Electrical Connection Summer 2016

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30 E L EC TR I C AL CONNEC T I ON SUMME R 20 1 6
GROWTH IN THE LIGHT MARKET
A ustralia has no shortage of
land or sun but there still is a
developing interest in using
specially-designed LEDs as grow
lights in the horticultural market.
Increases in industrial vertical
farming and domestic inner city veggie
gardens have motivated a few new
local players to emerge, such as NSW-
based start-up, Plantilium.
Co-founder Doug Ford says LED
technology is now at a point where it
completely out performs conventional
light sources in producing wavelengths
to encourage and give the user more
control over plant growth.
The current de facto lights for people
growing indoors in Australia are 400W
metal halide lights. While they are
cheap, Doug believes attraction to these
will decline as they are harshly bright
to the eye, run very hot and give off a
yellowish spectrum, which is not ideal
for plant growth.
“A red light optimises leaf growth and
a more blue light encourages fruit to
flourish,” Doug says.
“Our LEDs use a combination of a red
and blue colour spectrum which allows
plants to naturally transition from leaf
to fruit growth.”
This design is ideal for any chlorophyll-
based life form to flourish but it’s
optimised to promote veggie growth.
The company currently has two lights
in its stable. The PHG-150 is a grow
light that Doug says is nine times more
efficient than discharge lights and twice
as efficient as broad spectrum LED
designs, which use white LEDs. It can be
used in a linear array making it ideal for
industrial farming.
The PHG-18 is targeted more towards
domestic use for applications such as
indoor herb or veggie gardens. It uses a
PAR38 form factor with an Edison
screw base.
Both luminaires’ outputs operate
across four wavelengths and over a
wide range of mains supply voltages.
Most grow lights require the use of
cooling fans, which mean moving parts
and consequent noise and unreliability,
particularly since fans used in grow
light applications will often be in moist
environments. Plantilium lights use
a heat sink and natural convection
instead of fans to circulate air. The heat
sinks use heat pipes to convey the heat
resulting in the overall temperature
staying low and avoiding hot spots. The
entire fixture rises to about 26°C above
ambient and stays there.
“The cooler you can run the
electronics, the longer the life span. Also
when red LEDs get hot, their output
drops,” Doug says.
Australia isn’t experiencing the
same push towards indoor growing
as some European countries that are
short on space and sunlight or in the US
where there are areas too polluted to
grow outdoors.
However, with an increasing number
of algae farms, vertical farming, and
herb and veggie gardens in the inner
city; interest from the cut flower market;
and, with laws around marijuana growth
being debated in parliament, Plantilium
is confident its products will quickly find
a place in the Australian market.
> Plantilium
WITH INCREASING INTEREST
IN THE GROW LIGHT MARKET,
SMALL START-UPS ARE
SOWING THE SEEDS OF AN
AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION.
JOEYOUNG REPORTS.
When it comes to grow houses, Plantilium’s lights are nine times more efficient than
discharge lights and twice as efficient as broad spectrum LED designs.
HORTICULTURE