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Last update : March, 2025
The power of Tunable White lighting and why dedicated optics matter
Have you ever noticed how different types of lighting affect your mood and productivity?
That’s where tunable white lighting comes into play – a game-changer in how we experience artificial light. This technology lets us adjust white light’s color temperature, creating environments that adapt to our needs throughout the day. But here’s the thing many people overlook: without the right optical components, you won’t get the full benefit of this innovative approach.
What exactly is Tunable White lighting ?
At its core, tunable white lighting systems let you shift between warm white (around 2700K) and cool white (up to 6500K) from a single light fixture. It works by blending different LEDs with different colour temperatures and controlling their intensity through smart drivers or control systems.
The magic happens when this technology mimics natural daylight patterns – from the golden glow of sunrise to the bright clarity of midday and back to the warm sunset tones. By matching these natural rhythms, the lighting creates spaces that feel more natural and supportive of our wellbeing.
The real-world benefits of Tunable White lighting
- Think about how you feel in warm, amber light versus crisp, bluish light. In the evening, those warmer tones (2700K-3000K) create that cozy, relaxing atmosphere perfect for unwinding, reading, or enjoying dinner. This yellowish light actually signals your body to produce melatonin, helping you prepare for sleep.
- During daytime, switching to cooler tones (4000K-6500K) can sharpen your focus and keep you alert. This flexibility is why tunable white lighting works so well across different settings:
- Application examples :
- • In offices, bright white light with subtle blue undertones fights fatigue and keeps energy levels up
- • Schools use cooler morning lighting to help students stay engaged in lessons
- • Hospitals balance energizing light for staff with gentler, more soothing environments for recovery areas
Why you can't ignore dedicated optics
The truth is, without specialized optics designed specifically for tunable white systems, you’ll run into problems:
– Colour mixing & uniformity
When your system blends warm and cool LEDs, standard optical components often create uneven illumination or visible color shadows. Our tunable white optimized optics ensure smooth, consistent color mixing across all transitions. Our head optical engineer has even created a color consistency index to scientifically quantify the quality of a color mix : Color Consistency Index (CCI) – Gaggione.
– Efficiency
Efficiency of the luminaire (lm/w) and energy consumption are one of the most important parameters in lighting, if efficiency of the optics and/or drivers are low – this means light and energy is wasted somewhere which can be seen directly in the electricity bill and in most cases, low efficiency luminaires win less tenders. Our optics minimize light losses while optimizing output, keeping energy efficiency high without sacrificing performance.
– Glare control and surface brightness of the optics
This becomes especially important in architectural and commercial applications, where dedicated optics deliver clean, professional illumination with better glare control and lower surface brightness – creating spaces that not only function better but look more sophisticated and reduces eye strain.
– Direct light only where it is needed
Each application and target of the illumination are different. We believe versatile optics portfolio with different photometries and optical shapes provides not only flexibility, but more chances to succeed in projects. Whether you want to illuminate restaurant tables (narrow beams), corridoors (elliptical beams), offices (wide or wall washing beams) etc. We got you covered!
Our dedicated Tunable White optics :
280 x 40 mm POLLUX7X1
If you need more information on these optics or if you need to be helped in your project. Feel free to contact our sales team.
