Energy saving in street lighting is garnering more interest and has become a priority in municipal management. Therefore, LED luminaires are gradually becoming prevalent in our cities. Beyond their energy/economic saving potential, quality in public lighting installations concerns aspects such as uniformity and glare which must be maintained if not improved in any installation renewal project using this technology. The high light intensity generated in a discrete point in LED packages and its directional nature result in significant deficiencies in these last two parameters. To soften these effects, translucent covers are being used as one of the most common solutions with the drawback of significant light intensity losses. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the behavior of LED luminaire's polyamide-based optical covers manufactured with a laser-sintered process. These are designed to improve glare and uniformity output, to minimize light output reductions, and to be industrially manufactured with no increment of cost for their lighting equipment compared to conventional transparent polycarbonate solutions. A laboratory and field lighting test study has been applied to different covers with the same LED lamp and luminaire to compare the performance of three different solutions built with different polymeric materials and with different light transmission surface textures. The photometric results have been observed and discussed to demonstrate the ability to significantly improve the lighting performance of LED luminaires-illuminance and uniformity levels and discomfort and disability glare indexes-using an improved optic cover.

The recent trend for large-scale replacement of luminaires using discharge light sources with LED luminaires without any significant adjustments to the electrical installation has generated controversy. This study examines the main electrical measures in a large outdoor lighting installation before and after the replacement of a large number of metal halide floodlights with LED luminaires. The electrical parameters of both technologies are discussed in detail and compared, with special attention given to the odd-numbered harmonics of voltage and current, the generated wave deformation, currents in the neutral conductor, the wattless reactive volt amps and the peak inrush currents. At cold start-up, the LED luminaires generate large power-on currents, much larger than those generated by the metal halide lamps, despite requiring 36% less real installed power. This is a basic problem to be solved when planning a public lighting renovation with LED luminaires as the rest of electrical parameters are reduced. To address this problem, it is proposed to energise the luminaires using magneto-thermal protection circuits with slow trip curves that will tolerate the large short-term inrush currents.

Abstract:In this work, a practical methodology is proposed to analyze, before undertaking a large investment, an outdoor lighting installation renewal with light-emitting diode (LED) luminaires. The main problems found in many of the luminaires tested are associated with inrush peak currents in cold start (which may cause ignition problems with random shutdowns), the harmonic distortions caused by their AC/DC associated electronic nature driver, and their working and efficiency dependency on the ambient temperature. All these issues have been tested in the context of a large metal halide (MH) to LED luminaires lighting point renewal where six commercial LED projectors have been analyzed with the above considerations. This research has isolated a single-phase circuit powered with constant stabilized 230 V AC voltage source in a real public lighting installation. All of them have been sequentially installed and their main electrical and power-quality parameters measured and recorded. The results indicate that each luminaire option will influence the expected long-term reliability (>50.000 h or more as expressed by the U.S. Department of Energy) of the lighting installation (in the case poor power quality is generated on the grid). The economic analysis made to estimate the profitability of the investment may be severely affected by the difference between the declared and the real consumption values in which they perform in our specific installation.

In the last decades, lighting installations in plant tissue culture have generally been renewed or designed based on LED technology. Thanks to this, many different light quality advances are available but, with their massive implementation, the same issue is occurring as in the 1960s with the appearance of the Grolux (Sylvania) fluorescent tubes: there is a lack of a methodological standardization of lighting. This review analyzes the main parameters and variables that must be taken into account in the design of LED-based systems, and how these need to be described and quantified in order to homogenize and standardize the experimental conditions to obtain reproducible and comparable results and conclusions. We have designed an experimental system in which the values of the physical environment and microenvironment conditions and the behavior of plant tissue cultures maintained in cabins illuminated with two lighting designs can be compared. Grolux tubes are compared with a combination of monochromatic LED lamps calibrated to provide a spectral emission, and light irradiance values similar to those generated by the previous discharge lamps, achieving in both cases wide uniformity of radiation conditions on the shelves of the culture cabins. This study can help to understand whether it is possible to use LEDs as one standard lighting source in plant tissue culture without affecting the development of the cultures maintained with the previously regulated protocols in the different laboratories. Finally, the results presented from this caparison indicate how temperature is one of the main factors that is affected by the chosen light source.

LED lighting products have become a significant revolution in this technological sector. These components are, by nature, digital emitters created with semiconductor crystals that are powered with very low voltage and direct current (DC). Under these conditions, they have become one of the most relevant actors in the present tendency that is recovering the DC as the channel to transport and distribute energy and is reinforcing the photovoltaic (PV) panels as a relevant sustainable energy source that allows to improve the efficiencies of all types of lighting installations with the local self-generated energy. An analysis of the working principles of this component and the mechanism implemented for their control as lighting equipment to be powered with both conventional alternate current (AC) and DC is presented. A specific differentiation is done upon indoor and outdoor applications where new standards and regulations, specific technical procedures, and singular experimental project descriptions are detailed. The results expose the advantages and difficulties of implementation of this new DC paradigm, the main conclusion obtained up to this moment, and trends of future evolution.

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The replacement of luminaires with discharge lamps with high luminous efficacy and long life-time LED based equipment is a reality worldwide promoted by policies that favor their gradual substitution. There is a great concern in this manufacturing industry to develop new luminaires with low environmental impact during the manufacturing and transportation processes and its end-of-life disposal (reducing greenhouse gas emissions, toxic or hazardous components, …). Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a very extended tool used to provide information on the quality and quantity of environmental impacts in the life cycle phases of any product, system, or service. This article includes all phases of the LCA analysis of a selected streetlight LED luminaire manufactured by a SME where a landfill deposit is the end-of-life scenario. In a second phase, alternatives are sought for the reuse of the most significant elements that improve its local economy. The results are classified and sorted according to the ISO 14040 standard.

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