As more growers around the earth implement LED lighting engineering in their greenhouses , labor manager and light strategists promote them to gather all the fact about a fixture before stool a short - terminal figure determination on a price that could cost more in the tenacious tally . A problem can arise if an electric declarer plan a lighting undertaking based around a specific LED fixture . If a cultivator find a different LED fixture for the declarer to install , a redesign may be required to ensure compatibility between the deftness design and the selected LEDs .
" Growers may end up devote more in total project costs because the specification of the product purchased for the installation deviated from the product for which the project was designed . Perhaps they saw the lower price of a fixture and ran with it , " read Mark Pedersen , President / CEO , Climatrol Solutions Ltd. , Surrey , British Columbia . " We want everything to run seamlessly , and it is very authoritative with a lighting fixture that we have the complete information , just like any other component purchased for their adroitness . We need to be sure it is run to solve for their nursery and not induce an issue to their electrical or hydro - electrical system . "
Complete fixture spec are crucialAn important first step in a new facility design or redesign is to ensure your electric declarer has a staring fixedness stipulation flat solid and software guide . This information will activate the project engineer to properly project the system . top lighting manufacturers should make release specifications readily available that include operate voltage range , full warhead current at common operating voltages , rated input king , tycoon factor , total harmonic distortion , operating frequency , and inpour current on startup . Often , growers simulate that applied scientist can assess wattage and other technical factor simply based on fixture name or sight , which is not the case . Or a grower may not full grasp the grandness of the electric design , of lesser - known expert specs .
have sex these details from the beginning of the project ensures engineers can specify the right cables , panel , gamy voltage submarine feeds , and transformer , among other component . Without accurate specifications , small departure from the initial programme can contribute up to huge expenses and tenacious delays during installment .
" Just the difference of opinion between 800 or 805 watts affects everything , and the more fixtures you have in your initiation , the more it affects the design , including how many circuits are required or how far away the fixture is from the jury , " says Pedersen . " What I really prize here is for companies like Signify , with their Philips steel , LED lighting , who have the team , and the engine driver , to design where those features go . " While a conflict of 5 Watt may not seem like much , when you are instal 1,000 , 10,000 or 25,000 fixtures , the " minor " electric power difference creates a meaning divergence and major complications in a system .
verify to know the instantaneous index demand"Matching the inpour current is especially crucial , " says Evann Seney , Master Electrician , Honey Electric , Chatham , Ontario . Put simply , the inrush current value informs the electrician about the instantaneous power requirement from a light . Inrush current has implications at the time of startup , in the event of power failure , and on the number of mend that can be switched on at the same fourth dimension .
A fixing that has a very gamey inrush stream can make extensive issuing in a lighting system , particularly if the circuits , cable’s length , and transformers are n’t build up to handle that load . A greenhouse organization could have 150 to 200 lighting panels , all of which may have to be adapted – at significant disbursement – if the inrush current is higher than specified .
sealed LED fixture drivers will actively wield the fixture inpour current at startup . In these cases , the inrush current is paltry . " All of our ware are design with our own drivers , " say Chris Strom , software Engineer for Signify North America , manufacturer of Phillips LED production . " One of the big things we design into the drivers was a dispirited inpouring current . Many off - the - shelf number one wood and even in advance number one wood have a gamey inrush stream , and that bear on the load on the lighting system . "
It is important to consider the outcome that the inpour visibility will have on system protective covering ( such as electrical circuit breaker and fuze ) . A circuit sized in good order for a fix with a negligible or nominal onus may trip at startup if not built for higher inpouring .
The wrong inrush current between fixture and jury also means that each clip power flickers or there is a loss of power throughout the electrical grid , the control exclude off individual gore . That , in act , shoot a line fuses . When mightiness is furbish up , and all the fixtures come back on at once , more issues may occur .
Seney says . " If the light are keep out off in the issue of a index flicker , when the big businessman comes back on , a timekeeper in each control board would lurch it so that you would turn on one venire at a clip . "
In addition , if the inpouring electric current on a fixture is importantly higher than expected , the declarer may have to install up to four timers to then work that lighting panel on in four sections , as counterbalance to one . " The electrician and the locomotive engineer should know this ahead of time , so you ’re not throw this come up after you ’ve installed everything , " he says . " That is a huge cost . "
Do not drop unneeded money on your transformerIn the same room , missing or faulty information or stipulation on fixtures could also run to unneeded expenses on transformers . For model , if an railroad engineer accounts for a fixture drawing 848 watt , and the raiser prefer for a fixture that draws 840 watt , the greenhouse could be install one more transformer than they need or a high voltage transformer than necessary .
" This could mean you have designed your transformer to have 80 % lode on it , and it has only 70 % cargo , " Seney explains . " So , if you look at the total installation , you could have salvage one 2.5 mva transformer rather of a 2.75 mva transformer . The difference from a 2.5 mva transformer to a 2.75 mva transformer is around $ 20,000 Canadian dollar . "
The toll is in number multiplied by accompanying cost , include cables , concrete pads , and electrical panels . " The installation costs more . It is a weighed down cable television ; it adds more weight unit , which means you postulate more support in the structure to carry the system of weights of the burden on the superstructure , " Pedersen say .
Both experts emphasize that it ’s critical to be able to meet the proper specifications on inrush current and other central technical factors , or the undertaking peril unplanned price . " It is a Antoine Domino effect because everything else now must be larger . It is all for nothing at the oddment of the daylight as no one wants the disbursement of own to go back and add up more calorie-free fixtures , " Seney says . " These are phantom costs as a upshot of not having the right data in the first place . "
For more information : SignifyDaniele Damoiseaux , Global Marcom Manager Horticulture[email protected]www.philips.com / horti
