The demand for energy efficiency and optimised lighting has resulted in customised LED solutions being developed for every industry and application. Supermarket illumination and specifically aisle illumination have until recently been accomplished entirely with the use of linear fluorescent luminaires. These have been developed over decades to result in optimised high performing solutions which use around 60W/m and produce 3740lm/m. This equates to 63lm/W and produces around 680lx on the floor and 480lx on the shelves (for a 3.6m mounting height and 2m aisle width, 0.8MF).
The challenges involved in designing a cost effective LED solution which outperforms these fluorescent luminaires have only recently been overcome. This is due to the improvement in both lm/W and lm/R of suitable LEDs as well as with the development of advanced LED optics. These optics allow the LED luminaires to do what the fluorescents can’t: focus more light on the product and less light onto the floor and tops of the shelves. What’s required to do this is a batwing distribution with a high degree of nadir suppression. Two typical distributions of a high performing LED vs fluorescent luminaire are shown below.
The improved performance of LED vs Fluorescent can easily be seen by comparing their performances in a Relux simulation. It is clear that the LED luminaire places more of the available light on the shelves while wasting less on the floor and tops of the shelves. The ideal 1:1 ratio of lux on the floor and shelves can be achieved if the correct lens is selected for the application:
Many retailers also prefer a ‘continuous line of light’ which is deemed to be less distracting for the consumer. Luminaire designs should reduce glare to create a comfortable shopping environment.
LEDwise has a number of high-performing linear lighting products capable of producing 1000lx on both the floor and shelves (for a 3.6m mounting height and 2m aisle width) at 48W/m and 6570lm/m, which equates to over 135lm/W. Previously these lux levels were only achievable using 2 x 58W high performing fluorescent luminaires, consuming 85W/m. Numerous other power options and beam distributions are available. Simple attachment to P2000 trunking is via mounting clips and spring nuts, together with through connection of 220VAC via pre-installed connectors resulting in extremely quick installation.
Please contact our Technical team for more information on these innovative products.