Title: Zero net power LED lighting system design

Authors: John P.T. Mo; Ganesh Sen

Addresses: RMIT University, Bundoora East Campus, Plenty Road, Bundoora, Vic 3083, Australia ' EcoRefurbishment Pty Ltd, 138 Nangathan Way, Croydon Hills, Vic 3136, Australia

Abstract: Although the natural circuitry for LED is DC, LED lighting system design has been restricted to match the supply requirements of AC power from the grid. The DC converter circuit on each LED light fitting is not only energy inefficient, it is also the most unreliable element in the lighting system. In a pilot research project to investigate the feasibility of DC lighting systems, an innovative approach has been taken to re-design the lighting circuit in DC mode using existing AC wiring. The intelligent control system manages power supply between a bank of batteries, solar power or grid power back up. The batteries are charged when solar power is available. Further improvement of the circuit control using pulse width modulation operation modes has been demonstrated. Experiments showed that the new LED lighting system was able to deliver 65% total energy reduction.

Keywords: zero net power; LED lighting; lighting system design; retrofitted lighting; DC lighting; circuit control; renewable energy circuits; power data logging; system reliability; light emitting diodes; intelligent control; batteries; solar power; solar energy; grid power backup; pulse width modulation; energy reduction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJASM.2013.053808

International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 2013 Vol.6 No.2, pp.203 - 214

Received: 18 Sep 2012
Accepted: 06 Dec 2012
Published online: 18 Jul 2014 *

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