PLANT PERSPECTIVES: LED Lighting
Seeing Your Plant In A New Light
E
ver-escalating environmental standards mean that the world’s
most demanding industrial locations are facing a new set of
requirements. Not only do they need smart new lighting ideas
and innovative approaches to enhancing safety, but they also need
lighting that reduces CO2 emissions, improves energy efficiency and
cuts the overall cost of ownership.
These days refineries are not only working to meet the world’s growing demand for clean fuels, but they’re also investing in the latest
technology to improve their own energy efficiency. At this U.S. installation, the company chose to partner with Dialight, an industrial LED
lighting solution provider, to implement its new, energy-efficient, safe
and environmentally friendly lighting approach.
By replacing its traditional lighting with LED fixtures, this refinery
has been able to improve lighting quality, reduce its energy consumption, and access many additional business and operational benefits.
Lower Energy Consumption & Costs
As portrayed in this installation, the efficient optics used in LED
hazardous location products like SafeSite® enable more light to reach
target areas, especially when compared to the previous high-pressure
sodium (HPS) installation at the plant. Using lower wattage than conventional lighting, fewer LED fixtures are needed to light a given area.
Additionally, more light is focused on straight lines where it is needed,
limiting spillover to just a few feet. This not only reduces energy
needs, but also cuts installation time and costs, while the LEDs’ long
inherent lifespan eliminates maintenance.
The combination of reduced energy consumption, a 50 percent cut
in the number of lighting fixtures, a fixture life warranty of five years
with more than 50,000 operating hours and the resulting slash in
maintenance clearly produces a low cost of ownership for the plant.
This installation’s first priority was safety and better lighting. When
refinery employees had to use an
additional portable
light at night, even
with a direct fixture
above the equipment, it was clearly
time for a change in
lighting strategy.
Under the plant’s
previous HPS lighting, color rendering
was Ra 30, thus
making it difficult
for refinery workers to distinguish
between colors.
Objects appear colorful because they
absorb some colors
of light and reflect
other colors to our
Dialight's SafeSite® LED fixture is specifically
intended for hazardous locations.
eyes. For example,
This photo illustrates the difference between SafeSite® LED (left) and
high-pressure sodium lighting (right).
an object that reflects blue and absorbs all other colors appears blue
to us. However, this only occurs if the object is illuminated by a light
source that emits blue light. HPS lamps, for example, emit almost no
blue light, so a blue object will appear very dark.
HPS, fluorescent and induction lights are also missing large areas
in their color spectrum, and this can further cause colored objects to
appear off-color or dark. As a result, extra task lighting was required
for certain jobs, like electrical maintenance, so refinery workers could
correctly identify cable colors.
In contrast, Dialight’s SafeSite LED fixtures are full spectrum, meaning there are no gaps in the spectrum. This lighting method provides
bright, vibrant illumination of all objects, thereby optimizing visual
acuity, reducing eye strain and creating a safer work environment
when maneuvering, reading placards or identifying color-coded wiring.
This eliminates the need for portable lights to get the job done safely
by improving access to plant equipment, as well as boosting worker
safety with less chance to accidentally slip or trip.
The plant was specifically fitted with SafeSite® LED fixtures for Class
I, Division 2/Class II, Division 2 applications. These fixtures meet
the latest European lighting regulations that affect hazardous locations from oilfields and chemical processing to mining, flour mills and
power stations. SafeSite® illumination fixtures can deliver significant
value in these locations—whether in new or retrofitted installations—
thus making expensive re-lamping costs a thing of the past. Their benefits, however, go much further.
An Environmental Solution
Light pollution is greatly reduced with SafeSite® fixtures, which
utilize the latest LED technology with proprietary optics designed
to focus light directionally, so that it illuminates only required areas
within the refinery, such as straight walkways, avoiding adjacent and
upward light spill.
Unlike conventional lights, Dialight’s LED fixtures are designed to
retrofit to multiple alternative fixings like walls or stanchions, and
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Shedding Some Light On The Subject
can also be used as side-by-side modules to expand an application. Some large conventional lighting users must carry a range
of a few dozen types of fixtures to fit different locations, so using
multi-purpose LED fixtures can drastically reduce the amount of
inventory a facility must carry in order to maintain lighting in different situations.
Use of LED lighting opens up access to many other benefits in
hazardous location installations like this. One is excellent performance in low operating temperatures. Dialight’s LED fixtures are
rated down to -40°C and still provide 100 percent of their rated
lumen output, unlike fluorescents as their output decreases rapidly at low temperatures. This makes LED fixtures ideal for use in
extreme environments and exposed exterior installations.
Unlike HPS lights that can take minutes to warm up, LEDs achieve
100 percent light output from the second they are switched on. This
instant-on ability can be significant in hazardous locations that use
independent generators because these areas are more prone to blackouts and brownouts, resulting in the need for additional emergency
lights. By fitting LEDs to a central battery or standby power system,
expensive downtime and unnecessary exposure to danger can be
avoided.
Instant-on ability also creates more opportunities to save energy.
LEDs can be coupled with occupancy sensors, and either completely switched off or reduced to a lower illumination level when
no one is present around the installation. This not only reduces
energy, but also dramatically extends the operating life of the lighting system.
All in all, the replacement of traditional lighting with LED technology is delivering multiple benefits for this petroleum refinery,
while additionally helping it maintain a strong environmental and
safety focus in its operations.
More information is available at www.dialight.com.
Color rendition is vastly improved with LED lighting.
E-Switch now offers the LP1
Series illuminated round pushbutton switch with multiple
LED color options, such as blue,
green, red, white and yellow.
According to the company, this
illuminated momentary switch is
also highlighted by the following
specifications:
• An electrical life of 50,000 cycles.
• An operating force of 250 ± 100 GF.
• A travel distance of 1.88 ± 0.3 mm.
• A contact rating of 100 mA at 30 VDC.
• An initial maximum contact resistance of 50 milliohms.
• A minimum insulation resistance of 100 Megaohms at 500 VDC.
• A dielectric strength of 500 VAC.
• An operating temperature of -40° to 85°C.
Minneapolis, MN | [email protected] | www.e-switch.com
Safety On The Docket
For greater safety on the shipping/receiving
dock, APS Resource® introduces its energysaving FT Ultra LED™ dock light. The company says the light features:
• A bright 15-W cool-to-the-touch light that
fully illuminates the entire trailer.
• A 33-in. flexible stainless steel arm for precise positioning, plus the ability to permit
you to aim the light at the most optimal spot.
• Abundant light output while using 1/10 the
energy of a traditional incandescent.
• Resistance to impacts.
• A safety yellow control box with an on/off switch and a convenient 120-V outlet for powering other dock accessories or
tools.
• An optional 8-in. standoff bracket.
• Compliance with FDA and USDA requirements.
Mequon, WI | [email protected] | www.apsresource.com
Dialight installed its SafeSite® LED lighting system at the above petroleum refinery.
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