Factory high bay light: the task sets the level
In a factory the lighting serves a task, and the task has a level, a colour requirement and a glare limit. A production hall lit to a warehouse standard is a hall where nobody can inspect a part.
Specification
What the sheet states for this build, and what is confirmed per project.
| Topic | What the sheet states |
|---|---|
| Light level | From the task at the working plane, on the calculation |
| Uniformity | Across the task area, not across the hall |
| Colour rendering | Raised where colour or finish is inspected |
| Glare | UGR limit for the sight line in the hall |
| Optic | Wide for benches, narrow for high bays and aisles |
| Control | Zoning by process, plus daylight where it applies |
| Mounting | Bracket, chain or trunking, per roof structure |
| Ingress protection | Confirmed per model on the current data sheet |
| Data sheet | Current revision, naming the delivered model |
A factory usually needs two levels in one building: the production task and the circulation around it. Design them separately and the total is lower than lighting the whole hall to the higher one.
The task, not the floor area
A production hall is a set of tasks with circulation between them. Lighting the whole floor to the inspection level is the commonest over specification in industrial work, and it is paid for twice: in hardware and in running cost for the life of the building.
The alternative is zoning. Task light over the benches, a lower general level over the aisles, and separate switching so the second shift can light only the line that is running. That is a control decision as much as an optical one.
- The task level required at each work position.
- The circulation level the site is happy with.
- Whether the zones can be switched separately.
Colour where it matters
Colour rendering is a task requirement in a factory and a comfort requirement almost nowhere else. Where a part is inspected for colour, finish or defect, a low rendering index hides exactly the faults the inspection exists to find.
Ask for the rendering index at the level the inspection needs, and check it on a sample in the hall rather than on a swatch in an office. Colour temperature consistency between batches matters too, because a hall lit in stages shows the difference.
- The rendering index the inspection actually needs.
- A sample unit viewed in the hall before the order.
- Batch consistency, if the hall is being done in phases.
The retrofit sequence
A factory retrofit is a scheduling problem. The hall cannot stop, so the work happens in shutdowns, at weekends or line by line. That shapes the quotation: pre-assembled units, consistent fixing details, and a plan that does not need the roof cleared for a week.
It also shapes the risk. The old installation usually has a maintenance factor that was never achieved, so the measured level before the work is a poor baseline. Model the design and measure after, rather than promising a percentage saving against a number nobody recorded.
- The planned shutdown windows, and the access equipment.
- A measured baseline, taken before anything is removed.
- The commissioning record, kept for the next retrofit.
Before the order
- Two levels: task and circulation, designed and switched separately.
- Rendering index for inspection tasks, checked on a sample in the hall.
- Baseline measurement before removal, so the result can be shown.
- Build
- Factory high bay light
- Line
- High bay lights
- Ask for
- Specification sheet, photometric file, aiming drawing
Send the space, get the sheet.
Build, specification sheet and the option list for each line item, in one reply.