Haus- und Gebäudeautomation (HABA)  

Human centric lighting is the discipline of creating lighting environments similar to which our bodily functions are used to from natural daylight. It enhances human performance, comfort, health and well-being. 

The most obvious effect of light on humans is vision. It enables us to identify brightness, shapes, colors, images, and perceive information and contrast. But there is much more to it: light also impacts our biology. It affects our hormones, alertness, attention and fatigue, and also determines our body clock and circadian rhythm.  
Photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRCG’s) inside the retina form a neural pathway to the brain’s hypothalamus region. Our brain regulates the circadian (circa-daily) rhythm of the body following the natural day/night cycle. Melanopic light is the part of light spectrum with highest alertness potential, with a peak in ~470-490nm spectrum range. It triggers a photosensitive protein, so called melanopsin, inside the ipRGC’s. In a complex process, melanopsin suppresses the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin during the day and gradually increases melatonin production as light fades into night. 

Clinical studies have also unveiled that red light in mid-600nm and near infrared spectrum @ ~850nm helps to protect against age related vision loss - so called macular degeneration -  without any observed negative side effects. The stimulation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production by the mitochondria within the eyes’ cells counters the normal cell degradation, reduces visual decline, edema and hemorrhaging as well as risks of eye inflammations.

Finally light, especially in the UV spectrum, influences the Vitamin D production, endorphine release and direct immune suppression within the human body via the skin. Human centric lighting considers these effects and provides a holistic approach to lighting for humans. It balances the visual, emotional and biological needs of humans within lighting applications.

ams OSRAM provides a broad range of innovative LEDs across the full spectrum as well as spectral and ambient light sensors that form the backbone for any HCL solution. Our LEDs offer infinite lighting and design possibilities, and combine with our smart lighting mangers to create more cost-effective, higher accuracy selectable and tunable lighting, transforming spaces and enable a new level of light induced well-being. Our spectral and ambient light sensors make room-monitoring systems smart, able to always provide the right amount of light at the right spectral distribution. As lighting always benefits from energy saving, our low-power and high-efficacy LEDs can be complemented with smart presence detection sensors activating luminaires only when people are present in the room.