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Lighting DesignIndustrial Lighting Lux Levels and Foot Candles
When you’re converting your industrial area over to LED, its hard to know how much light is too little, too much or just right. Depending on your space and business environment, there are condition you should consider in your calculation:
clean or dusty environment
use of space
machinery and warehouse shelving block the path of light
amount of available sunlight in the interior space
Determining how much light you need is a calculation of foot candles. Foot candles is a standardized light measurement at a specific horizontal plane (floor or work bench height, for example). Knowing what your foot candle requirements are is fundamental in insuring proper light levels in your industrial space.
Foot candles and lux – What’s the difference?
Foot candles and lux are both light measurement readings. They are just represented by different scales. Essentially, 1 foot candle = 10.77 lux.
Enter Lux or Foot Candles
What’s the best way to calculate Foot Candles for Industrial Lighting?
The best way to obtain the desired foot candles in your factory or warehouse is to create a lighting plan. A lighting plan, like the one on the right, is a software representation of your indoor or outdoor space.
Using the software, fixtures are placed within the plan, at the correct mounting height. Then the model is calculated to produce a foot candle report for your space. It also shows how even the light is distributed through out the space.
The best part? You can get yours for free. LED Lighting Supply offers free Lighting Plan Layouts for our Commercial and Industrial customers.
Want a Free Industrial Manufacturing or Warehouse Lighting Plan?
Tell us about your project. We will get back to you quickly. (we will keep you and your information private)
Warehouse Lux Levels
So how many foot candles or lux do you need for your warehouse? That all depends on the purpose or use of your warehouse space. Larger items require less light, where as smaller items stored in the warehouse requires more light to make label reading easier.
Warehouse Foot Candle Requirements |
|
| Warehousing – Inactive Area | 5 |
| Warehousing – Active – Large Items | 10 |
| Warehousing – Active – Small Items | 30 |
| Shipping and Receiving Area | 30 |
| Maintenance and Shop Areas | 50 |
Foot Candles for Manufacturing
So how many foot candles or lux do you need for your manufacturing? That all depends on the purpose or use of your manufacturing space. The more complex the process, the more light is required to do it safely and accurately.
Manufacturing Foot Candle Requirements |
|
| Coarse Material Processing | 10 |
| Medium Material Processing | 30 |
| Fine Material Processing | 50 |
| Extra Fine Material Processing | 50-100 |
| Wrapping, Packaging and Labeling | 30 |
| Picking Stock | 30 |
| Simple Assembly | 30 |
| Difficult Assembly | 100 |
| Complicated Assembly | 100-300 |