13 April 2011

Osram’s LEDs light street lamps in near-desert conditions

Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH of Regensburg, Germany says that its OSLON SSL LEDs have been installed in solar-powered street lamps In the extreme weather conditions of Ningxia, a central province in China close to Mongolia. LED street lighting are rapidly replacing traditional lighting fixtures because they can be applied in various conditions, says the firm. In particular, the OSLON SSL LED lamps withstand the challenging near-desert climate and provide stable performance and uniform illumination, fulfilling the requirements set out by the city and its planners, it adds.

The 174 new street lamps line the 2.6km of Da Xue Road in Shizhuishan City. As the city is close to the Gobi Desert, with an average of 28 days of fine weather per month and great temperature difference between day and night, the local government has decided to use solar energy to power the new street lamps.

Picture: GBT’s solar-powered streetlamps in Ningxia, powered by Osram’s OSLON SSL LEDs. Source: GBT / OSRAM.

“By using solar energy alone, the street lamps need to be of very low power consumption,” says Xin-jun Dang, managing director of street-lamp installer GBT Technologies (Shenzhen) Ltd. “With Osram’s OSLON SSL LED as light source, our solar-powered street lamps are estimated to save more than RMB300,000 per year in energy cost alone and reduce carbon dioxide emission by more than 53 tons annually,” he adds. “We are pleased to work with Osram, which provides an excellent application support to us. As the weather conditions are rather extreme, Osram’s LED simulation reports also help us make improvements to the designs before the fixtures are installed.”

The 1 W LEDs, measuring just 3mm x 3mm, deliver what is claimed to be outstanding efficiency at all currents. Combined with the thermal management and stable quality of the LEDs, the street lamps can perform well even when the temperature goes down to –20°C.

“Other than 80°-beam-angle LED used in this Ningxia streetlighting project, we also have 150° LEDs,” says Kai-chong Cheng, marketing director of Osram Opto Semiconductors Asia Ltd. “Both types of LED radiate light over a specified angle and the emission can be easily redirected via equipping with a lens or reflector, based on different design requirements from lighting fixtures,” he adds.

To further save energy and to provide comfortable illumination to the road, light sensors are installed to control the luminance. On a normal day, the lamps will work in full light for 5 hours and will be turned down to half light (half power) until dawn. On other occasions when light conditions vary, the luminance can be adjusted accordingly. Each lamp will hence consume only 80W, which is only one-fifth of a high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamp.

Tags: Osram LED street lamps

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