Introduction to Dialux
Jerson Joshua C. Bajada1, Frances Aeriel B. Cañon2, Justin Love M. Hermonda3
Department of Eletrical and Electronics Engineering
University of San Carlos, Technological Center
Cebu City
1
jersonbajada@gmail.com, 2frances.canon@gmail.com, 3jhermonda@gmail.com
Abstract—Lighting system has array of luminaires that
distributes light. A lighting system is composed of luminaires and
control devices. A luminaire is a complete lighting unit. It consists
of lamp or lamps and parts designed to position the light source
and connect it to power supply. Luminaires are of different types.
Some of the luminaires function is connection of lamp electricity
supply to lamp, contains control circuitry for lamp, and reflection
and redirection of light to work areas. For this experiment, a
fluorescent lamp will be controlled using one-way and three-way
switches and its operation will be studied. Furthermore, the said
lamp will be classified according to luminaire distribution using
calculated UFF and DFF values. It can be concluded from this
experiment that a fluorescent lamp needs a starter in order for it
to be energized. A luminaire can be connected using a one-way
switch or three-way switches, depending on the application. For
three-way switches, either one of them should be on in order for
the lamp to be on. This is particularly useful when the user must
control a lamp at different places or distances. Furthermore, it can
be concluded that the lamp tested can be classified under general
diffusing in terms of luminaire light distribution.
I. INTRODUCTION
DIALux is a free software developed by DIAL for
professional light planning. This software is being used by
many light planners and designers worldwide. This software is
really helpful to design simply and intuitively lighting systems
for indoor and outdoor .DIALux also calculates the energy
consumption of the lighting project for the implementation of
existing rules at national and international level. This software
is very useful to engineers involving in illumination
engineering. Illumination Engineering is the branch of
engineering that deals with the design of the illumination
systems for new buildings and outdoor areas (parking lots,
building façade, streets, etc.). It also deals with the study and
the correction of older lighting systems for better operation. In
dealing with lightning there are basic parameters to be used in
order to have a good lightning. These are Luminous flux,
luminous intensity, illuminance, and luminance.
Luminous flux is the measure of brightness of a light
source in terms of energy being emitted. Luminous flux, in SI
units, is measured in the lumen (lm). It is a measurement of
energy released in the form of visible light from a light-
producing source.
Luminous intensity is a measure of the radiant power
emitted by an object in a given direction, and is dependent on
the wavelength of light being emitted. The SI unit for luminous
intensity is the candela which has an operational definition.
This means it is defined by a set wavelength of light emitting a
specific amount of power.
Illuminance is the total amount of visible light illuminating
(incident upon) a point on a surface from all directions above
the surface. Standard unit for illuminance is Lux (lx) which is
lumens per square meter (lm/m2)
.Luminance is the basic lighting parameter that is perceived
by the eye. It describes on the one hand a light source’s
impression of brightness, and on the other, a surface and
therefore depends to a large extent on the degree of reflection.
II. OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this experiment are the following:
 To familiarize the interface of the software, DIALux.
 To explore the basic feature of Dialux.
 To locate the basic feature of the DIALux.
 To start creating lighting Design.
III. METHODOLOGY
For the first part of the experiment, a floor plan was create.
First the system used for dimension was set to Imperial in the
global settings. By clicking the dialux wizards the icon
professional quick planning was clicked. The room dimension
was set to 30x12x9 ft respectively. The work plane was also set
to 2.5 ft height and 0 wall zone. The light loss factor was at
0.80.the material properties of the surface was set to 70/50/20.
In the catalogue the phillips luminaire was adde in the catalogue
list.in the mounting type, the value of suspension height, height,
and mounting height was changed. The number of luminaire per
row was change and there alignment.
For the second part of the experiment, objects are added in
the floor plan. The table was added by clicking “objects “then
“indoor” then “Table”. Table can be move by clicking in the
floor plan icon and also can be resized.
For the third part of the experiment, the luminaire was
changed. A new luminaire was added to the catalogue. The
luminaire was clicked in the 3d view and changed it to the new
luminaire.
 For the second part of the experiment, the circuit in Figure 2
was constructed. The first wire coming from the luminaire was
connected directly to the source. The second wire was connected
to two three-way switches S1 and S2. The first switch was
flipped on and the luminaire was observed. Then second switch
was also flipped on and the luminaire was observed.
For the third part of the experiment the upward light output
flux and the downward light output flux was measured by using Figure 2. Circuit diagram for three way-switch
a lux meter. The lux meter was placed 1 m above the luminaire
for the downward light output flux while for the upward light Fig. 3 shows the experimental set-up when the luminaire
output flux the lux meter was placed 1m sideway from the energized without a starter.
luminaire. It was noted that for all measurements, the ambient
lux was measured first and then subtracted to the measured lux
when lamp was energized. The ULOR, DLOR, LOR, UFF,
DFF, and FFR was computed based on the measured data using
Equations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, respectively.
𝑈𝑝𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑥 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑒
𝑈𝐿𝑂𝑅 = 𝐹𝑙𝑢𝑥 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑝
𝑥100 (1)
𝐷𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑥 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑒
𝐷𝐿𝑂𝑅 = 𝐹𝑙𝑢𝑥 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑝
𝑥100 (2)

𝐿𝑂𝑅 = 𝑈𝐿𝑂𝑅 + 𝐷𝐿𝑂𝑅 (3)

𝑈𝐿𝑂𝑅
𝑈𝐹𝐹 = 𝐿𝑂𝑅
(4)
𝐷𝐿𝑂𝑅 Fig. 3. Experimental set-up of luminaire fixture without starter energized.
𝐷𝐹𝐹 = 𝐿𝑂𝑅
(5)
Figure 4 shows the experimental set-up when the luminaire
𝑈𝐹𝐹
𝐹𝐹𝑅 = (6) energized with starter.
𝐷𝐹𝐹

Fig. 1. Circuit diagram for single switch

Fig. 4. Experimental set-up of lighting fixture being checked.

Figure 5 shows the experimental set-up when the luminaire

is connected to two three-way switches.
 Fig. 7. Experimental set-up of luminaire where lux meter placed 1 m from
the luminaire.
Fig. 5. Experimental set-up of luminaire with three-way switch energized.

Figure 6 shows the experimental set-up when measuring for IV. DATA AND RESULTS
downward flux output of the luminaire.
For the first part of the experiment, it was observed that
when the starter was not attached, the lamp remained off even
when the switch S1 was turned on. This was discussed and
experimented on in the previous experiment, wherein it was
concluded that the fluorescent lamp will not energize when there
is no starter because of the high impedance in the circuit.
Next, when the starter was attached, the lamp now turns on
when the switch is flipped on due to the presence of the starter.
When switch is flipped off, the lamp turns off.
For the second part of the experiment wherein the lighting
system is now controlled by two switches S1 and S2, it was
observed that the lamp turned on when switch S1 was on. When
switch S2 was turned on, it was observed that the lamp turned
off. It was concluded that switching either S1 or S2 off would
energize the lamp.
Table 1 shows the obtained ULOR, DLOR, UFF, DFF and
FFR of the luminaire.
Fig. 6. Experimental set-up of luminaire where lux meter placed 1 m from
TABLE 1. ULOR, DLOR, UFF DFF AND FFR OF THE LUMINAIRE.
the luminaire.
ULOR DLOR LOR UFF DFF FFR
Figure 7 shows the experimental set-up when measuring for 79 87 166 47.59% 52.41% 90.80%
upward flux output of the luminaire
It can be observed from the results that the UFF and the DFF
values are just near each other. Referring back to the
classification of luminaires according to their distribution, it can
be concluded that the lamp tested can be classified under general
diffusing (UFF & DFF at 40-60%).
 V. CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from this experiment that a fluorescent
lamp needs a starter in order for it to be energized. A luminaire
can be connected using a one-way switch or three-way
switches, depending on the application. For three-way
switches, either one of them should be on in order for the lamp
to be on. This is particularly useful when the user must control
a lamp at different places or distances.
Furthermore, it can be concluded that the lamp tested can
be classified under general diffusing in terms of luminaire
light distribution.
REFERENCES
[1] https://www.maximumyield.com/definition/17236/lighting-system