Thorlux Lighting - leading lights in CERN’s tunnels
What did CERN need?
Around 2013, CERN contacted Worcestershire-based lighting manufacturer Thorlux Lighting regarding emergency escape lights. Emergency lighting is essential for safety, especially in the extensive underground tunnels that house CERN’s accelerators, but the strong levels of radiation and magnetic fields were destroying the standard emergency luminaires used at the time. This meant a high turnover of replacement luminaires and significant associated costs. CERN wanted a bespoke solution, which Thorlux collaborated with them to provide.
Why were Thorlux best placed to deliver?
Thorlux Lighting is one of the UK’s leading luminaire and lighting control systems manufacturers. The company focuses on making durable, highly efficient, long-lasting products, with a UK manufacturing base and in-house R&D capability, enabling them to make products uniquely tailored to specialist applications with a fast turnaround time.
Mark Stevenson, Marketing Lead at Thorlux Lighting, says, “Our in-house UK R&D and manufacturing capability allowed us to respond quickly to CERN’s requirements, and we collaborated with them to develop power supplies that used radiation-hardened components to minimise failure. Following the success of the emergency lighting project, CERN came to us again in 2018 for standard luminaires. We collaborated with them for about six months on developing a radiation hardened version of our Hi-Bar linear luminaire. Again, that proved to be a remarkable success.”
What’s it like working with CERN?
Working with CERN was a positive experience for Thorlux. Mark says, “The CERN team provided us with specific details about what they were looking for technically, and they really helped us to streamline the design process by being clear about what they needed. CERN were also very communicative and very collaborative, which made for a great working partnership.”
What was the impact on Thorlux Lighting?
“The impact on Thorlux Lighting has been an incredibly positive one. So far, we have supplied CERN with over 3,000 emergency luminaires and just under 1,000 standard luminaires. So, from that point of view, it has been highly successful. But, more importantly, it opened new opportunities for us in specialised projects worldwide. Working with CERN has further enhanced our reputation; our understanding and knowledge of working with radiation-hardened equipment has advanced considerably since we began this project.”
Mark Stevenson, Marketing Lead at Thorlux Lighting
For more information, please contact the UK Industrial Liaison Office:
Richard Farrow, Head of Industrial Liaison
richard.farrow@stfc.ukri.org | Tel: +44 7596 888677
Sara Fletcher, Deputy Head of Industrial Liaison
sara.fletcher@stfc.ukri.org | Tel: +44 7733 265422
Alan Silverman, Assistant UK ILO
Alan.silverman@cern.ch
Julie Perrin, ILO Assistant, Price Enquiries
Julie.perrin@stfc.ukri.org
If you need help with export, please contact:
Marie Gow, Senior Trade Officer
Marie.Gow@fcdo.gov.uk
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