Lamps require certain voltage to strike, but once energised, the supply voltage does not significantly affect light intensity.
Voltage can be reduced by 15% to 20% without any noticable impact, however power consumption is considerably reduced; not by
the percentage savings but also by the nature of voltage explained in Ohms Law.
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By definition, we need lights at night, but the reduced industrial and commercial activities between 8pm and 8am often
result in the mains voltage being over supplied. A typical over voltage of +10% increases power consumption by +21%
since power is related to the square of voltage (Ohm’s Law in action). Reducing and regulating the voltage to lamps
between 15% and 25%, decreases power consumption, but not the lamps efficiency. The result? Energy savings of up to 40%.
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Heathrow Airport is among one of the busiest airports in the world, with approximately 1500 take-off and landings per day. The airports total
power consumption is in the region of 80MW, of which lighting accounts for approximately 25%.
Heathrow’s programme to reduce both CO2 emissions and power consumption of lighting led it to first trial and then install the PowerWorks Powalite units on its stand
and under-pier lighting. So far it has achieved and average 37% saving on consumed power and an equivalent reduction in CO2 emissions.
Payback period is calculated at 3 - 5 Years on all Heathrow installations, this includes all electrical installation work, maintenance and provision of an external bypass.
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How it works – When lighting is required a message is sent via the Powalite CPU to begin a self-test of all its essential
parameters. On successful completion, the lamps ‘soft start’ process
commences at 210VAC (this voltage can be set) for two and a half minutes. This initial cycle eliminates approximately 40% of
the start-up surges to the lamps. The voltage is now slowly increased to the rated 230VAC over five minutes. This slow ramp significantly
increases lamp life.
During the start-up process, the voltage will be constantly monitored and stabilised at pre-programmed values. Once start-up is
completed, Powalite will continue supplying a stabilised voltage at the normal value, until it receives an instruction to reduce
the voltage level. An external device (timer, clock, remote control etc.) sends the instruction
instigating a ‘soft ramp’ voltage reduction process lasting about ten minutes until the pre-programmed ‘saving voltage’ is reached. T
his process will be repeated as many times as programmed as well as maintaining power levels during power cuts or brownouts.
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Soft start at 210V for 2 minutes 30 seconds.
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Instruction to reduce voltage. Soft ramp down to saving voltage.
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Soft ramp up to nominal
voltage over 5 minutes
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Saving voltage.
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| Stabilised nominal voltage. |
Instruction to increase
voltage.Soft ramp up to
stabilised nominal voltage
over 10 minutes. |
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| The Powalite lighting controllers assure stabilised power and realisable power savings at optimal
conditions for discharge lamps. The Powalite unit ensures that the voltage supplied to the lamps will
always be within ±2% of the rated value, while maintaining expected lighting levels. Powalite ensures
a significant increase of the discharge lamps’ life. Similarly, the unit allows soft and controlled
transitions of the voltage supplied to the lamps, resulting in uniform light intensity and significant
power savings.
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The electronic control unit automatically manages the control status of the by-pass and RS485 port by constantly sampling
data from the main operating parameters. These parameters include input voltage, output voltage and frequency, all of which
are recorded in the EEPROM. Programming the required output voltage, prevents undesired oscillations. The micro-controller
determines the output reference voltage which ensures an accurate output. |