Modular V Sealed For Life | Maintaining Ex Lighting | Environmental Impact – Part 3

Published 11 Nov 2019

Modular VS Sealed For Life

Modular V Sealed For Life

Maintaining Ex Lighting

Part 3 – Environmental Impact

Environmental Impact

In this four-part series, Raytec compare ‘modular’ and ‘sealed for life’ LED Ex luminaires, and how the design and certification of these different approaches impacts how easily maintenance can be carried out.

In the penultimate part of the blog series now with the knowledge that a sealed for life luminaire needs to go back to the manufacturer for maintenance, Raytec now are going to consider the environmental impact; an increasing global concern.

Sealed for Life Luminaire

When a luminaire is sent back to the manufacturer for repair sometimes this isn’t possible as investigating the problem may be impossible without damaging it. Returning is more likely to be for fault identification purposes (and whether it can be covered under warranty). Usually in this scenario a brand-new unit will be offered with the existing housing scrapped regardless of whether the fault is due to a manufacturing or user error

Logistically it can be quite challenging shipping the luminaire and also have an impact on environmental footprint depending on the distance between where the ex lighting is installed and the location of the manufacturer. The best case is that the manufacturer has a local repair centre (to reduce shipping distance), but with many manufacturers the luminaire will have to be returned to a single global location.

Modular Luminaire

A modular luminaire has a lesser environmental impact then that of a sealed luminaire. This is because the components can be interchanged and a PSU failure doesn’t mean the whole luminaire is useless. There isn’t the need to return the luminaire to the manufacturer as once the faulty component is recognised the PSU from the unit can be removed in-situ.

The faulty PSU can then be returned to the manufacturer to identify the exact cause of failure and for warranty claims. This reduces the environmental impact as it is smaller just to return the PSU instead of the who and the ability to keep spare parts also means that the rig won’t be left without light

With a greater understanding of the environmental cost associated with maintenance, our next and final episode will round off by considering the costs associated with maintenance and luminaire design.

Further Reading

Modular V Sealed For Life | Maintaining Ex Lighting | What Is The Difference? – Part 1

Modular V Sealed For Life | Maintaining Ex Lighting | Downtime – Part 2

Modular V Sealed For Life | Maintaining Ex Lighting | Cost – Part 4

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