Did you know TracePro is an excellent tool for luminaire design. Luminaires are designed to direct light from sources, such as LEDs, in a well-defined and efficient manner. Light sources other than LEDs, such as fluorescent, filament, and HID sources may also be used. Luminaires can use lenses, reflectors, and/or a combination of lenses and reflectors.
Luminaires need to meet specifications, such as intensity and beam pattern, as well as physical form factors. The design process typically starts with a 3D CAD model. This CAD model can be imported from an external CAD program using TracePro’s full suite of CAD importers, or the model can be created directly in TracePro using the CAD tools in TracePro.
The next step is to apply properties and define the light sources. TracePro includes an extensive database of properties such as material and surface properties as well as numerous ways to model light sources such as Surface Source Properties and rayfiles.
The initial design is now ready for ray tracing and analysis. TracePro uses multi-threaded ray tracing that utilizes all available cores on the user’s computer. This leads to faster ray traces and shorter ray trace times. TracePro also features a full suite of analysis tools such as Irradiance/Illuminance maps, 3D Irradiance/Illuminance Maps, Candela Plots, as well as Luminance/Radiance Maps. These tools allow the user to see if the design meets the specifications. TracePro also features tools such as the Lighting Toolkit and Analysis Toolkit that allow users to check their design against governing body specifications.
If the design does not meet the specification, the original design can be changed and modified and the analysis process repeated, or the optimization tools in TracePro Standard and Expert can be used. TracePro Standard and Expert both feature an Interactive Optimizer that allows for the optimization of reflectors, lenses, and light guides. TracePro Expert also features a Texture Optimizer that allows for the optimization of RepTile texture patterns for applications such as backlights.
Once the design is finished and meets specifications, the model can be exported from TracePro as a STEP, IGES, or SAT solid model file. Photometric data files such as IES or LDT files can also be exported for use in architectural lighting programs.
TracePro allows you to design better luminaires in a shorter period, saving time and money and minimizing physical prototypes.