APPLICATIONS
LED
lighting has potential application across a wide range of sectors and
industries ranging from aerospace to construction to transport to
yachting. However, NLL has identified
commercial opportunities in the street lighting and industrial lighting
markets, so it is in these two markets that the company has focused its
attention, through strategic distribution partners. Other application areas may be explored as
opportunities arise, with the possibility of identifying strong strategic
partners in vertical and geographic markets to develop such markets through
licensing. Street lighting is the prime
initial target application.
Street & Public Area Lighting
Street
lighting consumes a substantial portion of global generated power and through
inefficiencies, contributes massively to light pollution of the night sky. LED technology when applied to street
lighting is now proven to dramatically reduce operating costs and to reduce
light pollution by some 90 percent. The
photograph below, taken from space, shows how much of our lighting, including
street lighting, is wasted, lighting up the sky.
LEDs
have a life expectancy ten times longer than conventional non-LED lighting
meaning that initial costs of change can be quickly recouped from savings in
energy costs and reduced replacement costs. (Ref:
Appendix III)
NLL
products are designed to fit standard street light furniture, as direct
replacements for conventional sodium lamps and other inferior LED lamps, with
standard installation tools and expertise.
However,
the efficiency and light-coverage of NLL LED luminaires means that in most
cases only every other street lamp is required to give the equivalent
illumination of conventional lamps.
This
offers a number of consequential benefits, apart from reduced energy costs,
including less cluttered and therefore safer streets, more scope for improved
and aesthetic design of street furniture and in the case of new-build
developments, less street furniture (lampposts) to buy.
Fig: Illuminated area of
Double Panel luminaire (left) compared to conventional street light
This last point means that for new infrastructure developments, the initial cost of specifying LED street lighting can be on par with conventional lighting, but with lower on-going hardware maintenance costs as well. (Ref: Appendix III)
Fig: NLL’s Double Panel luminaire
Street lighting is covered by British Standard BS5489, with two main categories; Category A, covering main roads and motorways for mainly vehicle use; and Category B, covering residential roads with significant pedestrian use. NLL LED products meet the requirements for both categories.
The Delight60 luminaire is designed as a direct replacement for the 150 Watt sodium lamp, which is the most common street lighting unit in use, employed on most main and side roads.
NLL’s double panel luminaire is designed for the highway street lighting market.
Industrial & Office Lighting
Lighting
also represents a substantial part of industrial users’ energy costs,
particularly in the cases of factories, offices and large retail stores. For example, typically 20 percent of Tesco’s
energy bill is due to lighting, so any savings made here are significant and
Tesco has been pro-active in exploring and implementing ways to reduce costs of
lighting its stores, including using LED products and developing innovative
ways of dynamically controlling lighting levels according to daylight level, or
customer activity within the store.
NLL
has designed two products for the industrial and office lighting markets; a
16-LED bar luminaire, designed to replace conventional fluorescent-strip
fitments for general store and factory lighting and a 32-LED square panel unit
designed to replace conventional ceiling-tile- mounted luminaires for office
and false-ceiling installations. As with
the street light versions, neither product requires specialist skills or
equipment to install.
Other Applications
NLL’s technology has the potential to enhance and enable applications for LED lighting virtually everywhere a light bulb exists today.
Certain applications, including automotive, marine, aerospace and signage have been reaping the benefits of LED technology for some time, yet these markets have still barely been touched.
Fig: Electric lighting in Europe, Africa and Middle East from space (NOAA 2000)
However, to retain focus on its core markets, NLL will not directly engage with, or seek to develop these markets itself, but may consider licensing its IPR on a case by case basis, where NLL’s technology offers benefits and where non-competitive with its core market.