Criteria for selecting LED luminaires

Abstract

Fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) were the dominant artificial light source for so many years in domestic, commercial and industrial contexts. In the recent years Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) have gained much popularity with the proven energy and economic benefits and are now used in almost every lighting application. Other benefits include compact size, long service life, ease of maintenance and instant-on quality. Ease of dimming and controlling of LEDs set forth further energy savings. Currently there is an increasing trend for using LED luminaires in many commercial buildings and this has led to form a huge demand for LED luminaires and a huge market competition between the lighting solution suppliers. When the LED bulbs were first introduced to the Sri Lankan market, the retail market was flooded with many low-quality products and most of the domestic consumers could not reap the maximum benefit. Same goes for the LED luminaires. Since these LED luminaires are used in thousands of quantities in commercial buildings hoping to last for decades, if not wisely chosen, huge performance and economic losses have to be endured. With the absence of a national guideline to choose LED fixtures there is an ambiguity among lighting designers and clients when choosing the most suitable luminaire from the wide range of LED luminaires available in Sri Lankan market. Therefore, the intention of this research was to develop general criteria that can be used for choosing the most suitable LED luminaire for a given building. Worldwide building codes and rating systems were studied to identify the minimum performance level expected from the LED luminaires in other countries. LED luminaires in Sri Lankan and foreign markets were technically evaluated. Technical specifications of LED luminaires were obtained from manufacturers’ websites and the market prices were obtained from suppliers. Findings of this research include the evolution of lighting requirements imposed by building codes, performance status of LED luminaires available in Sri Lanka market, general criteria for choosing LED luminaires and justification of the proposed criteria with an example application.