Imagine being able to connect your stage and theater lighting fixtures directly to dimmers that are quiet and don’t generate the heat of SCR dimmers. IGBT dimming, a revolution in dimming technology, is being imagined.
IGBT dimmers bring the future to your theater, club, auditorium, or sanctuary with dramatically reduced installation costs. They mount wherever you mount your light fixtures, they are smaller and lighter than SCR dimmers. Better yet, they don’t produce any buzzing or mechanical hum.
Distributed dimming benefits
o Easy to design, expand and install
o Dramatically reduces installation and equipment costs
o Locate silent dimmer strips next to light fixtures
o Much less wiring
o Reduced voltage drops
o No dimmer panel required
Power and silence benefits
o State-of-the-art dimming technology
o Quiet dimmers and load
o Low neutral harmonics
o Short circuit protection
o High density racks
o Control of various types of loads, including magnetic / electronic transformers and fluorescent dimming electronic ballasts
Intelligence and control benefits
o Wireless stations, keyboards, PCs and consoles for simple or complex applications
o Wide range of attractive and matching controls for fully integrated projects
o Industry standard wiring practices
o Open Windows®-based control protocols
A case study
When Cornish College of the Arts began converting Seattle’s historic Sons of Norway Hall into a theater, plans called for the installation of a full air conditioning system just to cool the old heat producing SCR rack dimming system they planned to use. . Dave Tosti-Lane, Chairman of the Cornish Performance Production Department, started looking for a different solution.
The university had already been through the ordeal of modernizing a concert hall to the tune of thousands of dollars just to relocate a noisy dimming rack. They didn’t want to go through that again. Mac Perkins of PNTA recommended the Intelligent Raceway system from Entertainment Technology, a Genlyte Thomas company. The beauty of an IGBT system, as Dave discovered, was that it would not only avoid the noise problem, but it would also reduce heat loads.
The savings from not having to do a full-blown air conditioning system practically paid for the dimmers. They also saved money by not having the associated costs of loading dimmer wiring to circuits and all the extra wiring and time it takes to run cables from the dimmer frame to the lighting fixtures.
While cost savings may have been the main benefit, very close was the focus button system that was installed. This feature allowed the crew to finish hanging the first show in the new theater in record time. The trio hung up, circled, and focused 130 fixtures in two five-hour lighting calls.
And as a sound designer, Dave greatly appreciated the lack of fans and chokes.
With all their benefits, IGBT dimming systems are a boon for staging theater productions.
Copyright 2007 PNTA