Dresden International Airport

Lighting conversions from T5 to LED at Dresden International Airport.

Existing lighting systems at the terminals in Dresden International Airport consist of many T5 luminaires, running 24 hours a day every day of the year. Certainly a suitable target for LED conversion. The facility management sought to minimize any new investment costs so replacing the existing luminaires with entirely new LED luminaires was out of the question, especially as the existing luminaires were specially developed for the airport itself. So it was clear from the beginning that the fluorescent lamps needed to be replaced with LED lamps. So the question really was regarding which LED light source would be the right one for he project. The airport consulted with Mr. Rodmann from LEDS CHANGE THE WORLD GmbH, which specializes in applications concerning interchangeable LED light sources. A decision was quickly made regarding the high-quality T5 LED conversion solutions from HADLER in contrast to the many more conventional LED retrofit lamp solutions available.

Many available T5 LED retrofit lamps are actually not good replacements for T5 lamps.

The market is flooded with cheap LED retrofit light sources that are supposed to replace T5 and T8 flourescent tubes. Why cannot any LED retrofit tube be used as a replacement for existing fluorescent tubes? It is not rally a simple answer. Many people do not understand that the luminaire housing, the light source, and the ballast all together form a perfectly integrated system. In terms of the lighting technology and efficacy. If you use LED light sources instead of fluorescent lamps, you intervene in this balanced system. LED retrofit lamps differ and have considerable weaknesses.Often neglected and not mentioned is the fact that conventional LED retrofit lamps only emit a maximum of 180 ° light downwards. Luminaire systems that have been optimized for 360 ° radiating T5 or T8 lamps are not optimized to work with 180 ° radiation. At Dresden International Airport, the existing luminaire housings were designed for a 360 ° light source using a double reflector made of aluminum a

Placed at the top of the luminaire. It was open at the bottom and the lamp itself is screened by a perforated plate. The light from a T5 lamp is reflected and dispersed widely to be then directed downward. The system works efficiently and a maximum amount of light illuminaites the spaces. With a 180 ° retrofit lamp, light no longer radiates upwards onto the reflectors and the room is far from optimally illuminated. In addition, LED retrofit tubes often have a shadow of at least 5 cm at both ends due to the electronics being located there. This results in unsightly shadows and visual reductions. Driver incompatibility can also be a major issue.

Compatibility of drivers: With LED retrofit lamps that have integrated drivers, often they are not really compatible with the ECG already installed in the luminaire housing. The consequences: are a system that cannot really run efficiently as the luminaire does not provide a full luminous flux and in some scenarios considerable premature failures. It is questionable whether the relevant ECG can still be obtained in event of a failure. Replaced ECGs would often not be equivalent thus offering different characteristics regarding performance. Efficacy and even differing lighting distributions and the ECG will still use significant power that might not match. Retrofit LED tubes made of plastic: Older and particularly inexpensive retrofit tubes consist of mainly plastic. Long-term tests have shown that plastic retrofit tubes can deform significantly over time due to the system heat that occurs. This can ultimately cause the retrofit lamp to fall out of the sockets or turn yellow – reducing efficacy, possibly changing colour temperatures, and CRI so even visual appearance. Additional light might not look particularly good in these scenarios. For these reasons, an apparently inexpensive investment in cheap LED retrofit lamps might quickly become rather expensive and less than optimal.

Playing it safe with LED conversion solutions.

Plenty of reasons were found for Dresden International Airport to rely on a high-quality solutions “made in Germany”: with T5 LED conversion kits using an external state-of-the-art driver from HADLER. Such a conversion solution has many advantages:

Optimal lighting technology application: The T5 LED light source, which was specially designed by HADLER for upgrading T5 and T8 lamps to LED technology, imitates the characteristics of a fluorescent lamp with almost 330 ° radiation. Therefore, it can also be used in direct-indirect lighting systems such as grid lights - and in the housing of Dresden International Airport. Glass tubes with an optically effective coating mean no bright LED spots can be seen and the lamp is 100% homogeneously illuminated. Since the driver is not built into the lamp tube, there are no annoying dark spots at the ends of the lamp. External control gears ensure optimal system efficiency: The LED driver is not integrated in the lamp as in a retrofit lamp, but is available externally – and this is why it is called a "conversion solution". When converting to the T5 LED lamp, the existing ECG is removed from the luminaire housing and replaced with the new LED driver from HADLER. This ensures that the luminaire, lamp and LED driver system is always perfectly integrated and runs at the best energy-efficiency. Customizable luminous flux and dimming: The HADLER T5 LED light source is available in all common T5 or T8 lengths, in two different luminous fluxes: high output (HO) or high efficiency (HE). There is also an LED replacement from HADLER for T5 seamless lamps, the SLS LED lamp. It is also possible to set a luminous flux that is optimized to the customer's specific requirements. This variety of lengths and flexibility of luminous fluxes does not exist with any other T5 LED lamp solutions. In conjunction with an external DALI driver, the T5 LED lamp can also be perfectly dimmed without flicker from 1-100%.

> to the he product page for T5 LED / SLS LED

An additional important factor: concerning certification for luminaires and light sources.

Many facility operators and electrical installers are not aware that the CE approval for the entire lighting system expires each time the luminaire is tampered with. It is not sufficient that only the LED lamp itself is certified. It is imperative that the entire system of the luminaire housing with LED lamp and LED driver is checked again for CE conformity. For this new approval, planners must contact the manufacturers. However, communication and the certification process often are difficult, especially with respect to manufacturers from the Far East. In the case of Dresden International Airport, the new registration went quite smoothly, especially considering it is part of the HADLER service package when purchasing a T5 LED or SLS LED upgrade solution. Every type of luminaire from the airport was examined, i.e. the 1-lamp and the 2-lamp 39W solutions, then samples installed on-site followed by internal tests at the HADLER headquarters in Felsberg, resulting in new CE manufacturer's declarations being created. The T5 LED solution pays for itself quickly so the goal of the airport is to have significantly less electricity costs as  as soon as possible. Low investment costs manage to convert 1420 of the 39W light sources to the latest cost-effective LED technology. In contrast to existing T5 lighting solutions, the LED upgrade conversion solution can save customers more than 62% of energy costs over the lifecycle of the system. With ratios of the total costs over the lifetime being relatively similar, i.e. the costs including energy, maintenance and investment.: The LED solution incurs only 46% of the costs of the original flourescent T5 systems. Investment in the HADLER T5 LED conversion solution can often pay for itself after only 1.1 years.

Climate-friendly and future-proof solutions with T5 LED upgrade conversions are environmentally responsible.

The Hadler T5 LED solutions supports the efforts of Dresden International Airport to be a pioneer in sustainability together with Leipzig - Halle Airport. Saving energy means also reducing CO2 emissions by over 62%. Savings from the T5 LED lamp with 160 lm / W provide remarkable energy efficiency without sacrificing performance. Replacing only the light source instead of the entire luminaire also saves valuable raw materials. The glass tube of the T5 LED lamp can be recycled and in the future HADLER will offer to take back used up LED light sources  in order to recycle them. However, the customer should not have to resort to this service anytime soon as the HADLER lamps have a lifespan of 50,000 hours (L80B10 at -20 ° C to + 60 ° C) and even 100,000 hours (at 60 ° C) for the LED Driver. With this conversion solution, it is possible to replace the LED lamp at any time. This can be a definitive advantage in the event of a defect or if the light color needs to be altered. It is much faster and more environmentally friendly than replacing luminaires.

The „aha“ effect: as there is no significant difference the conversion process, for the Terminal building itself things were quite simple: the old ECGs were replaced with LED drivers, wired and the T5 LED lamp used. Finally, the lamp received a sticker for the new approval with the new lamp in operation in under 10 minutes! After a first trial replacement of the lamps, the facility managers were amazed: distinguishing where the old fluorescent lamps were installed, and where are the new T5 LED lamps? "We are really satsified as you really cannot tell the two lamp types apart -the lighting effect looks absolutely identical, ”according to an amazed Steffen Wicke, who is the responsible project manager.