Lighting Design

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Quantity of light
The amount of light emitted from a light fitting is given in lumens (lm) A lumen is the unit of luminous flux. The catalogues of light fittings give outputs in lumens; a selection is shown in the table below.

Light Fitting
Light bulb (GLS Tungsten) Fluorescent tube Low pressure sodium (SOX) High pressure sodium (SON) High pressure mercury (MBF) High pressure mercury (MBIF)

Watts
60 58 180 150 125 1000

Lumen Output (lm)

710 4,600 3,300 16,000 6,500 81,000

The amount of light falling on a surface is measured in lux. One lux is equal to 1 lumen per square metre .. 1 lux = 1 lm/m2. The CIBSE (Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers) produces a Code for Interior Lighting which gives lighting requirements for areas. A sample is shown below.

Illuminance (lux) 100 150 200 300 500 750 1000 1500 2000

Activity Casual seeing Some perception of detail Continuously occupied Visual tasks moderately easy Visual tasks moderately difficult Visual tasks difficult Visual tasks very difficult Visual tasks extremely difficult Visual tasks exceptionally difficult

Area Corridors, changing rooms, stores Loading bays, switch rooms, plant rooms Foyers, entrance halls, dining rooms Libraries, sports halls, lecture theatres. General offices, kitchens, laboratories, retail shops. Drawing offices, meat inspection, chain stores. General inspection, electronic assembly, paintwork, supermarkets. Fine work and inspection, precision assembly. Assembly of minute items, finished fabric inspection.

Quality of light
Artificial light from lamps can be emitted in various colour spectra and at different angles fro emitter to receiver. There are several aspects to be aware of for good design, for example; glare, colour appearance and colour rendering.

Glare
Glare can render a lighting system less than satisfactory. Discomfort glare may cause irritation if the occupier is under the effect of a badly designed system. Also disability glare can be dangerous if a task is to be carried out and glare has an adverse effect on the operator.

Limiting Glare Index

Limiting glare index 16 19 22 25 28 Applications Museums, art galleries, lecture theatres, control rooms, industrial inspection. Classroom, libraries, laboratories, general offices, fine assembly work. Supermarket, circulation areas, medium assembly work. Boiler houses, rough assembly work. Foundries, works store areas.

Colour Appearance
This is the apparent colour of the light emitted by the lamp and is quantified by its correlated colour temperature (CCT). Most lamps produce some form of white light from cool to warm. This is their colour appearance. A warmer appearance is suitable for relaxed situations whereas a cooler appearance is used where high lighting levels are required and in work situations.

Colour Rendering
The CIE colour rendering index is used to compare lamps and quantify how good they are at reproducing colour. A set of test colours is reproduced by the lamp of interest relative to how they are reproduced by an appropriate standard light source. A perfect colour rendering lamp would give a value of 100.

Some lamps provide good colour rendering properties and this may be necessary in areas where accurate colour appearance is important such as, car sales showrooms and clothes retail outlets. Most rooms have a minimum colour rendering of 80 in the CIE index. Some rooms where colour is important such as Health Care, Product Colour Inspection and Art Rooms have an Index of 90.