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www.us-tech.com
July, 2021
Developing Backup Emergency LED Bulbs for Industrial Applications
By Thomas Macon, Jr., Vice President of Sales, VCC F
or manufacturers in all industries, solving cus- tomer problems should be
the inspiration for creating and developing new products. But what about those problems that have been headscratchers for the industry for quite some time? For example, problems that
others have tried to fix without much success, leaving the mar-
for what is missing and what could be better.
Emergency Lighting When Canada’s largest ther-
mal electricity generating plant approached Visual Communica - tions Company’s (VCC) distribu- tor Brad Jolly with IRWIN, the utility company was searching for an emergency backup bulb that could eliminate a host of maintenance headaches and be counted on in a real emergency. This same request for a bet-
ter AC/DC bulb was echoed through requests from other VCC distributors, which meant it deserved all of the company’s attention. Power outages are inevitable, even at power genera- tion facilities. But what happens when the power goes out? Traditionally, these facili-
VCC was tasked with creat- ing emergency bulbs for a thermal power plant.
ket with the inconvenient and expensive status quo, and no real solution in sight. VCC is open to all input from the marketplace, relying on its solid distributor network to be its eyes and ears
ties switch from AC to DC with battery backup in tunnels and hallways so crews can see to keep mission-critical functions operat- ing, like cooling turbines. However, using Tungsten lamps was problematic in several ways.
During an outage. Several bulbs would burn out upon being turned on using battery backup
— meaning they were not even reliable in an emergency. Those that stayed on would only pro- vide a short window of time in which to work, due to battery life.
During maintenance. Monthly testing of hundreds of backup lamps would fry the bulbs, because of the surge in mechani- cal stress upon switching to DC, only adding to the cost and expense of replacing them. With a limited life, they would burn out quickly as well.
security, costs and downtime were beyond inconvenient.
Battery requirements. To keep enough backup power on hand, large-scale battery rooms were required, with special design features in the flooring in case of leaks or fire. And because the batteries are series-connect- ed, the voltage added up quickly — up to 250V in some cases.
After hearing the power
provider’s requests from VCC’s distribution partner, the manu- facturer decided to put its engi- neering team to work to solve this challenge
Building Better Bulbs Other manufacturers had
LED emergency lamp with a foldback heatsink.
Security concerns. An outside crew would typically be outsourced to replace these bulbs — often as high as 25 ft (7.6m) and requiring lifts and heavy equipment. Site
tried to solve the problem of cre- ating an LED that could truly function well in both AC and DC modes. The AC functionality of the bulb is easy. Yet, these lamps are often used in enclosed fix- tures, and using LEDs meant overheating was a huge, seem- ingly intractable issue. After multiple rounds of
design, prototyping and testing, VCC developed an LED driver that could handle a wide range of Continued on next page
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