The high growth of the global LED industrial lighting market is driven by increased adoption of smart lighting systems, rising demand for power-efficient lighting across industries, growing concern over the depletion of non-renewable sources of power, and the falling prices of LED lights.
By Baishakhi Dutta
LED industrial lighting offers solutions for all the lighting challenges of companies setting up a new or revamped unit. In addition to the efficiency and low maintenance of LED lighting, intelligent light management is helping to enhance the workforce’s occupational safety, productivity, focus and overall well-being. Lighting constitutes nearly 10 per cent of the total cost of setting up a manufacturing unit and its subsequent running costs. So selecting the right products can cut costs considerably.
A few LED luminaires being used in industries:
- High bay
- Floodlights
- Well glass
- Medium bay
- Low bay
- Dust-proof lamps
- Spotlights
- Tubelights
- Flameproof lamps
Latest trends
Lighting has a direct impact on productivity and the ambient work environment in factories. Industrial lighting systems need to be environment-friendly, low-maintenance and energy efficient. LEDs offer an endless array of advantages including energy conservation, almost zero carbon emissions, long life, lower weight and better efficacy, which is why a large number of industries are switching to LED lighting. Holistic and economic lighting solutions are a combination of high resolution sensors, professional control technology (radio or wire-based), and high quality luminaires.
Knowing your requirements
The work environment is complex and harsh in most industries. Therefore, one should select different LED lamps based on different environmental conditions.
- In damp places, one should install waterproof lamps with the appropriate degree of protection or LED lamps with waterproof caps.
- In places with corrosive gases or vapours, one should use anti-corrosion enclosed fixtures. In the case of open LED lamps, each part should be corrosion-resistant or waterproof.
- In places with dust, one should choose the appropriate LED lamps according to the level of dust protection required.
- In places where there is a clean-room requirement, one should choose a lamp that is not easy to dust but easy to wipe clean.
- In environments where the temperature is high, one should install a lamp with good thermal performance and high temperature resistance.
- In places with high vibration, where hammers or large bridge cranes operate, LED lamps should be anti-vibration and anti-separation.
- In places where ultraviolet radiation needs to be prevented, the lamp should be purple or violet in colour.
Installation do’s and dont’s:
- Installers should be thorough with the user manual
- The installation should be done by qualified professional electricians
- There should be a separate lighting transformer
- Proper earthing must be provided for the luminaire
- There should be appropriate load distribution
Certifications
To fully enjoy the benefits of genuine industrial LED lighting—high productivity, good quality and durability even across temperature variations—ensure to cross-check certain significant international certifications before installing the lights. These certifications include IP 65 (which guarantees a dust-proof product); the Conformité Européene (CE) marking, International Electro Technical Commission standards and RoHS compliance. Also, ensure the product is compliant with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
Reasons for the high usage of LED luminaires in hazardous areas
- Development of high-performance LEDs with a continuous increase in luminous efficiency.
- Declining production costs due to improved production processes.
- LEDs feature characteristics like high vibration resistance, which make them especially suitable for use in harsh industrial environments.
- Compact illumination solutions (e.g., in areas that are difficult to access) and intelligent systems (which can remotely adjust luminous intensity, depending on the surrounding light) can be realised with LEDs.
- The service life of LEDs exceeds those of incandescent light bulbs and fluorescent lamps, by far.
- The lower the ambient temperature, the higher the efficiency of LEDs and the longer their service life.
The use of LEDs in harsh environments
Within an industrial facility, there are locations where high vibration, debris, chemicals and potential explosives are present. These factors severely impact the lifetime and performance of light fixtures. For example, operations such as aggregate processing and storage lead to significant dust accumulation, while other operations such as chemical processing result in highly corrosive environments. To ensure the safety of workers, as well as the smooth operation and maintenance of lights across the plant, resources are needed to quickly service improperly functioning light fixtures. And to ensure reliable, safe and effective performance of the LED luminaire, the LED light fixture must be designed, manufactured and installed properly for use in hazardous and heavy industrial applications.
Government support
According to various studies conducted over the last few years, the Indian government is offering incentives to manufacturing units that install energy saving systems, which includes energy-efficient lighting. According to the National Manufacturing Policy rules, released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the use of energy-saving lighting systems can earn a manufacturing unit up to a 5 per cent interest reimbursement of the nominal interest charged by the lending agency and/or a 10 per cent capital subsidy.
Increasing government support for the production and sale of LEDs, their falling prices, and increased demand from the residential sector are some of the significant factors boosting the demand for LED production equipment. The APAC region accounts for more than 88 per cent of the total global market, owing to the presence of prominent vendors in this region. The global LED production equipment market is set to surpass US$ 1.5 billion by 2019.
(Government statistics collected from EY Research)
Some industries that have switched to LEDs
- East India Commercial Company, Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, India: Philips TLED for industries (LED tubes)
- L&T Special Steel and Heavy Forging, Hazira, Gujarat, India: Philips HPK225, Philips Power Balance and Philips RVP 302
- Nestle, Tahliwal, Himachal Pradesh, India: Philips Prolux high bay, Philips Roadstar streetlights
Making a purchase decision
Since one tends to make heavy investments while buying LED industrial lights, there are several parameters one should evaluate before making the purchase. The following are some of the points that a buyer should keep in mind.
- Application: One must be aware of the environment that these industrial lights have to be installed in. The user should inform the manufacturer about the environment—whether it is chemical-laden, dusty or hazardous, so that the manufacturer can provide an appropriate fixture.
- Robustness: The product should come with IP66 and IK08 ratings so as to ensure a long life and protection against environmental impact.
- Product performance: Luminous efficacy and other colour characteristics of the entire luminaire are assured by LM-79 test reports, and the performance of LED arrays or modules is guaranteed by LM-80 test results. ISTMT (an in-situ temperature measurement test) reports also ensure long life.
- Energy efficiency: Buyers should look for products with suitable specs such as a power factor of >0.9, an LED driver efficiency of > 85 per cent, efficacy of > 85 and THD of < 20 per cent.
- Power line suitability: The LEDs should have external surge protection of ≥10KV/10KA to ensure a long operating life and trouble-free operation.
- Warranty: There should be a minimum five-year warranty to justify the higher initial investment.
- User safety: Certifications for the luminaire and LED drivers are a must.
What the future holds
Indian LED industrial lighting garnered a revenue share of over 60 per cent of total industrial lighting in 2015, and the trend is expected to continue through to 2021. Philips, Microtek, Havells, Syska, GE and Osram are some of the leading players operating in the Indian LED lighting market. The adoption of LED industrial lighting products has been the highest in the southern and northern Indian states in the last couple of years due to growing awareness about their benefits, which include low power consumption and a long product life cycle.
Quick tips
- While making a purchase, the customer needs to know the height of a room, the light required, the number of luminaires required and also whether automation systems have a role to play.
- Buyers should be clear about the brand/company that they are going to work with. Factors to check on are the company’s experience in the lighting industry and its reputation for service support in the case of longer warranties.
- As industrial products are costly, the customer should check a company’s after-sales service network, before choosing the product.
- On the technical front, buyers need to be careful while selecting their lighting partner, ensuring that the company selected can provide data on technology.
