Electrodeless HID in Warehouse Applications

Electrodeless high intensity discharge (ELHID), an emerging lighting technology that is now commercially available, may be an energy efficient alternative to traditional metal halide (MH) lighting in industrial lighting applications. This project studied the energy saving potential and also examined whether the emerging ELHID technology can also deliver the performance and quality of illumination needed within the industrial environment. An industrial customer facility in Rancho Cucamonga, California, equipped with traditional MH high bay in its manufacturing facility and low bay MH lighting in their warehouse facility was selected for this project. Data loggers installed to monitor the lighting load of the facility helped determine the baseline energy consumption in kilowatt-hours (kWh) and demand load in kilowatts (kW). A site survey identified illumination levels in footcandles (FC), and computer modeling estimated the original illumination levels of the MH fixtures at the time they were installed. Each MH fixture was replaced with an ELHID fixture. The ELHID fixtures were monitored to determine their power consumption and demand for at least 15 days, and data logging results were used to determine average annual energy savings. A second a site survey was undertaken to identify ELHID illumination levels. Four months later, a follow-up survey recorded footcandle levels generated by the ELHID lighting after approximately 1,500 hours of operation. This survey showed excessive lumen depreciation, a problem fixed by replacing the original silver reflectors (which had suffered premature oxidation) with aluminum reflectors. At this point, a final follow-up survey was conducted to check illumination levels after the retrofit. The results suggest that ELHID lighting may be an appropriate energy efficient technology alternative to MH lighting, showing ELHID lighting can provide illumination comparable to that of MH lighting while using about one-half of the energy required for an incumbent MH system. Furthermore, lamp life and lumen maintenance are potentially superior to that of MH.