Lighting for China Imperial Examination Museum

Once a cradle of expertise, now a museum: the Jiangnan Examination Hall on the banks of the Qinhuai River in Nanjing, China, looks back on an impressive history. The largest examination hall complex in the Chinese Empire was founded in 1168. Since then, the Jiangnan Examination Hall has been reinvented several times: first as a commercial and now as a cultural hotspot, the China Imperial Examination Museum.
 

Precisely dimmed for the perfect effect

In 2015, Tridonic was first commissioned to shine new light on the museum. The immense variety of its exhibits was particularly challenging. All the different sizes, shapes and moods had to be presented for maximum effect with the right selection of luminaires and colour temperatures. Furthermore, the illumination of the display cases had to be dimmable for maximum effect and energy efficiency.

Tridonic equipped the existing interior lighting with DALI drivers including a switchDIM function. This enables the light to be dimmed flexibly in accordance with the special features of each museum exhibit via switches on the display cabinets. The DALI signal infrastructure required for this was coupled to the existing 220 V power supply infrastructure of the museum. This allows precise control of the intensity of the various spotlights around the display cases.

Further modernization of the museum lighting

Further modernization was due in 2020: the original lighting for the showcases was to be renewed to meet the current guidelines for museum lighting. The colour temperature, colour scheme, glare level and light incidence of the spotlights were to remain unchanged. To achieve this, Tridonic replaced the original DALI drivers with a total of 150 new Bluetooth®-capable LC 25W 350-1050mA bDW SC PRE2 drivers and 25 basicDIM Wireless PWM CV 4CH drivers. This enables the lighting in the museum display cases to be dimmed continuously from 1 to 100 percent of the light intensity. Thanks to the basicDIM Wireless modules with four channels, colour and light temperature can be easily controlled.

Due to the wireless technology, no intervention in the line infrastructure was required for the extensive upgrade. The compact design of the drivers was easy to integrate. The uncomplicated retrofit meant that the museum could avoid being closed for renovation. The China Imperial Examination Museum now benefits from an intelligent, flexibly dimmable lighting infrastructure that can be controlled wirelessly. As a result, historical objects shine in a timeless light.
 

Project Data
Project:	Jiangnan Examination Museum
Lighting solution:	basicDIM Wireless
Used equipment:	LC 25 W 350–1050 mA bDW SC PRE2 basicDIM Wireless PWM CV 4CH DALI drivers including a switchDIM function