Turning old into new - lighting the SWR television tower Stuttgart

Matthias Buck from SWR Media Services GmbH has been taking care of the maintenance and operation of the television tower with experience and passion for many years. "When Mr. Buck approached us, we in the team were immediately enthusiastic about this exciting challenge," states Martin Weller from DIANA. Previously, outdated 150 watt HQI lamps were used in the spotlights to ensure the visibility of the television tower. These metal halide lamps with quartz technology (HQI) had to be phased out for several reasons, explains Matthias Buck. On the one hand, the HQI spotlights are no longer state of the art due to their energy efficiency and short lifespan. In addition, the existing lighting attracts large numbers of insects, which then die due to the heat generated.

For DIANA, this marked the start of the development of a new lighting system with reduced energy and service costs for the operator. In addition, a retrofit solution was targeted in order to preserve the existing installation of the spotlights and their appearance and thus minimize the retrofitting work on the listed tower.

In order to achieve the best possible development results, various tests and light measurements were carried out at our company headquarters in Schwaikheim and the prototypes were then tested in operation at the SWR television tower in Stuttgart for over a year.

With the specially developed LED retrofit, the existing HQI spotlights can be replaced 1:1. The housing of the existing spotlights and thus their entire installation on the television tower can still be used. By using LED technology, we are able to significantly reduce the power consumption from 150 watts to 80 watts while maintaining the same light output.

During the test run with the prototypes, we also noticed that despite the significantly lower attraction compared to the HQI spotlight, insects were still occasionally attracted to the spotlights. "Even though they don't die in the light beam or in the housing due to the lower heat development of the LEDs, we were all keen to reduce the irritation to the insects even further," emphasizes Matthias Buck. "DIANA has therefore reduced the color temperature from 4000 Kelvin to 2700 Kelvin, which leads to an even lower insect attraction and thus corresponds to species protection in the best possible way."

"We always try to take a holistic view of the lighting solutions and, above all, keep an eye on individual aspects such as the positioning of the lighting"

With the existing spotlights, for example, it was always the case that the spotlights in the transmission mast at the top of the tower would fail much earlier due to the stronger weather. The seals on the housings were therefore completely overhauled by DIANA and the use of a membrane was recommended. This prevents water from entering the housing, which reduces maintenance costs and ensures the maximum service life of the spotlights.

We at DIANA are also very proud of the project and always look forward to seeing the beautifully illuminated television tower above the rooftops of Stuttgart.

You can find more information about the Stuttgart landmark at https://www.fernsehturm-stuttgart.de/. A trip to our spotlights and the SWR television tower Stuttgart is definitely worth it.

By the way, we are not only your professional partner high above the clouds. You can read more here about what we believe defines perfect tunnel vision.