LED lighting for industry: How to reach a high-quality and economical solution?

This is the first post in the series, where we elaborate on high-quality LED luminaires. We will focus in particular on indoor lighting for industry.
Mostly, industrial lighting is perceived as something that just simply has to dealt with without much extra attention.

In reality, modern LED solutions can significantly increase the quality of production, improve the working environment and reduce fixed costs. However, light sources are very different in quality. People without specific knowledge find it difficult to distinguish high-quality products from ones that would be wiser to avoid. It gets even more complicated when we move into the world of control systems. Therefore, many have been disappointed with LED luminaires.
Unlike widespread myths and horror stories, however, the problem is not in LEDs, but in products that are in poor quality and / or inappropriate use. The solution is awareness raising. We will try to contribute to this in Diotech’s blog.

First, to illustrate the potential of the new generation of LED, let’s look at a metal processing factory, for example, with 400W metal halide lamps at the moment. Depending on the exact space parameters, they can be replaced with 100W to 150W LED luminaires. This would mean an average of annual savings for over 3000 euros [1]. The result is economically certainly feasible, but is it also with better light quality? This now depends on several components, some of which are listed below.

(a) Luminaire layout and quantities are planned in accordance with the requirements of the room. That is, according to the parameters of the room (height, area) and the peculiarity of work in the room. We assume that the production unit discussed in this example deals with metal cutting and welding work. In this case, the average level of work surface lighting required by the standard is 300 lux (see Internal lighting standard EVS-EN 12464-1: 2011). In a high-quality solution, light computing has taken the goal of achieving a consistent level of light throughout the room. For this purpose, Dialux will carry out the necessary light calculations and plan the layout of the luminaire according to the required level and other possible constraints.

(b) Luminaires technical parameters are designed to fit the exact usage. The technical parameters of the luminaire should be based on the lighting requirements of the room. In essence, it is possible to combine the technical layout of the LED luminaires according to a particular project (including parameters such as power, power supply, luminous efficiency – lm / W, current intensity, color index, color temperature, angle of the optics, properties of the coating glass, etc. Parameter variation logic is discussed later in this post). The result is a luminaire whose properties are exactly in accordance with the requirements of the space.

(c) The assembly quality and components. It is important to realize that LED luminaires are manufactured from standard components (light emitting diode, LED light sources, optics, power supply, housing, etc.). Although there may be a number of LED manufacturers, it is important to know that, in most cases, only some of the component have recognized suppliers.
For example, there are only a handful of recognized optics manufacturers such as Ledil, Carclo Optics and Khatod. The same goes with power supplies and diods. The details of the luminaire can be written later, but it is first and foremost important to observe which components the particular LED luminaire is made of.
All in all, by approaching consciously, an optimal solution can be created, which is considerably more affordable in terms of cost, and with a substantially better light quality.

[1] In this example, the average electricity consumption is calculated to be 0.11 EUR / KWh (including network charges). It is also assumed that the factory works in one shift. The cost of the luminaire’s annual maintenance costs is also taken into account.