LIGHTING AND ILLUMINATION FUNDAMENTAL

LUMINOUS EFFICACY
EXPRESSED IN LUMENS PER WATTS (l/w), THIS IS THE QUOTIENT
OF THE TOTAL LUMINOUS FLUX DELIVERED FROM A LIGHT SOURCE
DIVIDED BY THE TOTAL POWER INPUT TO THE LIGHT SOURCE.

LUMINOUS INTENSITY
THIS DESCRIBES THE QUANTITY OF LIGHT THAT IS RADIATED IN
A PARTICULAR DIRECTION. IT IS A USEFUL MEASUREMENT FOR
DIRECTIVE LIGHTING ELEMENTS SUCH AS REFLECTORS.

LUMINOUS FLUX
THIS IS THE QUANTITY OF LIGHT EMITTED BY A LIGHT SOURCE.
IT’S U-NIT IN BOTH SI AND I-P UNITS IS THE LUMEN (lm).

LUMINANCE METER
ONE OF THE COMMON TYPES OF A PHOTOMETER, THIS MEASURES
THE VISIBLE ENERGY OUTPUT OF A LIGHT SOURCE.

BRIGHTNESS
THIS IS THE IMPRESSION OF THE LIGHT THAT SEEMS TO RADIATE
FROM AN OBJECT BEING VIEWED.

BRILLIANCE
ALSO REFERRED TO AS VALUE, THIS REFERS TO THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE RESULTANT COLORS OF THE SAME HUE SO ARRANGED.

CONTRAST
THIS IS THE DIFFERENCE IN BRIGHTNESS OR THE BRIGHTNESS
RATIO BETWEEN AN OBJECT AND ITS BACKGROUNDS. THE
RECOMMENDED RATIO FOR THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE OBJECT AND
BACKGROUND IS 3:1.

GLARE
THIS IS A STRONG, STEADY AND DAZZLING LIGHT OR
REFLECTION. IT ALSO IMPLIES TO WHEN THERE IS AN
UNCOMFORTABLE BRIGHTNESS RA-TIO RESULTING TO THE
BACKGROUND LUMINANCE EXCEEDING THE OBJECT LUMINANCE.

DIRECT GLARE
 IT PRODUCES DISCOMFORT AND INTERFERENCE WITH THE
VISION AND IT IS CAUSED BY FACTORS INCLUDING LUMINANCE, SIZE
AND POSI-TION OF EACH LIGHT SOURCE IN THE VISION FIELD.

DISCOMFORT GLARE
THIS CAN ALSO BE IDENTIFIED AS A DIRECT GLARE, IT CAUSES
DIS-COMFORT WITHOUT NECESSARILY IMPAIRING THE VISION OF
OBJECTS.

EMISSIVITY
IT IS A RATIO OR PERCENTAGE OF POWER THAT A PERFECT
BLACK-BODY WOULD RADIATE AT A GIVEN TEMPERATURE. THE
AMOUNT OF RADIA-TED POWER IS DEPENDENT ON THE MATERIAL’S
EMISSIVITY AND ITS TEM-PERATURE.

NADIR
THIS IS A POINT VERTICALLY BELOW A LUMINAIRE’S LAMP
SOURCE OF THE LUMINAIRE’S LAMP SOURCE CENTER WITH THE
LUMINAIRE MOUN-TED IN STANDARD POSITION WITH ZERO TILT OR
ROLL.

INFRARED RADIATION
IT IS A TYPE OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION THAT LIES
BETWEEN VISIBLE LIGHT AND RADIO WAVES ON THE
ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM. IT HAS A WAVELENGTH OF 0.74 μm TO
ABOUT 100 μm.

ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
IT IS AN ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE WITH WAVELENGTHS
BETWEEN 400 BILLIONTHS AND 10 BILLIONTHS OF A METER WHICH
ARE SHORTER BUT CARRIES MORE ENERGY THAN VISIBLE LIGHT.

VISIBLE LIGHT
THIS IS THE ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE WITH A RANGE BETWEEN
700 BILLIONTHS AND 400 BILLIONTHS OF A METER WHICH IS SPECIAL
AS THIS IS THE RANGE OF WAVELNGTHS THAT PEOPLE CAN SEE.

COEFFICIENT OF UTILIZATION (CU)

THIS IS DEFINED AS THE RATIO BETWEEN LUMENS REACHING
THE HORIZONTAL WORK PLANE AND THE GENERATED LUMENS. IT IS
DEPEN-DENT ON THE TYPE OF FIXTURES, MOUNTING HEIGHT, WIDTH
OF ROADWAY
AND THE LENGTH OF MAST ARM OR OUTREACH.

LAMP LUMEN DEPRECIATION (LLD)

THIS IS A LIGHT LOSS FACTOR THAT REPRESENTS THE DECREASE
IN LUMINOUS OUTPUT OF A LAMP DURING ITS OPERATING LIFE. IT IS
EXPRES-SED AS A PERCENTAGE OF INITIAL LAMP LUMENS.

LIGHT LOSS FACTOR (LLF)

FORMERLY CALLED AS A MAINTENANCE FACTOR, IS ANY
SEVERAL FACTORS USED IN CALCULATING THE EFFECTIVE
ILLUMINATION PROVIDED BY A LIGHTING SYSTEM AFTER A GIVEN
PERIOD OF TIME AND UNDER GIVEN CONDITIONS.

LUMINAIRE DIRT DEPRECIATION (LDD)

THIS IS A LIGHT LOSS FACTOR THAT REPRESENTS THE DECREASE
IN LUMINOUS OUTPUT OF A LUMINAIRE RESULTING FROM THE
ACCUMULATI-ON OF DIRT ON ITS SURFACE. IT IS EXPRESSED AS A
PERCENTAGE OF THE ILLUSTRATION FROM THE LUMINAIRE WHEN
NEW OR CLEAN.

ROOM CAVITY RATIO (RCR)

IT REPRESENTS A MODIFIED RATIO OF WALL AREA TO THE
HORIZON-TAL SURFACE AREA IN A ROOM THAT IS USED TO
DETERMINE THE COEFFI-CIENT OF UTILIZATION. IT AFFETCS THE
PERCENTAGE OF LIGHT DIRECTED TO THE WALLS AND THE
WORKPLACE.

VISUAL DISCOMFORT PROBABILITY

THIS IS AN ESTIMATE OF THE OCCUPANT’S VISUAL COMFORT IN A
RO-OM AS A FUNCTION OF ILLUMINANCE AT ONE OR MORE
LOCATIONS. IT IS BASED ON AN ANALYSIS OF THE PAST HISTORY OF
THE USER’S INTERACTI-ONS WITH BLINDS AND LIGHTING CONTROLS.

POINT SOURCE
A POINT SOURCE IS THE LIGHT CONCENTRATION AT THE
FILAMENT WHICH REQUIRES A CAREFUL FIXTURE DESIGN TO AVOID
GLARE AND UN-DESIRABLE SHARP SHADOWS.

CRITICAL ANGLE (CA)

 THIS OCCURS WHEN GOING FROM A DENSER TO A RARER
MEDIUM. IT
IS THE ANGLE OF INCIDENCE THAT PRODUCES A CONDITION WHERE
A’=90°
AND ALL LIGHT IS INTERNALLY REFLECTED.

BEAM ANGLE
THIS IS THE ANGE BETWEEN TWO IMAGINARY LINES IN A PLANE
THROUGH THE OPTICAL BEAM AXIS. THESE A LINES PASS THROUGH
THE CENTER OF THE FRONT FACE OF THE DEVICE AND THROUGH
POINTS AT WHICH THE LUMINOUS INTENSITY IS 50% OF THE CENTER
BEAM INTENSITY.

LIGHTING
THIS IS THE SCIENCE, THEORY AND METHOD OF PROVIDING
ARTIFICI-AL ILLUMINATION THROUGH THE USE OF ELECTRIC LAMPS.

LIGHT
THIS IS A PART OF AN ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM THAT IS
PER-CEIVED BY OUR EYES. IT HAS A WAVELGNTH RANGE BETWEEN 380
AND 780 nm.

ILLUMINATION
IT IS DEFINED AS THE DENSITY OF LUMINOUS ENERGY
EXPRESSED IN TERMS OF LUMENS PER UNIT AREA. THIS SIMPLY
REFERS TO LIGHTING THAT IS MAN-MADE.

LUMINANCE
IT IS A BASIC LIGHTING PARAMETER THAT IS PERCEIVED BY THE
EYE. IT SPECIFIES THE BRIGHTNESS OF A SURFACE AND IS
ESSENTIALLY DE-PENDENT ON ITS REFLECTANCE.

ILLUMINANCE CONTRAST
THIS IS THE CONTRAST RESULTING FROM THE FOREGROUND AND
BACKGROUND COLOR COMBINATION. THIS RELATION CONTROLS THE
BE-HAVIOR OF AN ELECTRONIC DISPLAY WHOSE CONTENT IS EASILY
VISIBLE IN THE DARK BUT NOT IN THE SAME CONTENT IN BRIGHT
SUNLIGHT.

ILLUMINANCE
 NORMALLY REPRESENTED BY THE LETTER E, THIS IS THE
DENSITY OF LUMINOUS POWER AND IS EXPRESSED IN TERMS OF
LUMENS PER UNIT AREA. IT DESCRIBES THE QUANTITY OF LUMINOUS
FLUX FALLING ON A STRUCTURE AND IT DECREASES BY THE SQUARE
OF THE DISTANCE.

LUMINOSITY
THIS IS THE QUANTITY THAT MEASURES THE ABILITY OF A
PARTICLE ACCELERATOR TO PRODUCE THE REQUIRED NUMBER OF
INTERACTIONS. IT IS THE PROPORTIONALITY FACTOR BETWEEN THE
NUMBER OF EVENTS PER SECOND DR/DT AND THE CROSS SECTION σp.

LUMINESCENCE
FIRST KNOWN AS THE TERM LUMINESCENZ, IT IS THE
SPONTANEOUS EMISSION OF RADIATION FROM AN ELECTRONICALLY
EXCITED SPECIES OR FROM A VIBRATIONAL EXCITED SPECIES NOT IN
THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM WITH ITS ENVIRONMENT.

INTENSITY
THIS IS USED TO DESCRIBE THE RATE AT WHICH LIGHT SPREADS
O-VER A SURFACE OF A GIVEN AREA SOME DISTANCE FROM A SOURCE.
IT VARIES WITH THE DISTANCE FROM THE SOURCE AND THE POWER OF
THE SOURCE.

CANDELA (CD)
FORMERLY KNOWN AS CANDLE BEFORE THE TERM CANDELA,
THIS IS THE UNIT OF LUMINOUS INTENSITY.

CANDLE POWER (CP)

THIS IS THE UNIT OF LUMINOUS INTENSITY. IT IS ANALOGOUS TO
PRE-SSURE IN A HYDRAULIC SYSTEM AND VOLTAGE IN AN ELECTRIC
SYSTEM AND REPRESENTS THE FORCE THAT GENERATES THE LIGHT
THAT WE USE.

LUX (LX)
THIS IS THE SI UNIT OF ILLUMINATION WHERE ONE LUX IS EQUAL
TO 0.0929 FOOTCANDLE. THIS IS THE ILLUMINATION INCIDENT ON A
SURFACE ONE SQUARE METER IN AREA ON WHICH THERE IS
UNIFORMLY DISTRIBU-TED A LUMINOUS FLUX OF ONE LUMEN.

FOOTCANDLE (FC)
 THIS IS THE ENGLISH UNIT OF ILLUMINATION AND THE METRIC
UNIT OF LUX WHERE ONE FOOTCANDLE IS EQUAL TO 10.76 LUX. THIS IS
THE IL-LUMINATION INCIDENT ON A SURFACE ONE SQUARE FOOT IN
AREA ON WHICH WHERE IS UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTED A LUMINOUS
FLUX OF ONE LUMEN.
LAMBERT (L)
IT IS A UNIT OF LUMINESCENCE OR BRIGHTNESS THAT IS EQUAL
TO 0.32 CANDELA PER SQUARE CENTIMETER.

FOOT-LAMBERT (FL)
THIS IS THE UNIT OF PHOTOMETRIC BRIGHTNESS OR LUMINANCE.
IT IS EQUAL TO 1/ Π CANDELA PER SQUARE FOOT. ONE FOOT-LAMBERT
IS EQUI-VALENT TO 3.426 CANDELS PER SQUARE METER.

LUMEN (LM)
IT IS A UNIT OF MEASURE OF LUMINOUS FLUX OR THE FLOW OF
LIGHT FROM A LIGHT SOURCE WHERE ONE LUMEN IS THE LUMINOUS
FLUX EMIT-TED WITHIN A UNIT SOLID ANGLE BY A POINT SOURCE
HAVING A UNIFORM LUMINOUS INTENSITY OF ONE CANDELA.

ZONAL CAVITY METHOD/LUMEN METHOD

THIS METHOD OF CALCULATION IS A PROCEDURE FOR
DETERMINING THE AVERAGE MAINTAINED FOOTCANDLE
ILLUMINATION INTENSITY ON THE WORKING PLANE IN A ROOM. IT IS
BASED ON THE DEFINITION OF ONE FOOTCANDLE AS ONE LUMEN
INCIDENT ON ONE SQUARE FOOT OF AREA.

ABSORPTION
THIS IS THE PROCESS OF THE CONVERSION OF THE ENERGY OF
RADI-ATION TO AN EQUIVALENT AMOUNT OF ENERGY THAT APPEARS
WITHIN A MEDIUM. RADIANT ENERGY IS CONVERTED INTO HEAT AND
SOME OTHER FORM OF MOLECULAR ENERGY.

REFLECTANCE
THIS IS THE MEASURE OF TOTAL LIGHT REFLECTED, IT MAY BE
SPE-CULAR, DIFFUSE OR A COMBINATION OF BOTH. IT CAN ALSO BE
REFERRED TO AS REFLECTANCE FACTOR OR REFLECTANCE
COEFFICIENT.

REFRACTION
 THIS IS THE BENDING OF THE LIGHT BETWEEN MEDIA AND IS A
FUNC-TION OF THE INCIDENT ANGLE. IT IS BASED ON SNELL’S LAW
AND IS NOT DEPENDENT ON THE SPEED OF LIGHT.

LUMINAIRE
IT IS A HOUSING FOR ONE OR MORE LAMPS COMPRISING A BODY AND
ANY
REFRACTOR, DIFFUSER OR ENCLOSURE ASSOCIATED WITH LAMPS.

LUMINAIRE EFFICIENCY
EXPRESSED IN PERCENTAGE, THE LUMINAIRE EFFICIENCY IS THE
RA-TIO OF OUTPUT LUMENS TO LAMP INPUT OR LUMENS. THE
OVERALL EFFI-CIENCY OF A LUMINAIRE DEPENDS ON THE SPACE IN
WHICH IT IS USED.

OTHER REFERENCES

“MOLECULAR FLUORESCENCE: PRINCLIPLES AND APPLICATION” BY BERNARD VALEUR

AND
MARIO NUNO BERBERAN-SANTOS

“OPTIC REVIEW” BY MARK E. WILKINSON, OD AND KHADIJA S. SHAHID, OD, MPH

“INFRARED RADIATION” BY VASYL MOROZHENKO

“SCIENCE: LEVEL BLUE” BY GLENCOE SCIENCE

“CONCEPT OF LUMINOSITY” BY WERNER HERR AND BRUNO MURATORI

“LIGHT INTENSITY” BY THE PHYSICS CLASSROOM

“GENERAL SUPPLEMENT TO SUDAS DESIGN MANUAL: STATEWIDE URBAN DESIGN AND

SPECIFICATIONS PROGRAM)” BY CEDAR RAPIDS PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

“DETERMINATION OF THE OPTICAL BEAM AXIS, CENTRE BEAM INTENSITY AND BEAM
ANGLE OF
DIRECTIONAL LIGHT SOURCES” BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISION ON ILLUMINATION

“INTERIOR LIGHTING DESIGN: THE FUNDAMENTALS” BY DAVID G. WEATHERLY, PE, LEED

AP, LC

“THE LANGUAGE OF LIGHT” BY KONICA MINOLTA

“THE LIGHTING HANDBOOK” BY ZUMTOBEL LIGHTING

“ABSORPTION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION” BY WILLIAM WEST

“EMISSIVITY: THE CRUX OF ACCURATE RADIOMETRIC MEASUREMENT” BY FRANK
LIEBMANN

“MEASURING DISCOMFORT FROM GLRE: RECOMMENDATION FOR GOOD PRACTIVE” BY

STEVE
FOTIOS AND MICHAEL KENT

“BAYESIAN ESTIMATION OF VISUAL COMFORT” BY DAVID LINDELOF AND NICOLAS

MOREL

“WEBPAGE CONTENT COLOR ADJUSTMENT TO INCREASE VISIBILITY IN DIFFERENT

AMBIENT
LIGHT SCENARIOS”, BY KUSH KUMAR, AVINASH KUMAR AND AJAY BALAKRISHNAN