Thursday, May 29, 2014

Street Lighting In Modern Times

By Marci Glover


It is common for streets to have tall posts on which bulbs are mounted to facilitate vision over a wide field of view. Methods are always put in place to control the bulbs in street lighting. Photocells that sense light are in modern days the main components of lamps. They are charged with the responsibility of putting on the lights when needed and off when not needed. In the past, solar dials assisted in doing this job. The poles on which the sources are mounted are always interconnected using cables.

Before the invention of incandescent lamps, candles were used in cities. Later, lamps needed a lamplighter tour every night to light all the lamps. This were then improved such that, an ignition device was used. It could strike the flame on its own provided the gas supply was active.

Arc lamps were later developed as the first ever form of lighting the streets electrically. A carbon arc lamp using alternating current ensured that the two electrodes were used at the same rate. This type of lighting was used for lighting a departmental store in Paris. The problem with arc lights was that it emitted intense and harsh light which was a source of discomfort in the streets. Worse still, maintaining them required a lot of time and resources. They became obsolete when cheap, bright and reliable incandescent bulbs came into use.

Incandescent lamps were often operated at a very high voltage in circuits arranged in series. The popularity of series circuits was influenced by the fact that the higher voltage in the circuits gave out more photons for every watt used. This arrangement also made it easy to control all bulbs in the district.

Currently, high intensity discharge lamps are used in lighting the streets. They are in most cases high pressure sodium lamps. They give out very large amounts of illumination while using little amounts of power. They are, however, inappropriate for lighting at night compared to white light. White light has been proven to help drivers see better at night, and react to brake faster than pressured sodium lamps.

New technologies for street illumination like induction lights produce white light that gives high levels of lumen. This makes it possible for illumination that requires less power and lumen to substitute current ones. Lack of official specifications on the prescribed lights has made it impossible for most municipalities to endorse them. LED luminaries are being widely accepted owing to test confirmations that they are more energy-efficient and perform well.

A new harmonized measurement system has been invented. It operates using two concurrent measuring systems. This was seen as being a noble invention since less energy is spent compared to earlier methods. The cost of measurement is greatly reduced. It is possible to measure three light pollution properties; glare, trespass and glow, using this method. It is also practical to assign a value to the performance of current and future lighting applications and designs for the sake of cutting down the amount of light crossing the borders of any property.

It is important to illuminate the streets since doing so prevents occurrence of accidents and improves safety. Illuminating the streets can, however cause accidents and pollution if it is not properly implemented. Accidents likely to arise include; loss of night vision, electrocution due to stray voltage and collisions due to bad lighting.




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