PRINCIPLES OF

ILLUMINATION
INTRODUCTION

 Illumination is defined as the intensity of light per unit area.

When we talk about Illumination, or simply lighting, we are
referring to man made lighting.
 Electric Illumination is the production of light by means of
electricity and its application to provide efficient,
comfortable and safe vision.
Specifically, when one speaks of lighting design, he refers to
only two things:

1. The Quantity of light

2. The Quality of light
 TheQuantity of light means the amount of illumination or
luminous flux per unit area.

 The Quality of light on the other hand, pertains to

distribution of brightness in the lighting installation. It deals
with the essential nature or characteristics of light.
FACTORS THAT AFFECT ILLUMINATION

 The following factors affect illumination:

1. Brightness
2. Contrast
3. Glare
4. diffuseness
 Brightness is the light that seems to radiate from an object
being viewed. Brightness or luminance is the luminous flux
(light) emitted, transmitted or reflected from a surface.
 Contrastis the difference in brightness or the brightness
ratio between an object and its background.
 Glareis a strong, steady, dazzling light or reflection. There
are two types of glare, namely:
1. Direct Glare which is the annoying brightness of light in a person’s
normal field of vision.
2. Indirect or Reflected Glare which is much more serious and
difficult to control. Technically, reflected glare is a glossy object.
 Diffusenesspertains to the control of shadows cast by light.
Diffuseness is the degree to which light is shadowless and is
therefore a function of the number of directions to which light
collides with a particular point and the comparative intensities.
 Perfect Diffusion, which is rarely obtainable, would have equal
intensities of light clashing from all directions, therefore
producing no shadows
 Colorof lighting and the corresponding coloration of the object
within a space is an important factor of the quality of light.

 Thereare three characteristics that define a particular

coloration, they are:
 Hue. The quality or attribute by which we recognize and describe colors.
 Brilliance or Value. The difference between the resultant colors of the same
hue.
 Saturation or Chroma. The difference from the purity of the colors
 ESTIMATING ILLUMINATION AND BRIGHTNESS

 There are three types of luminance meters, namely:

1. The Comparator Type requires the operator to make a brightness
equivalence judgement between the target and the
background.
2. The Direct Reading Type is basically an illumination meter
equipped with a hooded cell arranged to block oblique light.
3. The Accurate Laboratory Instrument which is unsuitable for field
work.
 TheFootcandle (fc) which is the amount of light flux density, is
the unit of measure commonly used when describing the
amount of light in a room and is expressed in lumens per square
foot. On the other hand, the footlambert (fL), which is defined as
"the luminance of a surface reflecting, transmitting or emitting
one (1) lumen (lm) of illumination per square foot of area in the
direction being viewed is the conventional unit of brightness or
luminance”.
 In our study of light, we are interested in the amount of
light that falls on the areas we want to illuminate. We also
want to know the lumens per square foot or square meters
in a space. This quantity called light flux density is the
common term footcandle (fc) represented by the
following formula:
𝐿𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑠
𝐹𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑒 =
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎
 The
luminance or brightness of a diffusely reflecting surface is
equal to the product of illumination and the reflectance, thus;
𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 = 𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 × 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟
or
𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑠 (fL)= 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑠 × 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟
Metric Lighting Units

In the English system of measurements, the measure of

distance is in feet and the area is in square feet. Under the
System International (SI), otherwise known as the Metric
System, the unit of distance and area are expressed in
terms of meter and square meters respectively.
 Meanwhile, Luminous flux remains in lumens but
illumination or light flux is expressed in Lux, thus:
𝐿𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑠
𝐿𝑢𝑥 =
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑠𝑞. 𝑚.
Luminance or brightness in the metric system is expressed in
Lambert, which is defined as "the luminance or brightness of
a surface reflecting, transmitting or emitting one lumen per
square centimeter”.
The Watts per Square Meter.
Another method utilized in determining the illumination is
through the watts per square meter where the floor area is
computed from the outside dimensions of the building
excluding open porches.
COEFFICIENT OF UTILIZATION AND
MAINTENANCE FACTOR
 The usable initial footcandle or lux is equal to the footcandle produced reduced
by the coefficient of utilization.
 Initial is emphasized because the output of a light fixture is reduced with time as
the lamp fixture become old and dirty. Thus, lamp output normally drops and is
termed as Maintenance Factor (ml) and to find the maintained average
illumination, we reduce the initial illumination by the maintenance factor.
 The efficiency of a light fixture is equal the ratio of fixture output lumens to lamp
output lumens. What we need is to determine a number indicating the efficiency
of the fixture-room combination, or how a particular light fixture lights a particular
room. This figure normally expressed as a decimal value called coefficient of
utilization represented by letter cu.
𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑝 𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛× 𝑐𝑢
 𝐼𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 =
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎

𝐿𝑎𝑚𝑝 𝐼𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑠× 𝑐𝑢× 𝑚𝑓

 𝑀𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝐼𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 =
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎

 Lamp lumen therefore is simply the rated output of the lamp

MEASURING FOOTCANDLE
 In measuring illumination levels, the meter is held
horizontally with its sensitive surface and at least 30 cm.
from the body of the person holding the meter. It is also
suggested that the meter is placed on a table and read
from a distance to avoid obstruction or blocking the light.
 MEASURlNG REFLECTANCE
 Thereflectance of the materials such as walls, ceilings,
dividers, etc. can be measured in two methods using a
simple footcandle meter.
UNIFORMITY OF LIGHT

 The footcandle lighting calculations are made to determine the

average illumination in a room at the working level.
 This working level refers to a height about 75 centimeters above
the floor. This is approximately a desk height. Thus, enough
fixtures are used to give even room lighting. The average
illumination at the working level however, is directly related to
the maximum spacing of the light to the mounting height ratio
represented by:
𝑆
𝑀𝐻
 where: s = spacing of light fixture
mh = mounting height
 CLASSIFICATION OF THE LIGHTING SYSTEM

Lighting system is classified into four types, namely;

 Direct lighting
 Semi-direct lighting
 Semi-indirect lighting
 Indirect lighting
 Directlighting. A light is classified as direct lighting when
the light on the illuminated area is focused downward
coming directly from the lighting fixture.
 Semi direct lighting. When the predominant light on the
illuminated area is fed directly from the lighting units
wherein the greater amount of light is obtained from the
ceiling through reflection, it is classified as semi-direct
lighting.
 Semi-indirect lighting. A lighting arrangement wherein 5%
to 25 % of the light is directed downward with more than
half of the light focused upward and reflected from the
ceiling.
 Indirect lighting. A light is classified as indirect lighting
when it is diffused and reflected from a wide ceiling area.
This kind of lighting produces as soft and subdued effect
due to low brightness and absence of sharp shadows.
STREET LIGHTING

 Lighting Installation is defined as the whole of the equipment provided for lighting the
roadway comprising the lamps, luminaires, means of support and electrical including other
auxiliaries.

 Lighting System refers to an array of luminaires having a characteristic of light distribution.

 Luminaire is a housing for one or more lamps, comprising a body and any refractor, diffuser or
enclosure associated with the lamps.

 Road width is the distance between the edges of the road curbs measured at right angles to
the length of the roadway.

 Outreach is the distance measured horizontally between the outer of the column or wall face
or lamp post and the center of the luminaires.

 Overhang is the horizontal distance between the center of luminaires and the adjacent edge
of the road.

 Mounting height refers to the vertical distance between the center of the luminaire and the
surface of the roadway.

 Spacing is the distance between the successive luminaires in an installation.

Maximum light utilization. In order to attain the maximum
utilization of light from the fixtures, the luminaires should be
mounted under the following specifications:

Roadwidth Outreach
1.50 to 3.00m. 0.60 m.
3.00 to 9.15m. 1.50 m.
9.15 to 15.25 m. 3.00 m.
 Correct working voltage. Luminaires should be properly selected and mounted on a
location most feasible and effective with minimum cost.
 For street illumination, the following formula is commonly adopted:
𝐴𝑙 × 𝑐𝑢 × 𝑚𝑓
𝐸=
𝑤×𝑑

𝐸×𝑤×𝑑
𝐴𝑙 =
𝑐𝑢 × 𝑚𝑓
 Where: E = the illumination in Lux (see Table 5-11)
Al = Average lumens
mf = is the maintenance factor which depends on the following:
a. Maintenance practice of the company
b. Operation of light sources at rate current and voltage
c. Regular replacement of depreciated lamps
d. Periodic cleaning of the luminaires either 0.8-0.9.
w = Width of the roadway
d = Distance between luminaires
cu = Coefficient of utilization which dependent on the types of fixtures,
mounting height, width of roadway and the length of mast arm or outreach.
Classification of Pedestrian Traffic

 Light
or No Pedestrian Traffic streets in residential or warehouse
areas and on express or elevated depressed roadways
 Medium Pedestrian traffic on a secondary business streets and
some industrial roads
 Heavy Pedestrian Traffic as on business streets