Lighting, light sources, economics and safety

Safety and economics in lighting designs are growing concern in both new and existing facilities. The question is what light source gives you the quality of light required for safe operation and reliability in today´s facilities with a balance of the ever growing concerns today´s ever growing economic crunch (total cost of ownership). This paper will compare new and traditional lighting sources and designs used today in hazardous locations, exploring limitations due to factors such ambient temperatures, physical size of lamps and fixtures, lamp efficiency, lumen depreciation, availability of different types of optics for hazardous locations, cost of fixture´s, maintenance, safety of design, but not limited to just these. Lighting approaches around the world differ; in Europe Fluorescent tends to be the dominant leader while in North America it is High Intensity Discharge (HID) this tends to be based on the availability of products suited for the application, geographic location, effect of ambient temperatures (operating at minus 40 °C to plus 40 °C) and grandfathering of designs (do what we have always done). With the introduction of new lighting technology such as L.E.D´s and more there has been increased recognition of options available for lighting systems in both greenfield and brownfield facilities. Decisions on what type of lighting system to use are too often based on up front capital cost, and not always looked at long term maintainability, efficiency of light and safety in the work environment.