Experiences of the intelligent road lighting

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Experiences of the intelligent road lighting
Henri Juslén Philips Lighting Pentti Hautala
SITO Oy Osmo Holmström Finnish Road
Administration Mika Saari Philips
Lighting Marjukka Eloholma Helsinki University
of Technology Liisa Halonen Helsinki University
of Technology  
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Content

• Why intelligent road lighting was installed
• System description
• User interface
• First year experiences
• Conclusions
• Future actions

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Why intelligent road lighting was installed?

• Background
• Over the past few years road and street
  authorities have dimmed or switched of road
  lighting at random.
• Goal
• The main purpose of this control system is to
  save electricity and maintenance costs but
  without losses in traffic safety.
• From lighting point of view this means providing
  the optimum luminance level in relationship to
  the actual need.
•  

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System description

• Altogether 492 luminaires are controlled via the
  power line (PLC).
• The controlling method is voltage dimming by
  triac.
• The luminaires have their own addresses, and they
  recognize their own command from power line.
• Addresses are on components, which are in
  luminaires or columns. Lamp situation (on, off,
  dimming , broken and blinking lamp, burning
  hours and connection failures) is sent to the
  Traffic Centre and to the maintenance company.  

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System description
The luminance meter measures the luminance of the
road surface.
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System description
Traffic monitoring system gives information about
traffic situation.
Sensors under the road surface
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System description
The weather station monitors weather conditions
(road surface wet, semi wet, dry, snowy).
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System description
Software, (developed by Edelcom Ltd and Doston
Oy), calculates the correct dimming level for the
luminaires and controls the luminaires
automatically.
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User interface
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User interface
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User interface
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First year experiences
                         
 

• In winter the switch-on and -off of the lamps
  occurred at the time of maximum traffic volumes
• Control system has begun to decrease the power of
  the lamps immediately after the switch-on
• During the times of low traffic at night the
  lamps have been burning at the minimum level

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First year experiences
                         
 
Measured average daily power ( of the maximum)
during Jan-Feb 2006
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Conclusions

• With this type of road lighting control system it
  is possible to achieve considerable savings in
  energy costs without decreasing the quality of
  road lighting.
• Considerable savings in energy use can be
  obtained especially by decreasing the road
  luminance level when the traffic volume is low.
• To get maximum benefit better optimization
  protocols are needed
•  

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Future actions
ValOT-project at HUT Lighting Laboratory The
objective of the project is to develop the
quality, safety and energy-efficiency of road
lighting through development of intelligent road
lighting control and operation of the control
system in different traffic and weather
conditions. The aim is to find basis and
guidelines for the dynamic changing of the road
lighting.   In this Ring Road III information
of the road surface weather conditions are used
in the control of the road luminance level. In
the ValOT-project luminance measurements on the
road are made together with visibility
measurements to study the choice of the luminance
levels. With these measurements the effect of
weather on visual conditions in driving will be
investigated.
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Experiences of the intelligent road lighting
Henri Juslén Philips Lighting Pentti Hautala
SITO Oy Osmo Holmström Finnish Road
Administration Mika Saari Philips
Lighting Marjukka Eloholma Helsinki University
of Technology Liisa Halonen Helsinki University
of Technology