ABB’s i-bus KNX DALI Gateway lighting control system has been successfully operating at the new Prince Naif Centre for Dialysis in Riyadh since November 2011 when the centre was officially opened, reports the European firm.

“Lighting is a significant element in the running costs and ambience of a medical centre due to the round-the-clock nature of medical services and the soothing effects that lighting can have on patients and staff,” ABB said in a statement.

“The ABB lighting control system delivers significant returns on both counts by providing double-digit energy savings and by enabling the lighting intensity in each of the 48 dialysis rooms to be individually adjusted by patients during their long treatment sessions.”

Energy is saved by using presence detectors in stairwells, brightness sensors for the façade, gardens and external areas, and timers for parking areas – or a combination of all three where needed. The flexibility of the ABB i-bus technology enables it to be seamlessly integrated with the dialysis centre’s building control system to create a truly smart building in which the lighting, climate and other automation systems are digitally monitored and controlled.

ABB i-bus is an open protocol system that uses both the KNX international standard for the control and monitoring of intelligent buildings and the DALI Gateway digital addressable lighting interface, which enables data to be transferred digitally between lighting devices and the network controllers.