MUMBAI, January 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Vibrant Coloured Lighting Minimizes Energy Consumption, Heat Load on Fragile Artefacts

France's natural history museum has renovated its lighting system to include SeaChanger's Light Emitting Plasma (LEP) Colour Engines, citing the product's incredible colour palette and high-energy efficiency.

Photo: http://halmapr.com/OTF/Museum.jpg

The Grande Galerie de l'Evolution of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris has origins dating back more than 375 years. Its previous lighting system had extremely high maintenance and daily use costs, said Pierre de Cazenove, the museum's head of operations and planning for exhibits. The move to SeaChanger LEP is part of the museum's effort to conserve energy and use long-lasting light sources that won't harm delicate museum pieces.

SeaChanger's colour engine, designed to be utilized with ETC Source Four optical components, provides professional lighting for theatres, museums and architectural installations around the world. The LEP can crisply illuminate the museum's artefacts from throw distances of 35 meters, a range not reachable by LED products without significant loss of illumination. The SeaChanger Plasma's light source puts out low ultraviolet and infrared light that does not damage the displays, and its energy-efficient plasma source reduces energy consumption and heat load, a necessity when displaying artefacts dating back to the late 1600s.

"Light Emitting Plasma is a real alternative to conventional light sources: halogen, LED or discharge lamps," said Jean Louis Pernette, Managing Director of AVAB, a SeaChanger and ETC distributor. "The compromise between light output, power used and lamp life is unique and perfectly meets the museum's specifications."

The museum illuminates some of its biggest attractions with SeaChanger LEP such as its large caravan of African animals; desert, marine and polar spaces; and a whale skeleton. The museum is continuing to convert its lighting to SeaChanger units. When complete, savings will total more than $38,000 per year because of infrequent re-lamping and reduction of electricity consumption.

SeaChanger's Light Emitting Plasma 320-watt lamp produces 10,000 lumens of light performing at more than 31 lumens per watt with a lamp lifespan of 15,000 hours. It is convection-cooled and silent, with smooth, swipe-free colour transitions and a colour rendering index of 92. The dichroic filters provide better colour re-creation than coloured LEDs that will colour degrade over time, and their resistance to temperature and humidity assures colour consistency for the life of the fixture.

About Ocean Thin Films:

Ocean Thin Films designs and produces precision PixelTec precision patterned optical coatings, components and assemblies that enable a wide variety of products and custom applications, especially in the area of spectral sensing and imaging.  Leveraging comprehensive know-how in thin film coating development, the team provides expert design assistance for collaborative custom-engineered solutions, from rapid prototyping through high-volume contract manufacturing. Ocean Thin Films is a subsidiary of Halma p.l.c.

Website: www.oceanthinfilms.com.

About Halma:

Halma p.l.c. is an international market leader in safety, health and sensor technology. A public company listed on the London Stock Exchange, it has 3,600 employees in 36 subsidiaries worldwide. Halma's subsidiaries make products that protect lives and improve the quality of life for people through innovation in market leading products which make its customers safer, more competitive and more profitable. These subsidiaries are assisting India's economy in areas such as manufacturing, energy, water and waste treatment, the environment, construction, transport and health. For further news about Halma in India and to subscribe to the Halma India RSS News Feed please visit our news blog.

Company contact: Bhushan Dhakras, bhushan.dhakras@oceanthinfilms.com, Business Development Manager - Ocean Thin Films / SeaChanger, +91 22 67080400, +91-99300 21866

Primary Media Contact: Mr. Kuniyur J. Srinivasan, srini@halma.com, 91-22-6708 0400

Secondary Media Contact: Mr. Damian Corbet, damian.corbet@halma.com, 44-1494-789152