Reducing consumption and lowering maintenance costs is easy!
The lamps on the industry market:
- Incandescent lamps: energy-intensive and underperforming, they have all but disappeared from the market in the industry.
- Compact fluorescent lamps: also called low consumption (LFC or LBC), and fluorescent tubes. These products, mostly classified in A on the energy label, are still very common for elongated light fixtures (tubes and linear) as well as emergency lighting.
- Halogen lamps, halogens with metallic iodures and high-pressure sodium vapour classified in C or D. These lamps, mainly used for high-power projectors, are gradually being replaced by LEDs due to their high fuel consumption and maintenance costs.
- Light-emitting diodes or LEDs: most often classified as A-, these new-generation lights are democratizing in the industry because they allow better control of electricity consumption and improve the energy efficiency of the installations.
You thought Watts, go to the lumens!
To choose an incandescent lamp, you used its electrical consumption, expressed in watts (W). The comparison is complicated with the more efficient lamps whose light efficiency changes with the power. The increase in the amount of light produced is no longer directly proportional to the increase in power.
It is wiser to be guided by the light flow emitted by a lamp, expressed in lumens (see table) or by light efficiency, in lumens per watt (the greater the light efficiency, the more light the lamp emits for the same electrical consumption).
Light efficiency of different types of lamps:
Light flow equivalent to the power of an incandescent lamp
To optimize the use of light on your installations and
have the best possible light efficiency, good practices are to be followed:
- All existing fixtures, including “halogens,” can be fitted with a replacement lamp among models of compact fluorescent or LED lamps;
- Avoid indirect lighting (with light reflecting on walls or ceilings) and beams. For fixtures equipped with LED lamps, it is necessary to favour those whose light source (the LED) is not directly visible by choosing fixtures equipped with diffuse materials (globe, vasque…) in glass (see the section “how to choose its LED lighting?”).
LED lamps are democratising in the industrial lighting market
LED technology continues to improve: LED performance doubles every 2 years and prices fall by 20 each year. The benefits:
- Unrivalled lifespan: the lifespan of LED lamps is much longer than that of other technologies: up to 100,000 hours (in the laboratory), 40,000 hours on the market (several decades of use) compared to 1,000 hours for incandescent lamps, 2,000 hours for halogen lamps and 10,000 hours for fluorescent lamps. Thus, the purchase and replacement of an LED lamp are less frequent, which improves the profitability of the investment.
- Good energy efficiency with significant growth potential If an insulated LED has very good energy efficiency (about 150 lm/W and up to 220 lm/W for the most efficient), an LED lamp offers a yield of between 40 and 80 lumens per watt. This decrease in efficiency is mainly related to the heat produced by the diodes attached to the lamp. For example, LED lamps currently on the market generally have significantly higher energy efficiency than conventional lamps: 70 lumen/W for fluorescents and only 16 lumen/W for incandescent lamps. In addition, technological developments are expected to improve the efficiency of LED lamps for the general public by bringing them to around 100 lm/W. “Super bright” LEDs can already achieve energy efficiency of up to 300 lm/W in the laboratory! This means that eventually we will be able to have lamps that consume less than 4 watts and that light up like a 75-watt incandescent lamp.
- Instant maximum lighting: LED bulbs reach a maximum level of brightness as soon as they ignite. LED sources admit frequent ignition and extinction cycles. They instantly emit the desired light flow, without going up in a gear, which can be advantageous for specific applications such as places of passage.
- Compact lamps: the compactness of LEDs makes them very interesting for the replacement of sources embedded in false ceilings or for difficult accesses such as large heights (grues, platforms, warehouses, street lampposts). LED modules, which are directly set up in a fixture and can incorporate control electronics, facilitate the implementation of lighting management solutions such as presence detection or variation depending on daylight.
- LEDs operate in very low voltage and even under low temperatures, which can be an advantage for electrical safety in the building. With a heating of only 32oC, LEDs do not heat as much as incandescent lamps (150oC) and fluorescent lamps (70oC). They are insensitive to shocks, making them more robust than other lighting sources. Color LEDs can be used for light sets without filter use. Finally, LEDs do not contain mercury and are largely recyclable as non-hazardous waste (unlike fluorescent lamps).
How do I choose my LED lighting?
LED bulbs equipped with SMD LEDs
There are several types of SMD LEDs offering very different powers. The SMD LED has been in existence for many years but due to a rather complex welding procedure it is mainly reserved for industrial applications that requires power
LED LED bulbs equipped with High Power LEDs
This power LED technology is evolving and gaining more and more ground in the industry as it is the LEDs that offer the most light compared to the emitting surface of the LED.
LED bulbs equipped with COB LEDs
This new generation of LEDs is increasingly being used in industrial settings. COB LEDs are small bright chips arranged side by side to form a larger LED. They have the same advantages as High Power LEDs but offer a higher light power.
Opt for SMD LED bulbs if you want to get perfect power at a wide angle
Opt for High Power LED bulbs if you want to get a beam effect
Opt for COB-equipped LED bulbs for high-power projectors and high heights
Be careful, the angle is important. The lower the angle, the more you will have a beam effect. This beam effect can have a small design side if properly used as along a wall for example but it is totally unsuitable for a main lighting.