Tianyue Series Smart Panel
A sundial for a form: an octagonal outline, inward-folding lines and a 24-tooth dial screen. A fully cast all-metal panel of its kind, zero-degree cut, with a 10° edge fold. Red Dot Award 2024.
Tianyue turns a sundial into something you can put your hand on. The ancients read the hour with a sundial; Tianyue reworks the same geometry as an octagonal outline, inward-folding lines and a 24-tooth dial screen. It answers the most overlooked question in whole-home automation: the switch you touch every day can also be a solid piece of metal furniture.
- Panel material
- A fully cast all-metal panel
- Form
- Octagon with a 10° inward fold
- Dial
- 24-tooth dial screen (twelve double-hours)
- Sensing
- 5.8 GHz mmWave radar key backlight
- Warranty
- Panel 3 y / drivers 5 y / wiring 20 y
Design intent: the sundial as a form
The sundial is the Chinese instrument for reading the hour: a circle is cut into the dial face, and the shadow of the gnomon moves with the sun. Tianyue's octagonal outline and inward-folding lines come from that circle and from the cast of the gnomon's shadow. The dial screen follows the twelve double-hours of the dial and is built as a 24-tooth transmission, answering twelve double-hours and twenty-four hours. Turning a knob and turning a gnomon are the same act: holding what cannot be seen in the fingers.
Product highlights
A fully cast all-metal panel
The body is cast as a single piece of all-metal with no seam between metal surfaces. A zero-degree cutting finish forms the front-to-side fold in one pass, keeping the surface visually whole and spreading the load under a fingertip evenly.
A sundial dial with a 24-tooth transmission
The sundial sets the form: an octagonal outline with inward-folding lines, and a transmission that echoes the orientation of the dial face. The dial screen uses 24 teeth mapped to the twelve double-hours of the gnomon — that is, to twenty-four hours.
Radar backlight, no opening in the face
Key backlighting uses 5.8 GHz mmWave radar. Compared with infrared scanning the radar covers a wider fan, succeeds more often and is less affected by temperature and humidity. The sensing element sits inside the panel, so nothing is cut out of the face and both the look and the protection improve.
Key graphics and text, engraved to order
Key graphics and text are made to order, up to four Chinese characters, by high-power laser engraving. The lettering is fine, slightly raised and does not wear off — but engraving is a single production step, so wording must be fixed at the schedule stage.
Tianyue specification
| Item | Parameter |
|---|---|
| Design idea | The sundial, the instrument for reading the hour: its circular dial face and the cast of the gnomon's shadow |
| Panel material | A fully cast all-metal panel of its kind |
| Machining | Zero-degree cutting; the front-to-side fold is formed in one pass |
| Form | Octagonal outline with inward-folding lines |
| Dial | 24-tooth dial screen mapped to the twelve double-hours |
| Ergonomics | A 10° edge fold matched to the finger |
| Sensing | 5.8 GHz mmWave radar key backlight, with no opening in the face |
| Adjustable sensing | Off-delay, detection range and sensitivity are all adjustable |
| Backlight | Amber indicates active, white indicates sleep |
| Key customisation | Graphics and text laser-engraved, up to four Chinese characters |
| Modules | Four one-piece frames and eight modules, freely combined |
| Back box & mounting | A standard 86 mm box or the dedicated octagonal recessed box; neutral-wire installation |
| Connectivity | SUFN OS wireless (Zigbee 3.0 at the protocol layer), 24 RF channels polled automatically, cross-gateway and cross-router |
| Patents | Invention patent, radar signal through a metal panel; design patents, the octagonal folded appearance and the octagonal wall box |
| Warranty | Panel 3 years; drivers 5 years; wiring accessories 20 years |
Awards
| Award | Year | Category |
|---|---|---|
| Red Dot Award | 2024 | Product design award |
| Zhongshan Industrial Design Competition | 2024 | General track, product design group — Silver Award and Excellence Award |
Frequently asked questions
QHow do Tianyue and Tianzhi differ, and which should I choose?
Neither outranks the other; they are two characters. Tianyue takes the sundial: an octagonal outline, a 10° inward fold and a 24-tooth dial, with more metal and a part you can turn. Tianzhi takes a round heaven and a square earth: a circle or a square, frameless, with a concave face the finger fits, reading as a panel that disappears into the wall. Choose Tianyue for Eastern interiors that accept a metal fold; choose Tianzhi for minimalism and a seamless wall. Both share the same back boxes, the same eight modules and the same SUFN OS protocol, and can be mixed in one project.
QDoes the panel need new wiring?
No. Tianyue supports neutral-wire installation on standard household wiring, and the standard 86 mm box replaces an existing box directly, so both retrofit and new-build homes are suitable with no rewiring. Only the dedicated octagonal recessed box has to be cast in during the first-fix stage.
QHow does radar backlighting differ from infrared?
Against mainstream infrared scanning, 5.8 GHz mmWave radar covers a wider fan, recognises more reliably and is less affected by temperature and humidity. The sensing element sits inside the panel, so there is no cut-out in the face — the panel both looks better and is better sealed, and no hole has to be milled for the sensor in a metal face.
QWhat does the warranty cover, and for how long?
Tianyue panels carry three years, the matching drivers five, wiring accessories such as back boxes and connection parts twenty, and ecosystem products three. The panel warranty covers residential interiors; project work is uniformly three years. SUFN's patent portfolio totals 136: 7 invention, 3 software, 37 utility model and 89 design patents.
Whole-home smart product series
The models, parameters and mounting details of these series are stated in the official product manual and current datasheet. Get the full specification sheet in the enquiry form below.
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