Industrial lighting – where to start?

LED lighting has a longer life than sodium lamps or metalhalide

For several years, LED lighting technology has gradually gained more and more popularity, effectively replacing the traditional lighting of the old type. These changes have not bypassed the industrial segment. Successfully replacements made in LED technology allow to significantly reduce the costs associated with the use of light without weakening its potential. Another reason in favor of LED lighting is considerably longer product life in comparison with sodium or metalhalide lamps. These factors predispose LED lighting to become the leader in the category of industrial lighting. It must to be taken into account that the process of replacing lighting and its optimal choice should be based on several elementary stages.

First step – determining requirements for industrial LED lighting

This is a crucial stage, from which everything begins, as at this stage, we have to determine the needs of the facility and the requirements on the number of lux units (units of light intensity). It is worth to use standard issued by the Polish Committee for Standardization (Standard PN-EN 12464-1 – lighting of workplaces). Of course, adapting the light source must be performed by a specialized software (e.g. Dialux), which will accurately visualize and calculate our assumptions. The proper amount of light is crucial for the well-being and safety of workers, which undoubtedly has an impact on productivity. Implementation of the project is of key importance in the conversion of former industrial lighting for LED replacements. Only then we have the certainty that using more efficient LED products (consuming less energy with simultaneous higher ratio of lm / W) will provide the same light output. We will know exactly how many pieces of light source of what power we will need.

The second step – selecting the appropriate product (design)

When we specify our demand for the light intensity, choosing the right products should be considered. Paradoxically, wide range of industrial LED lighting does not help us with this task. We have to consider the installation capabilities of our house. For example, in the case of replacement of industrial lighting in the hall, we can rely on the installation of LED bulbs on the E40 or E27 sockets (if we have older version of sockets), instead of installing new lamps integrated with LED light source. In other cases, high bay lamps might be a great solution, especially in an high rooms e.g. warehouses. Here you can also consider installation of FlatPanel lamps, which have a very high light output, directed in one direction. In case of more standard rooms, it would be a good idea would to use LED tubes in order to successfully replace conventional fluorescent lamps. The offer of LED replacements also include street lighting products, more and more common on the streets of our cities.

Step Three – cost calculation of LED industrial lighting

After clarifying the above two criteria it is time to choose a specific product and price offer. Incomparably lower energy consumption of LED light sources is the reason, for which replacement of lighting becomes a profitable investment in a relatively short period of time. Although the price of LEDs may seem high in comparison with so-called traditional sources, however, the much lower power consumption allows to generate very large savings, which allows this kind of investment to repay itself in less than 12 months. At this stage, the savings calculator turns out to be extremely useful. This tool allows you to quickly and accurately calculate savings based on costs associated with the use of current lighting source.

Prices of LED products are very diverse, but they are the result of many factors, including power, performance, warranty periods, quality, brand and class of components used. We must not forget that the market for LED products is wide, but not all products meet the declared requirements.

Carrying out this fairly simple process certainly brings us close to the choice of the optimal offer of LED lighting, complying with our needs and possibilities.