Improved visibility, reduced operational expenditures as well as reduced impacts on the environment are some of the key drivers for lighting upgrades in industrial facilities. In this article we will highlight some common considerations when switching from conventional to LED technology.
Energy Efficiency – With sustainability and energy consumption at the forefront of all industries, LED luminaires are natural replacements to consider for aging legacy lighting systems. LED luminaires offer significant energy savings over their counterparts, ranging from 50% up to 90% depending on the technology currently in place.
Lower Cost of Ownership – Substantially reduced maintenance requirements and increased reliability of certain solid-state LED luminaires can ensure a payback period of one to two years for challenging applications. While the upfront cost can be higher, the substantially increased lifetime, up to 10x greater in some cases, reduces the loss of productivity due to scheduled maintenance and associated labor overhead. Well-designed LED luminaires that provide adequate thermal management of all electronics can experience a substantially reduced rate of light output depreciation and in some cases provide as much as 80% of the original output after 10 years of operation. In comparison, legacy lighting technologies have a typical maintenance schedule for bulb and ballast replacements every two years.
Superior Color Rendering – Color Rendering Index (CRI) measures how precisely a light source renders colors compared to a conventional incandescent light bulb. A value of 100 is considered the benchmark. LED luminaires are available with high CRI values and compared to older HID technologies that were as low as 25 CRI (High-Pressure Sodium) provide superior visual acuity.
Critical Lighting Considerations for the Industrial Workplace
Key deliverables should be safety, productivity, and visual acuity
Poor lighting design strategies can have a negative impact on site operators
Luminaire placement must take existing equipment details into account
Lighting directly impacts human performance
The average age of the operators can guide minimum illumination targets
Evaluation criteria should not be limited to lumen output, lm/w efficiency, projected life and unit cost
Uniform intensity levels can improve visual comfort, specifically for an aging workforce
Over-lighting a workplace may have a negative contribution to safety and performance
Using LED equivalency statements from marketing material should not replace a detailed lighting design
Installation locations and aiming should be controlled to reduce or eliminate glare discomfort
Color temperature and CRI selection may need to differentiate between exterior and interior luminaires
