In urban illumination, lighting of sidewalks, parks, stadiums, playgrounds, adjoining territories and garden paths, LED lamps have proven themselves no worse than indoors. Gradually LED modules survive sodium and halogen lamps due to their cost effectiveness. The low power consumption of LEDs pays for replacing lamps in street lamps in 2-3 years.
Device and application of street LED illuminators
The difference between outdoor and indoor luminaires in difficult operating conditions. The tasks of artificial lighting behind the walls of buildings are divided into basic and decorative.
The basic (lighting) includes ensuring visibility on roadways, squares, stadiums, adjacent areas and other areas where human activity does not stop completely in the dark. For this purpose, an LED board is used, placed in a metal case. The luminaire is equipped with vertical heat dissipating fins, a diffusion screen and a driver for converting the incoming voltage.
Directional light sources are called spotlights. Their sizes vary from a light bulb above the porch of a country house to a stadium giant.
Diffused light is provided by lanterns on sidewalks, park paths, terraces.
Decorative lighting is represented by:
- architectural - illumination of facades, signage, urban sculpture, murals and other accents with light;
- landscape - decoration of trees, participation in planting compositions, an element of decoration of gardens and parks.
The sizes of LED elements allow creating grids and ribbons for decoration. Outdoor advertising cannot do without LEDs.
Duralight is a flexible PVC tube in which the gaps between the diodes are filled with polymer. Waterproof, durability and resistance to UV radiation, the tape is not afraid of the sun, rain and mechanical damage. The power consumption is limited to a range of 16 - 26 W / m. The cord has a round or rectangular cross-section. Ultra-thin duralight is called duraflex.
The strip consists of single-color diodes or is made in RBG technology (from red, blue, green crystals). In many models, there is a change in static and dynamic glow modes. The device is controlled through a controller, often using a remote control.
Outdoor lighting performance
The choice of lighting equipment is due to the calculated values, which are determined by the formulas of regulatory documents.
The protection class determines the conditions of humidity and pollution of the environment for installing the luminaire. In the IPXX marking, the first number indicates the degree of dust penetration (X = 0… 6), the second - moisture (X = 0… 8). Outdoor lighting starts from IP43, IP44 for wall-mounted fixtures, IP65 for dug in and fixed to poles.
The luminous flux depends on the specified SNiP 23-05-2010 required according to the functionality of the horizontal illumination of the territory. Spaces for holding public events assume up to 20 lux, pedestrian paths in the historical center of the city, play areas - 10 lux, for secondary park alleys, 1 lux is enough.
Lux is the amount of light per unit of horizontal surface area (lm / m2). Lumen - the power of the outgoing light flux.Decreases in inverse proportion to the height of the source. The level of lighting, the plan for the placement of projectors and lanterns on significant areas (for example, roads) is carried out by special institutions using several standard indicators. In everyday life, you can get by with a simplified scheme, an online calculator.
Luminous efficiency - the power of light that the device produces per 1 W of consumed energy. The higher the indicator of the model, the more economically profitable it is to use. The average range for LED street lamps is 80–100 lm / W, which is 2–2.5 times higher than that of sodium lamps.
Additional parameters affect the selection of suitable equipment.
- Radiation color. The human eye is friendly to a shade of white color temperature of 3000-6000 K. It is achieved by setting and simultaneously turning on colored LED elements or painting or combining a blue diode with a yellow phosphor.
- Built-in touch sensors respond to movement, light, noise, and allow you not to waste energy idle.
- Dimming is not available for all LED lamps. If it is necessary to adjust the brightness at the installation sites, it is worth considering models with special soles.
The manufacturer indicates the service life in the number of working hours (50-100 thousand hours), but the real period of suitability depends on the heat dissipation and the uniformity of the voltage in the network.
Pros and cons of LEDs
- economical use due to high current consumption for glowing and minimal current consumption for heating;
- long period of operation (~ 50 thousand hours) and independence from the number of on / off switching of the device;
- the devices do not contain harmful substances, which means they are safe for the environment and humans;
- the design provides a high class of protection against mechanical damage and atmospheric influences;
- produce comfortable light for vision, color rendering index reaches 0.9;
- you can avoid flickering and noise when the lights are working;
- easy to carry out installation in a domestic environment.
LED street lighting has some drawbacks:
- high price - a relative minus, more investment for 15–20 years of lamp use;
- afraid of high temperatures, therefore, for baths and saunas, as well as near heating installations, it is better to select other options;
- gradual loss of brightness, which can be slowed down by heat dissipation.
The prevalence of pluses over minuses explains why LED street lighting is more and more common than halogen and incandescent lamps.
LED street lights are presented on the market by imported (Samsung LED, Philips-Lumileds, etc.) and domestic (Ledel LLC) manufacturers. Before buying, you should ask what the supplier's reputation is, follow the availability of a passport and a warranty card for the device.
