The rising sophistication of emergency lighting systems signifies that as nicely as being a vital a part of a building’s life safety infrastructure they can also get financial savings and reduce CO2 emissions because of the benefits intelligent LED-based solutions with superior battery know-how have over conventional techniques.
Anyone who has had the misfortune of being in an unfamiliar constructing when a hearth alarm is activated or a primary lighting failure has occurred will perceive the true value of an emergency lighting system. Although we frequently take these familiar green and white indicators for granted, emergency lighting’s role, as a half of an total life security system, ought to never be underestimated. Recent years have witnessed significant developments within the technology deployed in these methods, with the end result that they now supply a level of intelligence that mixes power efficiency with reliability and ease-of-use.
Bad Behaviour
The means during which we use energy is continually in the spotlight and if additional proof was required of the need for all of us to handle our behaviour it came in a 2013 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It said that scientists are 95 percent sure that we’re the ‘dominant cause’ of world warming because the Nineteen Fifties.
This may not come as a lot of a shock. However, via larger consciousness of the consequences of CO2, combined with the monetary implications of rising utility bills, organisations are extra keen and in a position than ever to make use of energy correctly. Growing legislation and regulation signifies that businesses all over the world are implementing energy discount measures. The focus is usually on adopting renewable energy technologies corresponding to photo voltaic photovoltaics (PV), wind generators and floor and air source heat pumps as ways to generate power, while others are using building administration techniques (BMS) to realize a holistic view of their power use and determine methods to decrease their consumption.
However, the pressure is on to do much more, which is why constructing house owners and managers are having to drill down and have a look at particular person components of their building companies infrastructures to see whether or not there any extra financial savings may be made.
Light Years Ahead
Modern emergency lighting systems supply the chance for important vitality and value financial savings. This is due to two key components – the usage of gentle emitting diode (LED) based lighting and advanced battery know-how.
Traditional emergency lighting techniques utilise crude nickel cadmium, nickel steel hydride or lead acid batteries. They drive the centrally operated system by continually charging, discharging slightly and then recharging – a course of that uses unnecessary amounts of power and shortly decreases the lifecycle of the battery. It means that battery life is restricted to between one and four years, dependent upon the application.
State-of-the-art clever know-how, nonetheless, utilises solely the quantity of power needed to totally charge the emergency lighting batteries, after which shuts the battery down till an emergency situation occurs. This avoids degradation, prolongs life and reduces energy consumption. Some methods are additionally out there with luminaires that are equipped with integral batteries allowing continued operation for no less than three hours, even in cases the place the management panel or energy cables are broken. Maintained luminaires could be powered instantly from the line in order not to have an effect on any battery capacity subsequently leaving the batteries in an “always ready” state.
So what type of vitality savings may be made as a result? It is estimated that intelligent battery systems use between five and ten p.c energy of that a traditional battery system would use. Consider larger installations of as much as 5,000 luminaires – which aren’t uncommon in hospitals, for instance – and the financial savings quickly turn out to be apparent.
Bright Spark
It is estimated that lighting accounts for more than 19 % of the world’s complete electrical energy consumption. According to Green LED Solutions, if only half of worldwide lighting was transformed to LED by 2025, power use can be reduce by 120GW, saving £66 billion a 12 months and decreasing CO2 emissions from energy crops by 350Mt over the identical interval.
LED lighting has seen speedy adoption and the global market was worth $25.four billion in 2013, according to a Digitimes Research Special Report. LED technology is both cost efficient and environmentally friendly, making it a greener various to other systems that are at present obtainable and allowing operating prices to be kept to a minimum without compromising effectivity.
LED technology is now being utilized in emergency lighting systems and these new luminaires supply some impressive financial savings. For occasion, they devour less than zero.5W, whereas an identical 8W fluorescent mild exit luminaire will use approximately 12W. These techniques also include further power saving options, together with signage that is linked by way of low voltage 40V cabling, which is powered and configured on the identical loop through a single panel, giving excessive ranges of management via an computerized system.
Testing Times
All emergency lighting methods have to be examined on a monthly basis in compliance with BS EN 50172. The test itself normally involves flicking a guide change, which interrupts the facility supply to the luminaire, in order that it illuminates. A full record sheet needs to be maintained for each emergency luminaire and entered right into a logbook, which should be available for inspection by the authorities at any time. Failure to supply full test data can outcome in legal action and closure of the constructing, and if the emergency lighting is flawed, the insurance coverage policy for the constructing may be invalid.
On เกจวัดความดันpressuregauge appears reasonable and fulfils the necessities of the Standard, however, the testing course of itself is flawed and does not essentially lead to a secure and totally practical system. All it does is verify that the system works for a quantity of seconds when the manual swap is operated – what happens if the system fails 5 minutes after the test? It will not be retested for one more month, so may go away a building’s occupants weak in the meantime.
Also, it does not take a look at just for how lengthy the luminaires will stay on and whether or not the battery has enough energy to maintain operation for the interval specified within the related standards. The time required to evacuate the premises is determined by its size and complexity. The period itself depends not solely on evacuation time but in addition on whether the premises are evacuated immediately the power and regular lighting fails and/or are reoccupied immediately the availability is restored.
BS EN 50172 states the minimum period of an emergency lighting system as one hour. However, a minimal duration of three hours should be used for emergency lighting if the premises aren’t evacuated immediately, as within the case of sleeping accommodation, for example, or if the premises might be reoccupied instantly the availability is restored without ready for the batteries to be recharged. It must also be noted that to adjust to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) a hundred and one Life Safety Code, emergency lights are required to stay lit for 90 minutes.
Modern emergency lighting management panels repeatedly monitor and take a look at functionality in actual time. They can be pre-programmed to hold out particular month-to-month, six monthly and annual exams and additionally it is possible to set operational parameters as much as alert when batteries are at eighty five p.c capability, providing a high stage of reassurance that the system will work accurately underneath all circumstances.
FACTS OF THE MATTER
Lighting consumes 19 % of all electrical energy in the world.
The first LED device was crafted in 1907 by Captain H J Round, a British radio expertise pioneer and a personal assistant to Guglielmo Marconi.
Nick Holonyak Jr is taken into account ‘the father of the trendy LED’. In 1962, while working at General Electric, he developed the primary practically practical seen spectrum LED device for business use.
In 2009, a typical 13W LED lamp emitted 450-650 lumens, which is equivalent to a normal 40W incandescent bulb. LEDs have turn out to be more efficient, in order that now a 6W LED can easily achieve the identical results.
LEDs produce a long service life of between 50,000 hours and 100,000 hours. This compares with 2,000-5,000 hours for a halogen bulb and eight,000 hours to fifteen,000 hours for a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL).
Unlike CFLs LEDs don’t contain mercury and can be extra safely disposed of.
LEDs emit no ultraviolet radiation (UV) or infrared (IR), which makes them perfect to illuminate costly objects similar to photographs, collections, work and so on.
LEDs produce more mild than warmth, which makes them the most secure type of lighting and reduces the risk of fires.
Right Place, Right Time
Evacuation is normally hindered by an absence of detailed knowledge of the internal connectivity of the constructing area, together with complicated and poorly thought out directions. Studies have additionally shown that in these situations occupants normally make use of familiar routes – typically utilizing the exit through which they entered the constructing. Even more worryingly, analysis from the University of Greenwich, as a part of its examine called Human Behaviour in Fire Network (HUBFIN), found that only 38 p.c of individuals see passive signage in an emergency. This is a daunting statistic and only serves to spotlight the significance of siting an emergency lighting system in a method that can guide people to a protected location in the event of a mains lighting failure.
BS EN 50172 provides steerage on the positioning of luminaires, provides a minimum normal that must be applied and offers steerage on particular hazards and points of emphasis that have to be accounted for. Points of emphasis are mandatory areas the place lighting must highlight particular hazards, safety tools and indicators. These include areas near stairs, close to adjustments of level, at each change of path, near firefighting gear and handbook call points, outside and close to to every ultimate exit, first help factors, at exit doorways, and near safety signs.
Signs are both internally of externally illuminated and the utmost viewing distances for internally illuminated signs is 200 occasions the panel top, and a hundred occasions the panel top for externally illuminated signs. Luminaires should supply 1Lux of output in escape routes and 0.5Lux in open areas. Emergency lighting should also be positioned in such a means to make sure that individuals are free from disability glare, which may forestall obstructions or indicators from being correctly seen.
It is value remembering that Industry Committee for Emergency Lighting (ICEL) permitted merchandise are independently tested and meet the present product and utility standards. Therefore, choosing merchandise with ICEL approval will present reassurance of compliance.
Look to the Future
The problems with passive signage are clear from the University of Greenwich’s HUBFIN research, which is why the combination of fire detection and emergency lighting systems is the subsequent step in adding intelligence and larger effectiveness to a life security infrastructure.
A conventional emergency lighting system doesn’t enable signs to be ‘shut off’, which can allow individuals to unwittingly travel into the trail of hazard. In locations such as hospitals and care homes, where people typically have restricted mobility, time is of the essence and should not be wasted by having to decipher the most applicable escape route.
By integrating a fire detection system with emergency lighting, and by identifying the place a fire is going down, the proper route may be configured and communicated. For instance, by responding to information sent from the hearth detectors it’s potential to place a red ‘X’ on particular emergency luminaires, which indicators to individuals to not exit by way of that exact route. This may additionally be synchronised with the existing PA/VA system, adding one other degree of security.
Not solely does integration make good sense from a security point of view, it has numerous cost saving and environmental benefits. It is estimated that it may reduce the whole system’s wiring content material by seventy five p.c, as there can be only one loop with both functions.
Feature Packed
A accurately specified, put in and maintained emergency lighting system is crucial so as to give occupants a method of evacuating a building safely in the occasion of a mains lighting failure, or if required, a hearth. The laws, standards and steering on this subject are comprehensive and the advanced LED lighting and battery expertise that is now obtainable combines reliability, performance and value with another approach to save power.
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