ElectricSmarts Network

Ensuring a minor branch-circuit electrical fault doesn’t travel any farther upstream is a goal of any electrical designer’s plans. However, in some settings, isolating such problems is especially critical. This is why the National Electrical Code (NEC) has paid a great deal of attention to the specification of appropriate fuses and/or circuit breakers to achieve “selective coordination” over the years.

While LED lighting is all the rage across a number of industries, for years some industries have been “singing the blues” when it comes to LEDs.

That’s because almost all existing LED lighting creates harmful blue-spectrum light that can result in photochemical degradation and photo-oxidization. Pharmaceutical and semiconductors manufacturers, for example, cannot expose many of their products during manufacture to harmful blue-spectrum light.

This is part one of a two-part miniseries on energy efficient lighting. In this article, we're going to look at the lamps. In the second article, we'll explore some options for controlling those lights, aka, lighting systems.

But, you've got to start with the source of illumination... the lamp or bulb.

While most of us are used to shin-high or lower electrical outlets, industrial plants often use ceiling- or wall-mounted buses for power distribution. These systems can keep power connections flexible as manufacturing floors are rearranged, but they also can add stress to power cables if their connection to an overhead outlet is the only thing holding them in place. Cord support grips address this problem by taking stress off the cable and helping to maximize uptime and minimize equipment damage.

In a previous article, we talked about energy efficient lighting with regards to incandescents and other sources of illumination. Even though they cost a little more to acquire, LEDs are more energy efficient. And, that means saving money on utility bills as well.

But, the type of lamp or fixture isn't the only factor when it comes to energy efficient lighting. It's not just what you use, but how you use it. Lighting automation, often integrated into a so-called "smart" building, can save even more energy.

At the heart of today’s automated manufacturing operations are programmable logic controllers (PLCs), which are miniaturized computers installed throughout a factory floor. These devices receive input from sensors throughout the line and use that data to issue commands to control machinery operations. Though PLCs are individually protected in rugged casing, they often are ganged together in enclosures specified according to application-specific needs.