Poster – Intelligently controlled LEDs

Introduction

In greenhouse production, high pressure sodium (HPS) and light emitting diode (LED) supplemental lighting systems are normally controlled in an on/off manner according to user programmed photoperiod and ambient light thresholds. The immediate response time and dimmability of LED technology enables more advanced automatic control of greenhouse supplemental lighting. The present study investigated cut gerbera production under threshold controlled HPS and under intelligently controlled LED using Heliospectra’s HelioCORE™ DLI controller. Both controllers were programmed to target a total daily light integral ( tDLI ) of 7 mol·m 2 d 1.

Conclusions

• HelioCORE™ DLI controller reduced light usage by 15% without harming gerbera productivity.
• DLI controller achieved closer DLI targets, used less supplemental light, and hit the target DLI more frequently.
• DLI controller excelled in avoiding excessive supplemental light compared to HPS.
• Dynamic LED control can stabilize lighting and reduce energy costs, giving LEDs an edge over HPS in greenhouse lighting.