Illuminating Large Areas with Best commercial light fixtures
While incandescent bulbs are more commonly used in residential environments, some commercial lighting fixtures use this technology as well. Incandescent lamps pass current through the filament, which causes the filament to emit light. Because they are relatively short-lived, incandescent bulbs are used primarily as decorative commercial lighting fixtures. Their ability to effectively deliver warm colors without ballast makes them well suited for this application, and the huge variety of lamp designs makes them very soft after any type of accent lighting source or decor based commercial lighting design.
Fluorescent Lighting Fixtures
Fluorescent lamps are widely used in Best commercial light fixtures for a number of reasons. The first and foremost of these reasons is their ability to use less energy than other commercial lighting fixtures, making them very cost effective in terms of energy savings. Fluorescent lamps also emit very bright light that is evenly distributed, making them ideal lighting fixtures for commercial warehouses, awning lights, signal lights, interior retail lighting in discount stores, where high levels of ambient lighting help psychologically motivate larger bulk purchases with discount.
Fluorescent lamps emit light by activating the phosphor inside the lamp using the ultraviolet energy generated by the mercury arc. Ballast helps to start and control fluorescent lamps by regulating the flow of electrons through the gas arc. Trends in fluorescent technology have made them more compact, increasing the efficiency of lumens per watt to 100 lumens per watt and reducing the amount of toxic mercury inside lamps. Best commercial light fixtures are best placed under eaves of buildings (as with awning lights), near loading bays, in wall packs on the sides of buildings, or as lights for large grocery stores or warehouses. Placing them too far in an open area tends to diffuse their light output and reduce their intensity.
High Intensity Discharge (HID) Commercial Lighting Fixtures
HID stands for High Intensity Discharge. This refers to a technology in which light is emitted by a gas arc discharge using various elements. Typical elements include mercury vapor, metal halides and high pressure sodium. The arc tube inside the HID lamp will contain one or more of these elements, and when current passes between the electrodes at either end of the tube, the current creates an arc that generates visible light.
HID bulbs offer the highest efficiency in lumens per watt of output power and also provide a higher level of lighting control. They also last longer than other commercial lighting fixtures, making them a smart investment for a Spartan budget company that can’t afford to constantly replace equipment. Sources of high intensity discharge include mercury vapor, metal halide lamps and high pressure sodium lamps (HPS). Light is produced in HID sources and low pressure sodium sources (LPS) by means of a gaseous arc discharge using various elements. Each HID lamp consists of an arc tube that contains certain elements or mixtures of elements that, when an arc occurs between the electrodes at each end, gasify and generate visible radiation.
Light sources and lamp characteristics
Mercury vapor (MV) lighting devices
Mercury vapor lamps were the first commercial HID lighting fixtures. They were originally developed to meet the growing demand for very compact, high performance and energy efficient light sources. They are widely used in a number of landscape lighting applications, usually as tree lights in high quality commercial outdoor lighting systems. In other applications, they have proven to be slightly less effective in combination with their poorer color rendering capabilities, although they have improved to some extent over the years by coating the inner walls of the bulb with phosphor.
The life of mercury lamps is good, with an average of 24,000 hours for higher wattage lamps. However, because productivity degrades so much over time, the economic life is often much shorter. Efficiency ranges from 30 to 60 lumens per watt, with higher wattage being more efficient than lower wattage.
As with other HID lamps, the mercury lamp does not start immediately. However, the start-up time is short: it takes 4-7 minutes to reach the maximum power, depending on the ambient temperature.
High pressure sodium lights (HPS)
Commercial high pressure sodium (HPS) lighting products gained immense popularity in the 1970s to meet the need for a powerful yet ultra-efficient HID lighting source. The lumens per watt in an HPS lamp can go up to 140 lumens per watt, which are about 7 times that of incandescent bulbs and twice that of fluorescent lamps. Their lifespan is around 24,000 hours, making it the longest running lamp on the market.
The problem with commercial HPS lighting fixtures has always been the quality of the light they create. HPS lamps emit a yellowish or orange hue and are not acceptable light sources for situations where brand lighting, architectural keynotes, or any type of decorative outdoor landscape require a high level of color rendering. For the most part, they are used in applications such as commercial garage lighting, warehouse lighting, and some outdoor applications such as flood safety lighting.
Metal halide lights (MH)
Metal halide (MH) commercial lighting products are fast becoming the preferred source of HID lighting in most commercial environments. This is because they emit very bright white light, which is almost equivalent to daylight in color rendering. The result is a wide variety of applications ranging from decorative street lighting, commercial parking lot lighting, parking lot lighting, street landscape lighting, architectural lighting, security lighting, and general facility lighting. Traditionally, their biggest drawback has been their short lamp life, averaging just 7,500 hours.
New designs of metal halide commercial lighting fixtures include pulse triggering technology and sintered designs. These improvements have resulted in improved luminous flux per watt, light control with superior dim ability, improved color stability, longer lamp life and faster start-up times.
LED lights for commercial use
As technology advances, the ability to create truly white LED light continues to evolve. LED commercial lighting fixtures exhibit higher lumen output per watt than their original counterparts, which were originally offered. This opened the door to a range of architectural and facility lighting applications that were previously the exclusive domain of commercial HID lighting fixtures.
