Intelligent next-generation LED street lighting
The primary goal in developing Arquiled’s "Arquicity" product was to make maximum use of the technical capabilities of the LEDs and of all the other components: It was to combine maximum energy efficiency, long life and low maintenance costs, enhanced visual experience for local people and improving road safety. The success of the development project is demonstrated by the new street light’s key features: The Arquicity has a wide input voltage range, and as a result can be quick and easily integrated into the existing local power supply grid in any country – in Europe, Asia or the USA.
The Arquicity lamp autonomously responds to particular light conditions such as fog
Thanks to its automatic brightness control, it saves even more power while providing maximum safety and security. The Arquicity also responds autonomously to particular light conditions, such as fog, so ensuring that road users can move around the locality safely. A built-in motion sensor means the light becomes brighter precisely when needed, such as when a pedestrian or a vehicle is approaching. The Arquicity guarantees uniform illumination of the street even when installed at different heights, thanks to its four different brightness levels extending up to 114 Watts.
The three variants featuring LEDs ranging from warm-white (3200K), through neutral-white (4500K) to cold-white (6500K) offer the ideal solution for every location and for all requirements. On the motorway, for example, cold-white provides for optimum visibility, while in the narrow streets of old town centres a warmer lighting tone is perceived as pleasant, so the warm-white LED variant is mainly deployed.
All these features could only be realized thanks to optimum components. In achieving that, Arquiled relied on advice, assistance in sampling and technical support from Rutronik. Lighting specialist Arquiled was founded in 2005, and has been working with distributor Rutronik right from its conception. Over that time, the two partners have completed many successful projects, including the lighting for Lisbon’s casino, which has since been lit entirely by LEDs. 300,000 LEDs from Osram Opto Semiconductors immerse the casino in an ever-changing palette of colours, making it one of the major talking-points of the Lisbon cityscape.
Arquiled specializes in developing solid-state lighting (SSL) technology for general lighting applications, architectural and street lighting. The Portuguese company offers custom lighting design solutions for a broad range of applications in those various segments. In order to successfully market its outstanding solutions on the fast-growing market, Arquiled chose distributor Rutronik as a partner. Rutronik has many years’ experience in the lighting field, and as a groundbreaker in LED applications it has already acquired extensive technical expertise and practical know-how.
The "Arquicity" street lighting project was launched in Summer 2009. One year later, pilot production was able to start. Preparations are underway for start of mass production. "We were able to keep to our timetable with ease, thanks to the technical expertise of Rutronik and the intensive knowledge transfer with the manufacturers," reports Rafael Abelha Santos, President/CEO of Arquiled. "Even when flexibility was needed – such as rapid response to enquiries and just-in-time deliveries – Rutronik always provided us with quick, uncomplicated assistance. It was a perfect model of all-round support."
One of the basic requirements for all the components was long service life. The components also had to work together to allow dimming control of the LEDs. Based on the requirements imposed, the choice fell upon the Golden Dragon Plus and Golden Dragon Oval Plus from Osram Opto Semiconductors. Both are designed specially for street lighting.
Osram’s Golden Dragon LED lamp is optimized for street lighting applications.
They deliver the specified minimum service life of 65,000 hours within the application parameters, are dimmable, and are highly robust. The LED driver chosen was the ZXLD1362ET5TA from Diodes-Zetex. It reduces fluctuations in output current when there is no compensation. The ambient light sensors, enabling the LED lighting to adapt to the ambient brightness, were sourced – like the LEDs themselves – from Osram Opto Semiconductors. The digital SFH5712 is a precision ambient light sensor which perceives brightness as precisely as the human eye and adjusts the light intensity of the LED according to the ambient conditions. It combines high accuracy of 3 – 65,000 lx with a low temperature coefficient of photo-sensitivity. Motion and fog sensors ensure that the brightness of the light is always optimally adjusted as needed, while at the same time consuming minimal power. Rutronik also supplied the capacitors and other components from its passive portfolio for the new street light. "Rutronik’s broad product portfolio was a major benefit in developing the Arquicity," comments Arquiled President/CEO Rafael Abelha Santos. "It meant that we could not only source all the components we needed for the street light from Rutronik, but could also ensure they were all optimally matched as part of the development process. Rutronik’s long-standing experience in this still relatively new field of LED applications was very valuable." The housing is one of the components which plays a key role. As high temperatures severely impair the service life of LEDs, the housing acts as a heat sink, discharging the waste heat of the LED to the outside. A special coating additionally protects the housing comprehensively against dirt.
Now that the development work on the Arquicity street light is practically complete, Arquiled and Rutronik are already working on their next project: changing over all the traffic lights in Lisbon to LED technology. To that end, Arquiled and Rutronik – working with the city of Lisbon’s energy authority – have jointly developed LED-based traffic lights which automatically adapt to the prevailing light conditions. As well as saving energy, they provide high levels of safety during the day, and at night the lights are not unpleasantly glaring. They therefore indicate a clear "GO" for LEDs.
About the author: Marcus Oechsle is Senior Marketing Manager Optoelectronics Division at Rutronik Elektronische Bauelemente GmbH.
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