CP Electronics' Rapid lighting control system has been used to enhance lighting performance and address variable usage patterns in newly refurbished office space and associated areas at Thorpe Park in Leeds.The office space at Thorpe Park comprises a mixture of open plan space and cellular offices. In most areas, staff divide their time between office-based tasks and duties on sites, so occupancy varies considerably through the course of the day.
To address this variable usage, consulting engineers Thornley & Lumb specified a control system that would make extensive use of occupancy detectors, so that lighting is only used when required. In this way, a comfortable lit environment is maintained while energy consumption and carbon emissions are minimised. The cellular office sensors also link to the room air conditioning unit and, after a given time, not only do the lights go out but the AC unit goes to set-back mode, thus saving energy.
In open plan areas, the lighting is divided into zones, each controlled by a PIR presence detector. These zones are also linked to adjacent real and notional corridors to ensure that egress routes are also lit while the spaces are occupied.
As well as energy savings and extended lamp life, Thorpe Park has also benefited from the inherent flexibility of the system, which allows the lighting to be re-configured through the software rather than requiring changes to the hard-wiring. However an engineer from CP electronics is required to make these specific software changes each time a revision to the system is made.
"Without the flexibility of the system this project would have been much more difficult to carry out," commented an engineer of electrical contractor L J Monks. "This is due to the ongoing design development changes to the original lighting scheme," he added.
