Fashion Museum Hasselt – Hasselt (BE)

Lighting in a fashion museum deserves special attention. Exclusive one-off pieces and the finest materials require particular protection. How can we ensure that the right lighting showcases valuable haute couture, occasion wear and prêt-à-porter, and highlights the beauty of the exhibits? How can simple reprogramming or adaptation of the lighting conditions be guaranteed when exhibitions are regularly redesigned? The City of Hasselt, as the museum operator, was interested in a modern, flexible and energy-efficient lighting control system that could be implemented with as little renovation work as possible. To this end, they turned to the lighting control specialist B.E.G. Brück Electronic GmbH The Belgian B.E.G. team equipped the exhibition rooms and corridors of the Fashion Museum with B.E.G. DALI-LINK sensors.To enhance modularity, some of the detector and push-button modules (PB BLE) were mounted on rails. Administrative, sanitary, storage and basement areas were fitted with low-cost switch-type detectors.

What are the advantages of DALI control?

Simply by using presence detectors and integrating the DALI bus system, energy consumption for lighting can be reduced by up to 60%. Energy efficiency is a key factor in the cost-effective operation of a museum. The historic building in the centre of Hasselt contains many rooms and corridors that connect the various themed areas. When these areas are not in use, there is no need for lighting. Switching off the lights or dimming them to a prescribed, low-intensity orientation light is then sufficient. The ‘orientation light’ function, which can be activated, remains active after the last detected movement and the expiry of the set delay time. It limits the maximum dimming level of the connected luminaires to an adjustable value. This ensures that safety-critical areas are never completely dark, thereby saving energy compared to full illumination. It is also possible to limit the duration of the orientation lighting. At the Hasselt Museum, even the adjustable orientation lighting was in some cases too bright for the exhibits. However, our team found a solution: a single luminaire is dimmed to a minimum as a separate group, regardless of movement, as soon as the power is switched on via the main switch. Significant energy savings through presence-dependent lighting control in the rest of the rooms can be achieved, for example, using B.E.G. Brück Electronic GmbH sensors such as the PD4N-DALI-LINK. Outside opening hours, the lighting is switched off completely to further reduce standby power consumption. The savings achieved by the museum can be measured by installing a DALI-LINK relay with an operating hours counter. This also allows lights to be replaced at an early stage once their maximum operating life has been reached.