LIGHTING DESIGN BY LUMEN METHOD

(WITH EXAMPLES)
IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS IN ELECTRICAL LIGHTING DESIGN:

The following are some of the definitions which we come across in the design of

electric lighting scheme.

1) UTILIZATION FACTOR:

Utilization Factor or Co-efficient of utilization. It may be defined as “the ratio of

total lumens received on the working plane to the total lumens emitted by the light

source”.i.e.

Utilization factor =Lumens received on the working plane/Lumens emitted by the

lamp

FACTOR EFFECTING UTILIZATION FACTOR:

Type of light, light fitting, Color surface of walls and ceiling, mounting height of

lamps, Area to be illuminated

Its value lies between 0.4 and 0.6 for direct fittings it varies from 0.1 to 0.35 for

indirect fittings
2) Depreciation or Maintenance factor

It may be defined as “the ratio of illumination under normal working condition to

the illumination when everything is clean or new” i.e.

D.F = Illumination under normal working conditions / Illumination when

everything is clean.

The maintenance factor is based on how often the lights are cleaned and replaced.

It takes into account such factors as decreased efficiency with age, accumulation of

dust within the fitting itself and the depreciation of reflectance as walls and

ceilings age. For convenience, it is usually given as three options:

Good = 0.70

Medium = 0.65

Poor = 0.55

3) WASTE LIGHT FACTOR:

When a surface is illuminated by a number of lamps, there is certain amount of

wastage due to overlapping of light waves. Its value will be between 1.2 to 1.5
4) REFLECTION FACTOR:

It may be defined as “the ratio of luminous flux leaving the surface to the luminous

flux incident on it”. Its value will be always less than 1

5) ABSORPTION FACTOR:

When the atmosphere is full of snow or smoke fumes, it absorbs some light. Hence

absorption factor may be defined as “the ratio of net lumens available on the

working plane after absorption to the total lumens emitted by the lamp”. It’s value

varies from 0.5 to 1.

6) LUMINOUS EFFICIENCY OR SPECIFIC OUT PUT

It may be defined as “the ratio of number of lumens emitted to the electric power

intake of a source” its unit is lumen/watt (lm/W)

7) SPACING TO MOUNTING HEIGHT RATIO (SHR)

The Spacing to Mounting Height Ratio (SHR) is the spacing between luminaires

divided by their height above the horizontal reference plane.

8) ROOM INDEX:

The room index is a ratio, describing how the room's height compares to its length

and width. It is given by:

Where L is the length of the room, W is its width, and Hm is the mounting height

above the work plane.

LUMEN METHOD STEPS:

1. Find required lux level

2. Select luminaire

3. Determine room index

4. Determine Number of Fixtures

N = number of lamps required. E = illuminance level required (lux)

A = area at working plane height (m2) F = average luminous flux from each

lamp (lm)

UF= utilization factor, MF= maintenance factor,

5. Determine Minimum spacing between luminaire

Minimum spacing = SHR * Hm

Hm= Mounting height

SHR= Space to height ratio.

6. Determine Number of required rows of luminaire along width of the room

Number of required rows= width of the room/ Minimum spacing

7. Determine Number of luminaire in each row

Number of luminaire in each row= Total luminaire / Number of rows

8. Axial spacing along luminaire

Axial spacing= Length of the room/ Number of luminaire in each row

9. Transverse spacing between luminaire

Transverse spacing = Width of the room/ Number of luminaire in each row

EXAMPLE 1:

An office has length of 20m, width=10m, height=3m.

1) Ceiling to desk height is 2m.

2) Area to be illuminated to a general is 250 lux using twin lamp 32 watt CFL

Luminaire with a SHR of 1.25.

3) Each lamp has an initial output of 85 lumen per watt.

4) Maintenance factor is 0.63, Utilization factor is 0.69

Design a lighting system for this office

EXAMPLE 2:

The office measures 10*7 m with a floor to ceiling height of 3m. The working

plane height is 0.8m. Office is being used for general office duties including some

computer use. Determine number of luminaires required in this office