Gearheads: Claypaky Xtylos

GEAR HEADS

CLAYPAKY XTYLOS

Claypaky CEO, Pio Nahum, chats to TPi about Xtylos - its first beam effect powered by laser.

When did the development of the Xtylos begin? The Xtylos was a joint venture between Osram and Claypaky that was conceived, designed and implemented over four years. The original idea was to develop a multi-colour RGB LASER SOURCE with a completely different structure from pre-existing light sources, in order to have a total and efficient optical and electronic control of the light beam. Therefore, allowing the ability to obtain different and special effects otherwise impossible to bring to fruition with traditional LED and lamp technologies. For example, the possibility of obtaining an extremely collimated RGB beam with a divergence lower than 1°, at very high intensity and with extremely bright and saturated colours.

What was the original goal of the project? This mode of using a laser source is very innovative. Lasers are renowned for being rather complicated and expensive devices. Lasers most frequent application as a light source has been in the field of video projection. To

use laser light in the new Xtylos, Claypaky and Osram’s R&D departments have created a totally new, patent-pending optical group and carried out countless tests on performance and safety aspects. The result is a luminaire with no equal on the market.

Could you talk through the technical aspects of the fixture? There is a reliable, safe and fully sealed module, based on RGB solid-state laser. In this tailor-made module, a sophisticated and efficient optical system makes it possible to obtain, in extremely small spaces, a light source mixed at very high efficiency and luminance. Furthermore, the output of this module has been designed in such a way as to obtain a system with all the special features of the laser light but with the safety of a normal LED or lamp system. All this thanks to the combination of a projection lens specifically designed and optimised for this type of source. The fixture is therefore extremely compact, efficient and fast in its movements.

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CLAYPAKY XTYLOS

Claypaky CEO, Pio Nahum.

What challenges did you encounter in its development? There were some different issues such as mixing and optically combining different spectrum laser sources as well as electronically controlling them because they are not like LEDs. Our main challenges were to obtain a ‘light engine’ with laser characteristics that had no safety problems, once inserted into the fixture with the optical projection system and develop a very sophisticated thermal control of the sources to avoid efficiency losses.

What looks can be achieved with this fixture? This is a revolution in projection systems. Xtylos’ extremely collimated beams mean the fixture can be manipulated, deconstructed, broken down into many sub-beams and create special effects that were once impossible to achieve with traditional systems. The fixture also enhances the possibility of getting colours even brighter than white light and instantaneous colour changes which are impossible with lamp systems such as the Sharpy. Extremely solid and saturated colour light beams generate full beam of light without visible hotspots as well as fast movements and the possibility of

“Xtylos’ extremely collimated beams mean the fixture can be manipulated, deconstructed, broken down into many sub-beams and create special effects that were once impossible to achieve with traditional systems.” Claypaky CEO, Pio Nahum

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combining beams with mirrors or other optical systems typically used in laser technology. At the moment, the Xtylos has shown only a small part of its potential but has already created a deep gap with all the traditional effects.

Xtylos was unveiled at Prolight + Sound. What feedback did you receive? Claypaky came again with a totally innovative product for our market, opening the possibility for future new scenarios. The comments from those on the tradeshow floor in Frankfurt, Germany were very positive. I think it was appreciated that the beam moving light concept was completely reinvented - giving LDs the possibility of using concentrated beams in white or a range of light colors. As well as very saturated colours such as red, blue and the green. The very uniform beam and the quality of the light have been appreciated, as well as the speed of both pan/tilt and effects, which allow to create combinations never seen before. TPi www.claypaky.it