When’s a task light not a task light? Well, when it’s a Dyson, of course. The UK technology company unwrapped three new products on Wednesday including the Dyson Lightcycle task light–an all-intelligent, connected light that’s uniquely built to last.
The Dyson Lightcycle is a result of more than two years of development, with over 892 prototypes made involving more than 90 engineers.
What’s truly unique about the Dyson Lightcycle is its ability to continually adjust its colour temperature and brightness in relation to local daylight, thus providing the right light for the right time of day.
It uses a unique time, date and location driven algorithm to calculate colour temperature and brightness of daylight, anywhere in the world. This is possible with software validation supported by data from over a million satellite-based measurements of light conditions in the earth’s atmosphere at different times of the day.
A 32-bit microprocessor on board the task light continually interprets daylight data.
The product’s arm integrates three warm and three cool LEDs that work in tandem to simulate daylight colour temperatures from 2,700-6,500 Kelvin.
It’s one thing to offer powerful light, it’s another to ensure there’s no glare or flicker. The Dyson Lightcycle delivers a uniform pool of powerful light with more than 1,000 Lux brightness, and also comes with glare protection and optical flicker (<1%). This exceeds recommended levels for studying.
The integrated heptagonal reflector split by a layer of PMMA diffusion film evenly mixes light–creating a single light source for high shadow quality. The lower reflector helps protect eyes from glare and focus light for a pool of uniform illumination.
When LEDs overheat, they can fade and discolour. To address this problem, Dyson engineers use Heat Pipe technology that’s found on satellites. The horizontal arm of the task light integrates a vacuum-sealed copper tube that draws heat away. Inside the tube is a drop of water that evaporates, dissipating hat along the pipe as it condenses, before returning to the LEDs by capillary action. This unique liquid-cooling system provides a non-stop, energy-free cooling cycle.
This enables brightness and light quality of the six LED bulbs to be maintained for 60 years.
As different people, tasks and environments require different light levels and colour temperatures, the Dyson Lightcycle is built for personalisation. For instance, a 65-year old may need up to four times more light than a 20-year old. A study room will have different colour and light requirements than a bedroom.
Personalisation is made possible by the Dyson Link app. It continually communicates with the Dyson Lightcycle to adjust light output for your age, task, daily routine and local daylight.
The task light has pre-set modes: Study, Relax, Precision, Boost, Wake-up, Sleep and Away. If you prefer a more customised setting, you can with manual control featuring slide-touch dimming and colour temperature selection. It is also possible to pre-programme and assign names for up to 20 different light settings.
Study mode adjusts colour temperature over the day from 3,600K to 5,200K.
Relax mode provides warmer light – around 2,900K, with lower intensity but still bright enough for reading.
Precision mode helps improve visual acuity by emitting a pool of high-intensity light with a cooler 4,600K. The light achieves a colour rendering index of 90Ra or over, very close to that of daylight.
Boost mode provides more brightness for a short period–at the brightest setting for bursts of 20 minutes.
In Wake-up mode, you can set the light to switch on at the time you wake up, and brighten gradually to create a more natural wake-up environment.
Sleep mode is designed for night time use–it deactivates the light movement sensor so it won’t turn on when you’re sleeping. It also reduces colour brightness and colour temperature to the lowest levels, so if the light is placed on your bedside and it is turned on at night in a dark room, it won’t be too stark.
In Away mode, the light will switch on and off at set times to imitate human presence, typically used as a security light.
Another useful feature is a built-in infrared movement sensor that switches on the light when you’re near, or turn off once you’re away for two minutes, to conserve energy.
The design of the Dyson Lightcycle is sturdy yet offers flexibility and easy-of-setup. It’s easy to position whether vertically, horizontally, or through 360 degrees. This is thanks to its 3 Axis Glide motion. There’s no springs or pivots. The arm is reversible and thus can be detached, flipped and reinserted in seconds.
Another handy addition is an onboard USB-C port for charging devices.
Pricing and availability
The Dyson Lightcycle will be available in Malaysia in 2019. The desk version retails for SGD799 (~MYR2,433 ) while the floor model will retail for SGD1,199 (~MYR3,652)
