In industrial facilities, lighting plays a very critical role in terms of enhancing safety and productivity, providing sustainable solutions and ensuring employee well-being and comfort. With proper well illuminated areas, the number of accidents is reduced thereby resulting in safer and constructive environment. Energy efficient lighting system is an important aspect that leads to less destruction of fossil energy. Around 17 – 20 per cent of the world’s energy costs are towards lighting. The industrial environment typically comes with higher installation heights and thus higher wattages and lumen packages as well. With the rising cost of power, spending on energy costs is a huge concern in the industrial segment.
Talking about the importance of proper lighting in industrial facilities, Uma Lanka, Associate Vice President, Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Limited, said, “More than 70 per cent of current lighting in use in the world is based on legacy technologies which consume more energy and cause more CO2 emissions. In some industries and warehouses, lighting contributes to around 80 per cent of the energy costs and hence lighting energy reduction is very crucial.”
Anuj Dhir, Vice President and Business Head, Wipro Lighting also acknowledges that lighting plays a critical role in the industrial environment. He said, “The industries today are cognizant of the need for smart lighting solutions that can deliver right lighting, optimised operational cost, workforce safety, and reduced downtime.”
Apart from being energy efficient, industrial needs to be environment and maintenance friendly to ensure not only no loss of productivity but a longer life and be robust enough to suit the harsh environment for an overall better TCO. For the last few years, lots of efforts have been devoted to the ‘Ledification’ which plays the leading role for digitalisation of lighting. “With the digitalisation of lighting, a paradigm shift is happening in terms of energy efficient, sustainable and human and environment centric lighting,” Ms Uma adds.
Mr Dhir observed: “People working in an industrial environment need well-illuminated space to feel comfortable, motivated and healthy. Accuracy in work, eliminating errors and adherence to safety standards are key elements related to productivity and safety which energy-efficient LED luminaires with excellent optical performance can help achieve.”
How to choose lighting solutions for industrial facilities
Lighting has gone digital with the advancement of LED technology. This creates possibilities for maximum efficiency, controllability, flexibility and reliability almost across the industries like food and beverages, automobile, steel metal, pharma sectors, hazardous industries, warehouses, infrastructure and oil and gas. However, selection of appropriate lighting fixture has significant impact over the desired results. Here we examine the factors that influence selection of lighting solutions for challenging areas, such as industrial facilities.
Quality matters
According to Ms Uma, lighting solution is all about getting the optimised solution to achieve desired result (as per standard) in terms of least TCO, maximum energy saving and providing a safe and comfortable work environment.
“For best possible lighting solution, basis the complete information of the application site, solution is chosen with most suitable light qualities (CCT, CRI, illuminance levels, uniformities,) with the desired mounting arrangement of luminaires in the application area. Appropriate lighting fixture with suitable optics (beam distribution), mechanical (IP, IK, mounting Types) and electrical parameters (currents, drivers) are chosen,” she further explains.
Robust design to withstand harsh environments
For manufacturing and heavy industries, a robust solution with robust LED and drivers to withstand vibrations are recommended. For a process, chemical and steel plant with harsh environments, the LED solution needs to be robust enough to withstand the various emissions and high temperatures and yet provide long lasting solutions within the warranted lives without accelerated lumen depreciation or change in colour of the lights. “For food and pharma industries, clean room fixtures with stainless steel housings and no glass shattering or protruding hardware is suited. For petrol and oil industries and other hazardous areas, flameproof fixtures complying to the standards applicable for the said hazardous zones are recommended,” Ms Uma suggests.
Durability
Especially in industries, the environments are very harsh and hence reliability of the solution over the usage period is very critical. The choice of the LED module and the driver electronics for a robust solution to withstand the heavy vibrations and harsh environments with various volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions is very critical. With LED solutions becoming more affordable, plastic LED packages or multi-chip packages are becoming very popular and replacing the robust ceramic high-power packages. At times these packages can provide higher efficacies initially. However, with aging, not all parts perform the same. The rate of depreciation of lumens and the colour shift (CCT) over time varies very widely among LED packages and in Ms Uma’s opinion, this is a parameter that should be kept in mind while making a choice for the required application and the warranty period.
Application area
According to Ms Uma, “A LED part that is used in a bulb for household application differs substantially than a LED part that is used in highbay in a steel industry as the application, temperature, vibrations, and environments drastically differ. Similarly, a driver solution that is recommended in a heavy industry will differ widely to that which is used for office application.”
Every component is critical
The choice of various components of a LED lighting system including the optics, LED and its package, heat dissipation elements, driver electronics, the construction, thermal performance and vibration and environment suitability; all are very crucial for selection of the right fixture. Ms Uma believes, any compromise on these aspects could impact the quality and reliability of the product and lighting levels or introduce undesirable effects like flicker that could be detrimental to human safety, comfort and well-being.
Avoid too much glare
In addition to safety, Ms Uma recommends, there shouldn’t be too much glare that could affect the vision as well. She adds, “This could adversely impact productivity and result into increase in breakdown times and maintenance costs thereby impacting the total cost of ownership over lifetime.”
While sharing his opinion on how to choose lighting solutions for industrial facilities, Mr Dhir at Wipro said, “We follow the principle of 3E – Ergonomics, Efficiency, Economy for deriving optimum lighting solution for our customers.” He further explains this 3Es as:
Ergonomics
The ergonomic quality of industrial workplace crucially depends on the effortless performance of visual tasks. Good LED luminaires not only just transform the space but also impact the way people feel at the workspace. Lighting solution plays a key role here.
Efficiency
The productivity of the people working is also a function of the quality of illumination in terms of creating an environment which aids to increase in concentration and elimination of errors.
Economy
Rising costs, poor light, high power consumption is a huge concern in industries. Best-in-class luminaires meet the optimum level of illuminance required in industries saving more than 50 per cent energy. Good thermal management in products facilitates LED performance, giving a longer system life. This not only ensures a longer luminaire life but also maintenance free operations.
Advanced industrial lighting solutions
CG’s highbay luminaires with proven performance
Crompton Greaves is one of the pioneers in development of high efficacy rectangular and circular highbay luminaires with highest intensities and optimum optics to achieve the best lumen density per watt without compromising on the reliability for industrial harsh environment use, claims Ms Uma. She adds, “The thermal management and the well-engineered product with the use of the best-in-class LED and driver electronics ensure that the products will deliver the designed light levels through its life in such harsh environments.”
CG’s Wellglass luminaires which are used on conveyers in thermal power plants or cement industries have a unique finless design with options of heat resistance glass, clear PC, diffused PC etc. The state-of-the-art thermal engineering design ensures that the thermal management is perfectly handled and no compromise is made on the choice of LED and electronics. All these products have also been recognised with the India Design Mark, the coveted recognition for the best designed products in the country.
CG’s product portfolio also includes cleanroom and flameproof luminaires for cleanroom applications in pharma and food industry and hazardous areas.
Wipro’s comprehensive lighting solutions for industrial application
Wipro Lighting offers luminaires with metal halide technology, cleanroom lighting solutions and many more for manufacturing segment. Mr Dhir claims, “Today Wipro has a range of highbays having the highest luminous efficacy in the industry thus offering the most ideal lighting solutions to its discerned customers, addressing all the key parameters (like safety, right lighting, economy, and productivity).”
Radial Pro Plus is one of Wipro’s highbay range of products having the efficacy of 150 Lm/W. “Lighting solution for an industry with Radial Pro Plus ensures the lowest quantity given the high luminous efficacy and thus lowered energy cost which generates high savings for the client for the entire life of the luminaire,” ensures Mr Dhir.
For linear lighting solution in the industrial application, Wipro has a unique offering in the form of Linear modular highbay XpressBay. Xpressbay, the IP 65 Linear Highbay provides a lighting solution which is more specific, productive and enhances work efficiency without compromising on the functional prerequisites of the manufacturing spaces.
Wipro’s entire range of luminaires is designed with extruded aluminium heat sink, resulting in effective thermal management. It ensures that LED highbays have longer life while giving consistent performance.
In all its product offerings, Wipro lays strong emphasis on total cost of ownership. Radial Square is the company’s new launched Highbay that offers a high efficacy of 130 Lm/W.
For indoor applications, Wipro has the X Line family which is a trunk mountable LED channel solution offering end-to-end connectivity, high performance, a snap-fit arrangement in the trunk for easy and flexible installations.
Wipro also offers smart automation in industrial range of products under its platform of Internet of Lighting IOL.
The company has new range of products like Dura Wellglass, Bulkhead, technical Batten Optima and many more with excellent optical performance with uniform lighting, high efficiency, optimum value, long service life, quick maintenance and ease in an installation at various application areas like warehouses, industries, petrol pumps, railway stations and airports.
By Subhajit Roy, Group Editor
