STREET LIGHTING

MODULE 4
 SYLLABUS

Design of Outdoor Lighting: Street Lighting - Types of street and

their level of illumination required, Terms related to street lighting,
Types of fixtures used and their suitable application, Various
arrangements in street lighting, Requirements of good street lighting,
Selection of lamp and luminaire, Calculation of illumination level
available on road. Tunnel Lighting, Calculation of their wattage and
number and their arrangement, Calculation of space to mounting
height ratio. Flood Lighting: Terms related to flood lighting, Types
of fixtures and their suitable applications, Selection of lamp and
projector, recommended method for aiming of lamp, Calculation of
their wattage and number and their arrangement, Calculation of
space to mounting height ratio.
 NEED FOR STREET LIGHTING

• The main purpose of street lighting is to enable the

road users to see accurately and easily the carriage
way and the immediate surrounding in darkness.
• Majority of road accidents are caused in night and
the poor lighting is the main cause.
• Improved visibility at night by means of artificial
lighting, lessens the strain on driving and ensures
comfort.
• The drivers feel more confident in driving under
proper street lighting
• With better lighting , the speed of traffic generally
improves and traffic flow conditions improves.
• Highway lighting is particularly more important at
intersections, bridge site, level crossings and places
where there is restriction of traffic movements.
• On urban roads where the density of population is
high, road lighting has other advantages like feeling
of security and protection.
 OBJECTIVES

The primary objectives of street lighting are

• Street lighting is required to increase or enhance
the community value of the street.
• Street lighting is provided along the road sides to
make traffic and obstructions on the road clearly
visible in order promote safety and convenience.
• Street lights also make the street more attractive.
• Street lighting improves the traffic speed and the
traffic flow conditions.
PRINCIPLE OF STREET LIGHTING

For designing the street lighting scheme, the following

two general principles are usually employed −
• Diffusion Principle
• Specular Reflection Principle
 DIFFUSION PRINCIPLE

• In the diffusion principle of design of street lighting, the

lamps fitted with suitable reflectors are used. The design of
the reflectors is such that they direct the light downwards
and spread it as uniformly as possible over the surface of
the road.
• To avoid the glare, the reflectors are made to have a cut-
off between 30° to 45° so that the lamp filament is not
visible except below the lamp.
• The diffusing nature of the road surface causes the
reflection of a certain proportion of the incident light in the
direction of the observer, and therefore, the road surface
appears bright to the observer.
• The illumination at any point on the road surface is
calculated by applying point to point or inverse-square
law method. Over certain proportions of the road the
surface is illuminated from two lamps and the resultant
illumination is the sum of the illuminations due to each
lamp.
 SPECULAR REFLECTION PRINCIPLE

• In case of specular reflection principle, the reflectors are

curved upward so that the light is thrown on the road at
a very large angle of incidence.
• It is observed that a motorist requires to see objects
about 30 metres away.
• Thus in Fig. 7.51 the observer is shown about 30
metres from the object. Much of the light from the
lamp L3 is not reflected towards the observer,
whereas most of the light from lamps L1 and L2 is
reflected towards him.
• Thus the object will appear
as shade against the bright
road surface due to lamps at a
longer distance.
• The requirement of a pedestrian, who requires to
see objects in his immediate neighbourhood, is also
fulfilled in this method as some light from the lamps
falls directly downwards.
• This method of street lighting is only suitable for
straight sections of the road.
• This method is more economical also as compared
to the diffusion method of lighting but it suffers from
the disadvantage that it produces glare for the
motorists.
ADVANTAGES OF STREET LIGHTING

The advantages of the street lighting are given as

follows −
• Street lighting creates a pleasant atmosphere
during night time.
• Street lighting prevents the illegal works and anti-
social activities on the roads.
• Street lighting reduces the accident rate during
night.
• Street lighting also helps in reducing the crimes at
night, etc.
 DISADVANTAGES OF STREET
LIGHTING
The main disadvantages of the street lighting are as
follows −
• It consumes large amount of electricity.
• Sometimes it is an expensive process.
• During installation and maintenance, it may cause
traffic jam, etc.
FACTORS AFFECTING NIGHT VISIBILITY

1. Amount and distribution of light flux from the

lamps.
2. Size of object.
3. Brightness of object.
4. Brightness of the background
5. Reflecting characteristics of the pavement
surface.
6. Glare on the eyes of the driver.
7. Time available to see an object.
 DEFINITIONS

• Spacing
Spacing is the distance, measured along the center
line of the road, between successive luminaires in an
installation. To preserve longitudinal uniformity, the
space-height ratio should generally be greater than 3.
• Outreach
Outreach is the horizontal distance between the
center of the column and the center of the luminaire
and is usually determined for architectural aesthetic
considerations
 • Overhang
Overhang (see figure 2) is the horizontal distance between the center
of a luminaire mounted on a bracket and the adjacent edge of a
carriage way. In general, overhang should not exceed one-fourth of
the mounting height to avoid reduced visibility of curbs, obstacles, and
footpaths
• Mounting Height
The vertical distance between the center of a luminaire and the
surface which is to be illuminated, e.g. the road surface.
• Up cast angle/Tilt angle
The angle by which the axis of the fixing spigot entry is tilted above the
horizontal when the luminaire is installed.
• Pole set back
Set back is the horizontal distance between the face of a light pole and
the edge of traveled way.
A setback of 3 foot to 4 foot works well for many applications.
Light from luminaires at extremely short setbacks grazes the surface and
enhances its texture.
Light from luminaries at Long setbacks (Luminaries too far from a vertical
surface) cause shadows at low levels.
Longer setbacks may be required for taller surfaces.
As setback (or spacing) distance increases, Light levels and uniformity
decrease.
 LED LIGHT AS STREET LIGHT
• Advantages
1. Lower consumption of energy-Most of the LED lighting retrofits
are said to dramatically reduce the energy used.
2. Has predictable and long lifetime-The lifespan of the LED
street light fixture is between 5 to 10 years. This lifespan is 2 to 4
times the lifespan of the current prevalent HPS. The LED products
do not fail like the other light sources or barring catastrophic
failure of the other electronic or mechanical components of the
LED fixtures. The lifetime of a product is typically set by
decreasing luminous output by 30 percent.
3. LEDs color rendering is more accurate-The color rendering
index of the LEDs is basically the ability of the light source to
reproduce colors of the objects correctly in comparison with an
ideal light source. An improved color rendering index makes it
simpler for drivers to easily recognize the objects.
4. You can quickly turn on and off-Unlike the high intensity
discharge lamps (HID) and fluorescent lamps such as metal
halide, mercury vapor as well as sodium vapor lamps, it takes
time to heat up once the switched in turned on. The LEDs usually
come with full brightness instantly.
5. Instant restart-Unlike the metal halide, sodium vapor and
mercury vapor lamps, the LEDs do not have any problem when
restarting immediately that maybe due to inadvertent turn off or
brief power failure.
6. RoHS compliance-The LEDs do not contain any lead or
mercury and thus they do not release any poisonous gasses
once they get damaged.
7. They are less attractive to the nocturnal insects-Nocturnal
insects are usually attracted to ultraviolet light that is emitted
from the many conventional light sources.
8. They are optically effective lighting equipment-Some types of
the street lights normally use reflectors in order to capture the
light emitted from the lamp. Reflectors do absorb some light
even under the best conditions. Also the fluorescent lamps
having phosphor coated bulbs do absorb some light that is
reflected back by the reflector. Refractor is a glass cover and it
helps to project the light down on the street in a good pattern
although some light goes to waste as they are directed up to
the sky. The LED lamp panels can send light in any desired
direction without necessarily using a reflector.
9. Reduced glare-Directing the emitted light downward
reduced the amount of light which is directed into driver’s eyes.
Another advantage is higher light output even if temperature is
low.
• Disadvantages
1. Most people do not like the ambiance usually
produced by the LEDs with color temperatures of 4000
Kelvins or higher. It is often called prison lighting or
zombie.
2. The initial cost of the LED street lighting is high and this
makes it to take several years of savings you have
made from energy to pay for that.
3. By the Purkinje effect, the dark-adapted human eye is
highly sensitive to green and blue light that is emitted
from the street LED lights in large amounts. This
magnifies the effects of light pollution which is
commonly known as sky glow.
4. The increase in the green and blue content of the
artificial sky glow comes from the widespread of the
LED lighting that is likely to increase the impacts on
nocturnal animal behaviors as well as bird migration.
 LIGHTING SCHEMES

[Link]- sided installation.

[Link]- sided Staggered.
[Link]- sided Coupled. (opposite)
[Link] or Double row. (median and opposite)
[Link] installation.(double david staggered)
 LAMPS USED IN STREET LIGHTING
[Link] Halide Street Lights : Metal halide lamps/bulbs are mainly used in
streetlights, parking lot lights, and stadium lights. They are very bright in color
and contribute to a lot of light pollution. They are fairly efficient. They
produce very white light and have good color performance/rendering,
meaning that objects under these lights look their true color.

2. High Pressure Sodium (HPS) Street Lights :The high pressure sodium lamp
(HPS) is the most commonly used street light in many countries throughout
the world. It produces bright light by electricity via mixture of gases, which
produces light. The lamp itself is much preferable because it requires very
little/less maintenance. These lamps are fairly efficient. They take few
minutes to turn on completely and produce a yellow-orange kind of glow.

3. Low Pressure Sodium (LPS) Street Lights :The low pressure sodium (LPS)
lamp also works like the HPS light. Instead of producing pure white light (all
the seven colors of the rainbow), LPS lamps produce exclusively
yellow/warm yellow light. While this light is very efficient, it takes few minutes
for the bulb to turn on completely. The light is very yellow-orange in color
[Link] Emitting Diode (LED) Street Lights:LED technologies have
developed rapidly in the last 5-6 years and now these bulbs are also
being integrated into outdoor lighting solutions. While the energy
savings are significant, LEDs emits a lot of blue/white blue light, excess
of which can have negative effects on human health and wildlife. In
combination with solar panels these lights can drastically minimize the
demand of electricity requirements.

5. Phosphor-Converted Amber (PCA) LED Street Lights :PCA LEDs have

only been on the market for the past 2-3 years. They use very less
energy and have good color representation, but are still rather
expensive. Few Indian cities like Bombay have already installed these
lights on their streets.

6. Narrow-Band Amber (NBA) LED Street Lights :Narrow-Band Amber

(NBA) LED Street lights are a brand new technology. Rather than
emitting pure white light (all the seven colors of the rainbow) and blue
light, they emit mostly in the yellow/ warm yellow color. They still have
good color representation, meaning that they do not make objects
look grey like LPS lamps can do. Because this technology is very much
new, these bulbs are not commonly available and as such, and are still
expensive. Overall they are very efficient.
REQUIREMENTS OF A GOOD STREET LIGHTING SYSTEM
BY, LUMEN METHOD CALCULATION

• 𝐸 =𝑛 × 𝑁 × 𝐹 × 𝑈𝐹 × 𝐿𝐿𝐹
𝐴

Where,
E – average illumination over the horizontal working plane. n – number
of lamps in each luminaire
N-Number of luminaire
F – lighting design lumens per lamp, i.e.. Initial bare lamp luminous flux
UF – utilization factor
LLF – light loss factor
A - area of the horizontal working plane.
[Link] the average illuminance on a road having 30 m
width and having street light span of 30 m. The luminary
used is a sodium vapour lamp luminaire and is arranged in
single side layout. The total light output of the luminaire is
5000 [Link] utilization factor is 0.8 and the
multiplication factor is 0.75.
• Average illuminance is given by the equation Eav = (n x N x UF x MF x Flux
output)/ A
• n – No. of lamps used in a luminaire =1 (Since single side layout is used)

• N – No. of luminare used in the span = 1 (Only one sodium vapour lamp is used)

• UF – Utilisation factor = 0.8

• MF – Multiplication factor = 0.75

• Effective area, Aeff = 30m (Span of street light) x 30m (width of road) = 900 m2

• Therefore Eav = 1*1*0.8*0.75*5000

900

= 3.33 lux
[Link] assembly line space has an area of 40 m long, 20 m wide
and 8 m in [Link] luminaires are suspended 1.5 m below
the ceiling level. The work table are placed 1 m high from
the floor level. Calculate the minimum number of luminaires
which must be installed to conform a recommended
SHRmax ([Link] ratio) of 1.5. Show the layout of the
luminaires. Also calculate the average illuminance achieved
with the minimum number of luminaires with each
luminaire fitted with 4 numbers of fluorescent lamps with an
initial lamp flux of 1350 lumen. Assume MF=0.77 and UF=
0.75
Hm = 8 - (1.5 + 1) = 5.5m
S/Hm specified= 1.5 max
Maximum spacing possible = 5.5*1.5=8.25
Minimum [Link] rows= width/spacing = 20/8.25= 2.42 (say 3)
[Link] lights in each raw= length/spacing=40/8.25= 4.84( say 5)
Minimum [Link] luminaires required=5 × 3 = 15
Average illuminance=

(4*1350*15*0.77*0.75)/(40*20)= 58.47 lux

New spacing along length=40/5= 8 m

New spacing along width=20/3=6.67 m
 8m

6.67 m
20 m

40 m
Street illumination level in Lux (E)=(Al x (cu x mf)) / (w
x d)
E = The illumination in Lux
w = Width of the roadway
d = Distance between luminaries
cu = Coefficient of utilization.
Al = Average lumens, Al = (E x w x d) / Cu x mf
The typical value of Al is
20500 lumens for 400 watts
11500 lumens for 250 watts
5400 lumens for 125 watts
The value of Al varies depending upon the type of
lamp specified.
mf : It is the maintenance factor (Normally 0.8 to 0.9)
[Link] Lamp Lumen for street Light Pole having
Road width of 7 meter, distance between two Pole is
50 meter, Maintenance factor is 0.9, Coefficient of
utilization factor is 0.29, light pedestrian traffic is
medium and Vehicular traffic is very light and Road is
concrete road. Recommended illumination (E) in Lux
is 6.46 per sq. meter.
w = 7.00 meters , d = 50 meters , mf = 0.9, cu = 0.29

To decide Lamp Watt It is necessary to calculate Average

Lumens of Lamp (Al).

Average Lumen of Lamp (Al)=(E x w x d) / Cu x mf

Al=(6.46x7x50)/(0.29×0.9)= 8662.83
Average lumen Lamp lumen of a 250 watts lamp is 11,500 lm
which is the nearest value to 8662.83 lumen.
Therefore, a 250 watts lamp is acceptable.

Let’s Computing for the actual illumination E for 250 Watt Lamp
Illumination (E)=(Al x (cu x mf)) / (w x d)

E= (11500×0.29×0.9) / (7×50) = 8.57 lumen per sq meter.

Conclusion:
Actual illumination (E) for 250 Watt is 8.57 lumen per sq meter
which is higher than recommended illumination (E) 6.46.
Hence 250 watt gives adequately lighting
[Link] Space between Two Pole of Street Light
having Fixture Watt is 250W ,Lamp output of the Lamp
(LL) is 33200 lumens , Required Lux Level (E) is 5 lux ,
Width of the road = 11.48 feet (3.5 M),Height of the pole
(H) = 26.24 feet (8 M) ,Coefficient of utilization (CU) =
0.18,Lamp Lumen Depreciation Factor (LLD) = 0.8 ,
Luminaries dirt Depreciation Factor (LDD) = 0.9
Luminaries Spacing (S) = (LLxCUxLLDxLDD) / (ExW)
Luminaries Spacing (S) = (33200×0.18×0.9×0.8) /
(5×11.48)
Luminaries Spacing (S) = 75 feet (23 Meters)
 MAIN FACTORS IN THE STREET
LIGHTING DESIGN SCHEME

[Link] Level Should be Proper

Luminance always influences the contrast sensitivity of the obstructions with
respect to the back ground.
If the street is brighter, then darker surroundings makes the car driver
adapted, unless the driver will be unable to perceive the objects in the
surroundings.
As per CIE(International commission on illumination), 5m away from the
road on both sides will be lit by Illuminance level at least 50% of that on the
road.
[Link] Uniformity must be Achieved
To provide visual comfort to the viewer’s eyes, enough luminous uniformity
is needed.
Luminous uniformity means the ratio between minimum luminance level to
average luminance level, i.e.
It is termed as longitudinal uniformity ratio as it is measured along the
line passing through the viewers position in the middle of the traffic
facing the traffic flow.
[Link] of Glare Limitation is always taken into Design Scheme
Glare means visual discomfort due to high luminance.
There are two types of glare created by the street light luminaires,
first type is disability glare and second type is discomfort glare.
Disability glare is not a strong factor, rather discomfort glare is a
common factor due to unplanned street lighting scheme.
[Link] Spectra for Visual Sharpness depends on the Proper
Luminaries .It is very much essential to make an object as per its size
and dimension.
[Link] of Visual Guidance is also an important factor
It helps a viewer to guess how far another object is from his position.
 TYPES OF ROAD TO IMPLEMENT
VARIOUS STREET LIGHTING DESIGN
SCHEMES
As per CIE 12 roads are broadly classified into five
types.
Type A of Street Lighting Design
➢Heavy and high speed traffic.
➢The roads are separated with the separators.
➢No crossing is allowed.
➢Controlled access
➢As the example: express ways.
Type B of Street Lighting Design
➢Heavy and high speed traffic.
➢Separate road for slow traffic movement or
pedestrians.
➢As the example: Trunk road.
Type C of Street Lighting Design
➢Heavy mixed traffic with moderate speed.
➢Rural and urban roads.
➢As the examples: Ring Road or Radial Road.
Type D of Street Lighting Design
➢Slow traffic and pedestrians’ purpose.
➢Road in the city or shopping center.
➢As the example: Shopping streets.
Type E of Street Lighting Design
➢Mixed Traffic with limited speed.
➢Connector road between residential areas.
➢As the example: Local street.
 Average Illuminance is calculated by Lumen method, where
maintenance factor (MF) and coefficient of utilization (COU) are
taken into account.

Where,
ΦL = Lumen of the Luminaire,
Aeff = effective road surface area under Illumination = Span × Width = S × W

N = Number of luminaire
Again,
N = 1 for single sided street lighting design and
N = 2 for double and staggered sided street lighting design,
n = number of lamps used in single luminaire = 1 for street lighting.
Coefficient of Utilization (COU) is the ratio of utilized lumen to the installed
lumen
• Define i)LLF ii) LLD iii)LDD (iv) [Link] write the relationship between them

• The product of LLD, LDD, and EF is referred to as the

light loss factor (LLF)