The field test in Toronto has now lasted 12 months. The power savings were monitored by Toronto Hydro and here is a summary of their official report. Also main features as per the building manager's report.
 

1- Average of 32% power savings over the year
        Savings up to 45% during afternoons in the Summer when sun was shining
        (when the cost was sometimes as much as 70c/kWhr!!)
        Minimum of 30% savings even when no sunshine was present.

2- NO FAILURES of either units or tubes.  (many tubes had to be replaced in the mirror uncontrolled area used for our base control)

3- No one complained of the lighting levels (in fact many did not even notice)
        The "booster buttons" used at night when the power menagement dims to 50% power and someone comes in to work is well accepted, and no one found it bothersome.

4- Several office workers stated that the "light quality" was much better than before. In fact one person said that she does not experience migraines any longer since we installed our system. One person said that she sometimes looks at the lights to relax, because the mellow light given soothes her.

5- The building manager finds the interactive management program very easy to deal with. The only change had to be made at daylight savings changes because the computer did not have the automatic time change... (very old DOS 5.1 version!)

Some of the recordings:

The left graph shows in RED the power demand programmed energy management. In BLACK the light feedback is shown, with the threshold of 120 being the maximum ambient that allows further dimming. In the right power graph, you see the top RED and BLUE recordings as being the BASE circuits in the uncontrolled area. Below, the jagged black and blue are the controlled recordings. Note that at 15:00 the light intensifies (sun comes around) and further dimming takes place on both circuits. The savings that day amount to 35%.

That day you can see the individual dimming resulting from the sunshine on the BLACK circuit (closest to the window) between16:00 and 19:00. Note also the light coming back at 22:00 (someone came in to work, and after the sun went down, asked for a "boost" to 70% power. The savings would have been 38%, but because of the night shift, the total was still 35% savings for the day.

That day you can see that there is no adequate sunlight (way below nominal). And yet, the power management saved 30% of power.
 

Modifications prompted by field test:

Further to the field test, the zone controller algorithm has now been incorporated in each power unit with an electrical internal feedback, and the drop out LED is not needed any longer. The main advantages of the newest design are:

• Self calibration at power up (no need for any manual adjusting)
• Saves an extra 3 wire lead and LED fixture to mount
• About 12 components (and 2 chips) were removed, hence saved real estate on board as well as cost.
• Enables a much better control when voltage fluctuations are present
• Gives 5% power steps (instead of 10% in the earlier design)
• Automatic drop out circuit independent of voltage/ temperature/ tube
• Linear control curve  (0-10Vdc;  every 0.5 Volt corresponding to 5% dimming step; over 9V electronic OFF state)
• Much smoother transitions between steps

Business Plan:

We have a new business plan, based on the results of the field test. It is based on two Canadian manufacturer's price for manufacturing initially the new units in medium quantities (50,000 units) and the projections for selling price based on current market survey. The steps in progress are:

• Raise the funds for a 12 months product development stage
• In the period 12-18 months start installing systems and monitor them
• After 18 months, ramp up production and expand marketing
• We expect that after 2 years we start profitability.