Illuminance - Recommended Light Levels

Recommended light levels - illuminance - for some common types of working activities
Sponsored Links Light Level or Illuminance, is the total luminous flux incident on a surface, per unit area. The work plane is where the most important tasks in the room or space are performed.

Measuring Units Light Level - Illuminance

Illumenance is measured in foot candles (ftcd, fc, fcd) (or lux in the metric SI system). A foot candle is actually one lumen of light density per square foot, one lux is one lumen per square meter.

1 lux = 1 lumen / sq meter = 0.0001 phot = 0.0929 foot candle (ftcd, fcd) 1 phot = 1 lumen / sq centimeter = 10000 lumens / sq meter = 10000 lux 1 foot candle (ftcd, fcd) = 1 lumen / sq ft = 10.752 lux

Common Light Levels Outdoor

Common light levels outdoor at day and night can be found in the table below: Condition Sunlight Full Daylight Overcast Day Very Dark Day Twilight Deep Twilight Full Moon Quarter Moon Starlight Overcast Night Illumination (ftcd) 10,000 1,000 100 10 1 .1 .01 .001 .0001 .00001

(lux) 107,527 10,752 1,075 107 10.8 1.08 .108 .0108 .0011 .0001

Common and Recommended Light Levels Indoor

The outdoor light level is approximately 10,000 lux on a clear day. In the building, in the area closest to windows, the light level may be reduced to approximately 1,000 lux. In the middle area its may be as low as 25 - 50 lux. Additional lighting equipment is often necessary to compensate the low levels. Earlier it was common with light levels in the range 100 - 300 lux for normal activities. Today the light level is more common in the range 500 - 1000 lux - depending on activity. For precision and detailed works, the light level may even approach 1500 - 2000 lux. The table below is a guidance for recommended light level in different work spaces:

Activity Public areas with dark surroundings Simple orientation for short visits Working areas where visual tasks are only occasionally performed Warehouses, Homes, Theaters, Archives Easy Office Work, Classes Normal Office Work, PC Work, Study Library, Groceries, Show Rooms, Laboratories Supermarkets, Mechanical Workshops, Office Landscapes Normal Drawing Work, Detailed Mechanical Workshops, Operation Theatres Detailed Drawing Work, Very Detailed Mechanical Works Performance of visual tasks of low contrast and very small size for prolonged periods of time Performance of very prolonged and exacting visual tasks Performance of very special visual tasks of extremely low contrast and small size

Illumination (lux, lumen/m2) 20 - 50 50 - 100 100 - 150 150 250 500 750 1,000 1500 - 2000 2000 - 5000 5000 - 10000 10000 - 20000

Calculating Illumination
Illumination can be calculated as I = Ll Cu LLF / Al where I = illumination (lux, lumen/m2) Ll = lumens per lamp (lumen) Cu = coefficient of utilation LLF = light loss factor Al = area per lamp (m2) Example - Illumination 10 incandencent lamps of 500 W (10600 lumens per lamp) are used in an area of 50 m2. With Cu = 0.6 and LLF = 0.8 illumination can be calculated as I = 10 (10600 lumens) (0.6) (0.8) / (50 m2) = 1018 lux (1)

Lights - Installed Power

Installed light power in some common types of buildings and rooms
Sponsored Links The table below can be used as a guide to installed light power (Watts/Sq.Ft.) in some common types of buildings and rooms. Light Power (Watts/Sq.Ft.) Apartments 1.0 - 4.0 Banks 2.0 - 5.0 Bars 1.5 - 2.0 Cafeterias 1.5 - 2.5 Churches 1.0 - 3.0 Clubhouses 1.5 - 2.0 Cocktail Lounges 1.5 - 2.0 Computer Rooms 1.5 - 5.0 Court Houses 2.0 - 5.0 Dental Centers 1.5 - 2.5 Department Stores 1.0 - 3.0 Dining Halls 1.5 - 2.5 Drug Store 1.0 - 3.0 Fire Stations 2.0 - 3.0 Hospitals, General Areas 1.5 - 2.5 Hotels Public Spaces 1.5 - 3.0 Kindergarten 1.0 - 3.0 Kitchens 1.5 - 3.0 Jail 1.0 - 2.5 Libraries 1.0 - 3.0 Luncheonettes 1.5 - 2.5 Lunch Rooms 1.5 - 2.5 Malls 1.0 - 3.0 Medical Centers 1.5 - 2.5 Motels Public Areas 1.5 - 3.0 Motels Guest Rooms 1.0 - 3.0 Municipal Buildings 2.0 - 5.0 Museums 1.0 - 3.0 Nightclubs 1.5 - 2.0 Nursing Home Patient Rooms 2.0 - 3.0 Police Stations 2.0 - 3.0 Post Offices 2.0 - 3.0 Precision Manufacturing 2.0 - 3.0 Residential 1.0 - 4.0 Retail Stores 2.0 - 6.0 Type of Building/Room

Type of Building/Room Restaurants School Classrooms Shops Supermarkets Taverns Town Halls

Light Power (Watts/Sq.Ft.) 1.5 - 3.0 2.0 - 6.0 1.0 - 3.0 1.0 - 3.0 1.5 - 2.0 2.0 - 5.0

1 ft2 = 0.0929 m2 = 144 in2 = 0,1111 yd2 1 Watts/ft2 = 10.8 Watts/m2

Heat Gain from Lights

Heat contribution from lights may have major impacts on air condition systems
Sponsored Links The heat gained from lights in a modern office or production area may be of an significant amount. Heat emitted to the room depends on

preferred light level in the room type of lights and their construction location of the light equipment

Light Level - Illuminance

Illuminance is the total luminous flux incident on a surface - per unit area.

The preferred light level in a room depends primarily on the type of activity. For common office work the level may be in the range of 500 - 1000 lux.

Recommended Light Levels in Rooms

Required Installed Electric Power for Lights

Unless special arrangements as local cooling or air outlets through the lighting equipment are used, the electric power to the lights are converted to heat emitted to the room. Required electric power to achieve a recommended light level can be estimated as P = b / (e r ls) where P = installed electric power (W/m2 floor area) (1)

b = recommended light level (lux, lumen/m2) e = light equipment efficiency r = room lighting efficiency ls = emitted light from the source (lumen/W)

Emitted Light From Source - ls

The purpose of a lamp is to convert electrical power (Watts) into light (lumens). Lamps do this with varying efficiencies and the light emitted from a source depends on the type of source. Typical efficiency of different lamp types are indicated in the table below: Lamp Type GLS Bulbs Low Voltage Halogen Mercury Vapor Fluorescent Metal Halide White LED High Pressure Sodium Low Pressure Sodium

Emitted Light from The Source (lumen/Watt) 10 - 15 20 40 - 60 50 - 90 70 - 90 80+ 90 - 125 120 - 200

Lifetime (hours) 1,000 2,000 - 5,000 22,000 more than 7,000 more than 12,000 25,000 20,000

A typical incandescent GLS light bulb emit approximately 10 lumen/Watt A typical fluorescent tube emits up to approximately 60 lumen/Watt

Light Equipment Efficiency - e

Light equipment efficiency express how much of the light is really emitted from the light to the room. A bare fluorescent tube emits 100% to the room. A shielded tube emit less - 50% to 80% is common.

Room Lighting Efficiency - r

The room lightning efficiency express how much of the light is absorbed by the room before entering the activity area. Light Equipment Efficiency and Room Lightning Efficiency influences each other. Common values of the product e r are in the range 0.3 - 0.6.

Example - Heat Load from Lights

1,000 lux is recommended light level in a office where detailed drawing work is performed. The room and lightning equipment efficiency an be set to 0.5. Using standard GLS bulbs - the electric power for lightning can be calculated P = (1,000 lumen/m2) / (0.5 (10 lumen/W))

= 200 W/m2 Using standard fluorescent tubes - the electric power for lightning can be calculated P = (1,000 lumen/m2) / (0.5 (60 lumen/W)) = 33.3 W/m2 Due to the high energy consumption and the major impact on air condition heat loads, standard GLS bulbs is not an alternative in high illuminance applications. The table below indicates typically installed electrical effect with different light levels Installed effect (W) Incandescent GLS bulb lamp Fluorescent tubes Illumination - Light Level (lux) 200 400 600 40 6.7 80 13.3 120 20

800 160 26.7

1000 200 33.3

Note! Datasheets from manufacturers should always be consulted before detailed engineering. The numbers above do for rough preliminary calculations.