It's crucial to choose hazardous LED lighting that complies with certain standards not only for the space's good illumination but also for your safety and the safety of everyone else using it. We'd want to guide you through some considerations to keep in mind while looking at luminaires for agricultural, maritime, and mine applications because each area has its own issues.
Challenges with Lighting in Agricultural Applications
Numerous farm lighting applications include risks that call for a particular kind of luminaire. The main difficulties and requirements for a luminaire for these applications are listed below.
Explosions of dust
Given the correct conditions, agricultural applications like grain elevators pose a serious danger of explosion. Large volumes of suspended dust are prone to accumulating in these confined places. For instance, as grain travels, dust is produced. A flammable mixture is produced when dust and air are combined in a small area. Explosions can happen when paired with an ignition source. It is possible for ignition sources to range from static electricity to a light switch, therefore choosing the wrong luminaire might have disastrous results.
Animal Barns
Hog barns are also susceptible to explosions or serious material deterioration due to inadequate ventilation and corrosive gases in the air. For the comfort of the pigs, the majority of these buildings are totally enclosed and equipped with a negative pressure ventilation system, as was mentioned in the Canadian Hog Journal. In the winter, ventilation is further lessened to maintain warmth. As a result, a luminaire is exposed to more moisture and corrosive gases inside the building, which puts additional strain on its ability to perform as intended.
Chicken Barns
Another setting where you should carefully examine your lighting option is a poultry farm. In addition to being prone to dust accumulation like the applications already discussed, they are frequently steam cleaned to get rid of germs and viruses. Therefore, you want a luminaire that can successfully survive this high pressure cleaning.
To ensure your safety and the safety of others, it is crucial to choose a specific set of hazardous LED light fixtures for various agricultural environments since there are numerous aspects to take into account that may be dangerous.
Mandates for Hazardous LED Lighting
Look for a fixture with the following certifications to significantly lower the chance of a dust explosion and give your customer piece of mind:
Risky Location Classified
To prevent dust and dirt materials from entering and leading to malfunctions or explosions, we strongly advise choosing a vaporproof luminaire that is certified for hazardous locations and is totally sealed.
Class II Div 2 of UL844
Class II Div 2 Groups F and G of the certification UL844 is one to watch out for. This shows that a luminaire has been tested and shown to safely endure environments with explosive dust. Utilising a correctly placed hazardous-rated LED lighting reduces the possibility of an explosion in these conditions by eliminating any potential ignition sources.
NEMA 4X
We advise using a luminaire that is NEMA 4X certified for situations that are very corrosive, such as hog barns, or harsh circumstances, such as high pressure steam cleaning in a chicken barn. This indicates that it has been tested and qualified to survive corrosion and harsh situations, preventing future lighting issues that aren't essential.
