IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS IN ELECTRICAL LIGHTING DESIGN:

The following are some of the definitions which we come across in the design of electric lighting
scheme.

1) UTILIZATION FACTOR:

Utilization Factor or Co-efficient of utilization. It may be defined as “the ratio of total lumens received on
the working plane to the total lumens emitted by the light source”.i.e.

Utilization factor =Lumens received on the working plane/Lumens emitted by the lamp

FACTOR EFFECTING UTILIZATION FACTOR:

Type of light, light fitting, Colour surface of walls and ceiling, mounting height of lamps, Area to be
illuminated

Its value lies between 0.4 and 0.6 for direct fittings it varies from 0.1 to 0.35 for indirect fittings

2) Depreciation or Maintenance factor

It may be defined as “the ratio of illumination under normal working condition to the illumination when
everything is clean or new” i.e.

D.F = Illumination under normal working conditions / Illumination when everything is clean.

The maintenance factor is based on how often the lights are cleaned and replaced. It takes into account
such factors as decreased efficiency with age, accumulation of dust within the fitting itself and the
depreciation of reflectance as walls and ceilings age. For convenience, it is usually given as three
options:

Good = 0.70

Medium = 0.65

Poor = 0.55

3) WASTE LIGHT FACTOR:

When a surface is illuminated by a number of lamps, there is certain amount of wastage due to
overlapping of light waves. Its value will be between 1.2 to 1.5

4) REFLECTION FACTOR:

It may be defined as “the ratio of luminous flux leaving the surface to the luminous flux incident on it”.
Its value will be always less than 1

5) ABSORPTION FACTOR:

When the atmosphere is full of snow or smoke fumes, it absorbs some light. Hence absorption factor
may be defined as “the ratio of net lumens available on the working plane after absorption to the total
lumens emitted by the lamp”. Its value varies from 0.5 to 1
6) LUMINOUS EFFICIENCY OR SPECIFIC OUT PUT

It may be defined as “the ratio of number of lumens emitted to the electric power intake of a source” its
unit is lumen/watt (lm/W)

7) SPACING TO MOUNTING HEIGHT RATIO (SHR)

The Spacing to Mounting Height Ratio (SHR) is the spacing between luminaires divided by their height
above the horizontal reference plane.

8) ROOM INDEX:

The room index is a ratio, describing how the room's height compares to its length and width. It is given
by:

Where L is the length of the room, W is its width, and Hm is the mounting height above the work plane.

LUMEN METHOD STEPS:

1. Find required lux level

2. Select luminaire

3. Determine room index

4. Determine Number of Fixtures

N= number of lamps required.

E = illuminance level required (lux)

A= area at working plane height (m2)

F = average luminous flux from each lamp (lm)

UF= utilization factor,

MF= maintenance factor,

5. Determine Minimum spacing between luminaire

Minimum spacing = SHR * Hm

Hm= Mounting height

SHR= Space to height ratio.

6. Determine Number of required rows of luminaire along width of the room

Number of required rows= width of the room/ Minimum spacing

7. Determine Number of luminaire in each row

Number of luminaire in each row= Total luminaire / Number of rows

8. Axial spacing along luminaire

Axial spacing= Length of the room/ Number of luminaire in each row

9. Transverse spacing between luminaire

Transverse spacing = Width of the room/ Number of luminaire in each row

EXAMPLE 1:

An office has length of 20m, width=10m, height=3m.

1) Ceiling to desk height is 2m.

2) Area to be illuminated to a general is 250 lux using twin lamp 32 watt CFL Luminaire with a SHR of
1.25.

3) Each lamp has an initial output of 85 lumen per watt.

4) Maintenance factor is 0.63, Utilization factor is 0.69

Design a lighting system for this office