Putting Your Facility in the Best Light: Part 2 - Changing @ the Speed of Light

"Scott Ready and Tim Clark describe the evolution of lighting from its inception to state-of-the-art engineering used today to optimize benefits while maximizing economy and efficiency.

In 1879, Thomas Edison helped move society out of the "dark ages" and propel it light years into the future when he invented the first practical incandescent electric light. This technological wonder made it easy to choose an appropriate, effective lighting fixture. Either you had electric incandescent light or you had no electric light.

Years later, in 1906, Frode Christian Valdermar Rambusch created a light shield to place over the incandescent light bulb. His objective was to reduce glare and direct the light to perform a specific task. This seemingly simple initiative introduced a new technological dimension and purpose to the science of lighting-manipulating light to achieve specific objectives.

Because of these technological advances, it wasn't long before the marketing power of lighting to enhance and improve an environment was recognized. Suddenly, lighting had assumed a new purpose-a new mission-and the pulse of technology quickened. To say that lighting technology began changing at the "speed of light" may not be as exaggerated as it seems. Performance, efficiency and task-specific applications became the driving forces behind both evolutionary and revolutionary changes in lamp and luminaire design.

More than just a light
Between 1915 and 1965, petroleum marketers utilized the most technologically advanced lamps of the time, such as incandescent, fluorescent, mercury vapor and high-pressure sodium lamp sources, to light their facilities. Luminaire technology evolved simultaneously with lamp technology to capture the benefits provided by the new light sources.

To petroleum marketers, lighting was no longer about just delivering light. It was about delivering marketing results, and doing this meant meeting the multi-dimensional needs of the customer, as well as the marketer:

• Projecting a positive, inviting environment-close-up and from a distance-to alert customers of their presence and reinforce the virtues of corporate brands

• Providing customers and employees with a sense of safety and security

• Providing customers and employees with comfortable visibility during the fueling and transaction process, from the island to the store

• Bringing attention to and promoting marketing profit centers

• Maximizing capital, installation, maintenance and operating efficiencies

In 1965, in a collaborative effort with oil companies, service station owners, specifiers and architects, GE Lighting developed applications for its newest lamp technology-metal halide. This new lamp was twice as efficient as mercury vapor and delivered high quality "white light." This technology continued to evolve, with Sylvania introducing a 100-watt pulse-start metal halide lamp in 1985, and a 320-watt pulse-start metal halide lamp for canopy lighting in the mid-nineties.

The potential of this new technology inspired LSI Industries' design team to create specifications for developing a high-wattage, pulse-start, metal halide lamp for a total lighting system specifically to address petroleum marketers' needs. Ultimately, the team developed an advanced petroleum canopy lighting fixture called the Scottsdale®, along with area lighting fixtures called the Greenbriar® and the Challenger®. For parking areas, both of the area lighting fixtures have options that meet IESNA (Illuminating Engineering Society of North America) full cutoff classification. Compact versions are also available with both fixtures to lower EPAs and overall operating costs.

LSI's development of the canopy and area lighting fixtures involved using breakthroughs in the technology of fixture design, reduced envelope lamps, ballasts, reflectors and refractors and in the techniques for engineering and manufacturing the fixtures. Using these fixtures, petroleum marketers can attain fully integrated, high quality lighting throughout an entire site.

			Optical assembly of LSI's Scottsdale® canopy fixture
Optical assembly of Flat Lens Scottsdale® fixture
			LSI's Greenbriar® area lighting fixture with flat lens
LSI's Challenger® area lighting fixture with flat lens.
			Exploded view of Scottsdale® fixture

What were the breakthroughs?
The advancements in lighting product design and technology include (1) optical systems for canopy and area lighting fixtures and (2) computer software technology for creating both two- and three-dimensional virtual models of interior and exterior lighting designs. Descriptions of the lighting technology advances are below; the computer software technology, referred to as "radiosity," is covered in the next section.

Flat lens vertical burn.
Flat lens vertical burn fixtures resulted from a series of modifications to LSI's traditional horizontal burn fixture. For many years, horizontal burn fixtures utilizing flat lenses were the standard in petroleum lighting. The lamp inside the fixture was oriented parallel to the ground and the lens was flush with the bottom of the fixture housing.

Though popular, the horizontal burn design did not allow petroleum marketers to maximize lighting uniformity when using mid-height poles (18 to 24 feet). To remedy this problem, the technology shifted from standard horizontal burn fixtures with flat lenses to vertical burn fixtures with contoured lenses. In other words, the lamp inside the fixture was oriented perpendicular to the ground and the lens was allowed to extend beneath the bottom of the fixture housing.

Vertical burn fixtures with contoured lenses improved visibility and efficiency over that of horizontal burn fixtures. Maximum uniformity and better lighting distribution cut down on installation and maintenance costs (fewer poles and fixtures were required for lighting the same amount of space), while enhanced visibility led to increased safety and improved merchandising. However, vertical burn fixtures with contoured lenses did not always provide appropriate cutoff.

Vertical burn fixtures with flat lenses were created to provide quality, uniform lighting in a fully-shielded outdoor fixture. With the community-friendly flat lens vertical burn fixture, the lamp is positioned within the reflector system to produce the sharp cutoff light control required in strict local zoning areas. The reflector system totally surrounds the vertically oriented lamp and controls the lamp output. This optimizes light distribution, takes advantage of the higher lumen output produced by the lamp's vertical arc tube position and reduces energy consumption.

				Diagram of light distribution achieved by a vertical burn lighting fixture

Pulse-start metal halide
Pulse-start metal halide lamps are high-performance, energy- efficient lamps. The starter probe is removed from the lamp and replaced with an igniter inside the ballast. As a result, lamps last longer (up to 30,000 hours) and provide more illumination per watt used. The lamps also warm up faster and provide consistent, even illumination. These lamps are now available in the higher wattage typically required for today's petroleum marketing facilities, such as the 320-watt for canopy lighting and the 1,000-watt for pole-mounted site lighting.

Compact housing
One of the latest trends in the design of today's petroleum lighting fixtures is packaging high performance fixtures inside a smaller housing. With a smaller fixture housing and lower EPAs (effective projected areas-referring to the amount of wind load exerted on poles), lighter-gauge and less expensive poles can be used to support area lighting fixtures.

Ground relamping
Many of today's petroleum lighting fixtures offer a ground relamping option, which makes changing lamps remarkably easy. With ground relamping, a special relamping tool can be used to open a fixture, remove the lamp, put in a new lamp and close the fixture. Ground relamping enables you to save money that would otherwise be used for hiring an outside contractor to replace your lamps.

"Radiosity" modeling
"Radiosity" refers to recently developed computer software technology used by LSI Industries to help design and analyze lighting fixtures and systems. This simulation software is used to create two- and three-dimensional "virtual" models of both interior and exterior lighting designs. The models provide customers with an accurate analysis and visual representation of different fixture combinations to determine the most effective lighting for given situations, before making any final fixture selections.

Diagram created by radiosity analysis provides lighting experts vital information on how well a particular lighting system will perform within a specific site layout and design.

Radiosity programs create technically accurate models of the true nature of incident light (the combination of direct and indirect light) and reflected light. These models, referred to as "finite element analysis" (FEA) models, reflect and absorb both direct and reflected incident light in order to simulate the most realistic and accurate environment and result for a specific fixture and site design.

This advanced software utilizes IESNA standard photometric files. Photometric files are data files created by testing fixtures with a goniometer. The files describe the luminous intensity of a fixture and are used in lighting programs to calculate accurate measurements of light within a model. The files can incorporate lamp-specific spectral characteristics to analyze how well a particular lighting fixture will perform within a specific site design. Spectral characteristics include lamp color specification.

This advanced software also allows the user to assign a light fixture the specific type of lamp to be used in the fixture. For example, a fixture with a high pressure sodium lamp source would make the surfaces of a model appear to be more yellow than if a metal halide lamp source was assigned to the fixture. By taking into consideration such factors as foot-candle levels (the unit of measure for density of light as it reaches the surface), color rendering (the ability of light to produce color in objects) and other factors, virtual models help lighting consumers make intelligent lighting selections.

LSI also uses advanced software technology to create and analyze prototypes of newly designed products. This reduces design cycle time and overall product development costs. The technology used to create and analyze prototypes of newly designed products is neither radiosity nor part of our on-site lab. It is the software (Photopia) that engineers (LSI and Lightron use the same software) use to design reflectors. The image showing the lamp and the "rays" of light is taken from the Photopia reflector design program.

				Diagram produced by advanced product prototype technology shows light direction from a prototype fixture

The radiosity-based simulation system and advanced communications technology, such as improved Internet access, email and video/teleconferencing, enable LSI and its customers to interact in creating lighting designs to suit site-specific needs. Drawings, specifications, radiosity analyses and photometry reports are traveling at the speed of light to the people involved in lighting projects.

This shared knowledge has helped reduce costs and improve the effectiveness of the overall lighting system. Product and technical information is available at a moment's request. This "speed of light" flow of information has been particularly useful in dealing with lighting code and ordinance changes.

Within its own facility, LSI has combined radiosity-based simulation with its on-site testing lab to enable immediate verification of design models. This results in more efficient production and reduced costs to the customer.

Matching needs with products
With today's technology, fixtures are designed for specific purposes. Each fixture offers a variety of choices within its design to achieve specific results. Choices may include lamp types and wattage, fixture housing designs, reflector designs and distribution patterns, special mounting configurations and more. Selecting the proper blend of fixtures and technologies is crucial to getting a quality lighting system design that will give optimum results.

With technological advancements such as those discussed above, today's consumers can achieve unprecedented results in selecting lighting designs for their facilities. In addition to the advancements in canopy and area lighting technology, significant advancements have also been made in interior and exterior fluorescent lighting, flood lighting, and building and architectural lighting. Enter this fact into the equation and it becomes abundantly clear that the times have changed, and so too has the way in which one goes about choosing the appropriate lighting for a site. The "one-size-fits-all" simplicity of Edison's day is long gone.

The facts about today's available lighting technology are only part of the solution to making the right lighting choices. Other factors include local ordinances that restrict lighting, petroleum marketers' image standards, competing petroleum marketers' profiles and lighting cost versus performance goals. Performance goals may include image enhancement, customer attraction, safety and security, profit center marketing and repeat customers.

Given today's technology, there is no logical reason for trying to force a lighting fixture to produce a result that it was not designed to produce. In addition to projecting an undesired impression or providing inadequate lighting, poorly designed or field-adjustable fixtures that rely on field installers to set specific performance parameters can quickly become an operational burden on the site.

On the other hand, simply having the high quality, cutting-edge technology of today's modern lighting systems at your disposal is not enough to ensure a successful and cost-effective lighting design. Using the best technology in the wrong ways, or simply using the wrong technology, will not produce desired results.

Up-front planning
Understanding today's lighting technology is one thing, but achieving a fully integrated site lighting design requires planning. An important rule in this regard is: never wait until the end of the site design process to determine your lighting scheme.

Traditionally, lighting is added after all other site considerations are satisfied. This is an unfortunate mistake. Involving lighting in the initial design phase and treating it as an integral part of the overall design is the only way to properly ensure a successful lighting result. Lighting objectives, including both performance and operating expectations, can be established and, within reason, designs can be created to achieve the desired result. Lighting considerations should be worked into the design at the same time as entrances, exits and parking areas are determined, sidewalks and planter areas positioned and traffic flow areas developed.

With all the advantages offered by the new lighting technology of today, marketers would be remiss not to include lighting in the earliest stages of their site design project.

Final thoughts
Choosing the right petroleum lighting fixtures for your site design does not have to be a painful process. In fact, it can be quite simple if you work with an experienced lighting supplier to determine your lighting needs.

With that in mind, here are some questions that should be considered when deciding on a lighting scheme:

1. Is the lighting supplier I'm working with sufficiently experienced in petroleum lighting design, and does this supplier have a good reputation?

2. Can my lighting supplier provide me with a virtual prototype of my site design which enables me to see the effectiveness of different types of fixtures?

3. Can my lighting supplier provide me with quick turnaround on delivery and installation?

4. Will these fixtures blend in with my site design?

5. How efficient are these fixtures? Does their energy usage coincide with my lighting budget? What are my energy costs?

6. How much maintenance is required for these fixtures?

7. Can I perform maintenance on these fixtures myself or will I have to hire an outside contractor?

8. Will these fixtures help create the safe and secure environment my customers and employees require?

9. Will these fixtures help me effectively market my merchandise?

10. Do these fixtures provide enough illumination to attract the attention of passers by?

11. Do these fixtures provide community-friendly lighting, and do they meet IESNA requirements for reduced light pollution?

Above all else, remember that it is very important to start early when deciding on an appropriate lighting scheme. Lighting fixtures are not an afterthought or an addition to your design scheme. They are an integral component that can ultimately help you to boost traffic flow, enhance safety, lower costs and increase sales.

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