Pendant light with drylin E at a workstation.

Height-adjustable pendant light

Smooth and precise movement

On his YouTube channel "create", André Göbel shows how he creates modern furniture and decorative pieces himself. The focus here is often on unusual design. He already inspires over 380,000 subscribers with his ideas on his channel. One of his latest projects is an L-shaped lamp with a concrete look. This heavy-looking lamp is held by just two thin steel cables, the suspension points of which are arranged close together on one side. This creates the optical effect that the longer part of the lamp floats in two directions.

The luminaire also has a special twist. It communicates with a height-adjustable desk and can therefore maintain a previously set distance from the desk when it is moved. André relies on products from igus® for this motorised adjustment. You can find out exactly how our products were used and what challenges were solved in this report.

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What was needed: The stepper motor had to start up and slow down gently with every movement. The motor control had to adjust the height of the lamp and maintain the same distance to the height-adjustable table.
Requirements: Reliable function, precise control, repeatability, durability
Success for the customer: Reliable function, precise control and repeatability were achieved. The drylin® stepper motor executes the movements of the pendant light gently and quietly. The drylin® motor control unit communicates with the customer's control system and controls the motor to maintain a constant distance from the table.

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Person works on the control of a Smart Elevating Light pendant lamp with drylin E components.

Products used

Stepper motor with cut-out housing and visible connection cable.

stepper motor NEMA 24

igus Digital Step Motor Driver D8 with terminals and a settings table.

D8 Motor control

Metal coupling element with pink damping inserts.

Jaw coupling with round axis clamp

Problem

The challenge is to develop a luminaire that is visually heavy and is only held in place by two thin steel cables. In addition, the luminaire is to be designed in such a way that it can communicate with a height-adjustable desk and thus maintain the previously set distance to the desk while being raised or lowered in synchronisation with the desk. This requires precise design and control technology as well as mechanisms for communication between the light and the height-adjustable element.

It is also important to achieve reliable function, durability and precise control. High repeatability is also very important, as the lamp will later move in synchronisation with the desk. The stepper motor must start up gently with every movement and also decelerate gently in order to keep the light stable in the balance. Otherwise there is a risk that the lamp will start to swing too much. The many motor control parameters were also an exciting challenge.

Solution

igus® offers solutions for the development of the luminaire that meet the requirements with its drive technology products. For the height adjustment control system, stepper motors were used in conjunction with a motor controller. This combination makes it possible to precisely control the movements of the luminaire and fulfil precise positioning requirements. The stepper motor, which is located on the ceiling, drives a shaft on which the two coils with the steel cables are located. The current is transmitted to the steel cables via sliding contact.

By integrating the stepper motor into the system, finely tuned height adjustment can be achieved while ensuring smooth operation. The versatile D1 was initially selected as the motor control unit for the prototype. When this was successfully tested, the more favourable D8 control system from igus® was offered as a replacement. In this way, the customer always received the most favourable solution that works! André also reports: "The support from igus® was very good and characterised by great enthusiasm. Problems were quickly identified and solved in interactive video conferences."

Video

From the idea to the finished lamp

Here you can see exciting extracts from the creation process of the lamp and how it works in the end.

Operating the lamp is very simple. The user can initially choose between manual or automatic mode. In manual mode, the lamp is set to the desired distance from the table using a mini-microcontroller that acts as a remote control. If you then switch to automatic mode, the light follows the desk as it moves up or down. This means that the user always has perfect illumination at their workstation and does not have to readjust the light source manually.

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