floodlight system as they focus the light, thereby increasing the efficiency,” Rödel explains. To do so, it is vital that each lens is perfect and there are no streaks on the inside or any uneven areas on the surface which would scatter the light. “Although we have known and used ACRYLITE^® and the higher heat-resistant ACRYMID^® variant for many years, developing the lenses was a challenge,” Rödel details. Following many tests and taking advantage of the expertise from specialist fabricator, Karl Jungbecker GmbH & Co. KG and support from Röhm, the quality of the lenses ultimately met the high requirements of the innovative floodlight system.

Light quality surpasses the standards

“The interplay of LEDs, optical materials and optics design in SIRIUS^® minimizes the scattered light,” Rödel explains, adding, “thus the stands and the area above the light are not illuminated.” This means that without any latent and disruptive scattered light, the audience can see the action on the field more directly, in greater focus and in more intensive color. And for outdoor arenas, there is no light pollution, meaning nature and neighbors both remain unaffected. “Instead, a very pleasant so-called stage effect is created, which results in greater contrast for the spectators,” Rödel says. Twelve different light distributions, ranging from narrow to wide, are available, enabling custom planning for almost every type of stadium – from traditional 4-mast systems, up to World Cup stadiums – with lighting quality that surpasses the standards set by FIFA and UEFA, as well as enabling television broadcasts in Ultra HD and 8K.

Listed area meets floodlight of the future

Arguments which also impressed the operators of the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, which is a listed building. While new buildings and other renovation projects enable steep angles of light incidence on the playing field, it was not possible to install lights on the roof of the stadium in Helsinki. “We had to use the existing low installation heights and work with relatively flat angles of incidence,” says Sami Laakso, the local Siteco project supervisor. The number of floodlights was also limited by the available installation options. Despite these issues, SIRIUS^® achieves an illumination level in the stadium which is 45 percent higher than before. Tero Männikkö, project manager from the city of Helsinki, confirms: “The main benefits of the new illumination solution are the improved light output, the lighting quality and the energy efficiency.” The facts and figures are as follows: around 30 percent more efficient operation compared to equivalent old systems and over 300 tons of CO₂ saved over the next 20 years ⁽¹⁾. “ACRYMID^® TT50 is ideal for long-term projects such as this one, as our material is highly weather- and heat-resistant, thereby enabling consistent lighting quality over a very long time,” explains René Kogler, Head of Product Management for Lighting, Extrusion, Optics at Röhm. Top performance in lighting, too, thanks to ACRYMID^®.

⁽¹⁾ Savings: 317,580 kg of CO₂ in 20 years, based on average 5-year CO₂ emissions in Finland (= 158 kg CO₂/MWh) at 100% operation of the lighting and 500 operating hours per year.