LED Explosion Proof Lights (Commercial & Industrial Safety)

Full Transcript

Kevin
This is Kevin Kohlert and Charlie with another episode of our LED Lighting podcast. And today we're going to talk about a specialty lighting known as explosion proof lighting or hazardous area lighting. It goes by a few names, but I just want to take it right off the top here. How's it going, Charlie?

Charlie
Doing well, Kevin, how are you doing?

Kevin
Good, good. Doing well. Thanks. Let's just start with the basics. You know what is explosion proof lighting?

Charlie
Yeah, sure, exposure proof lighting is lights that are gonna be placed in a highly hazardous environment where typically a flammable situation can occur. So all lights have heat, they have electrical, they have circuitry in them while you know, they're all very well contained and so on and, lights especially LED, outside of incandescent, since they were much cooler. There's still many situations where extra precaution has to be taken. So this category light is a regulated light. There's different classes and divisions which we're gonna talk about, which are standards and there's a certification process that these products need to undergo to be able to represent. They have these certain classes and divisions, for protections in these environments. So, it's, it's a very regulated product in that sense as opposed to, there's not quite as much in a typical, call it high bay or flood light for commercial and consumer use.

Kevin
Right. And you'd mentioned the different classes and divisions. My understanding is that Class 1, is your most flammable materials. That's like things like, you would probably find them in an oil rig or something. It's around petroleum. That's my understanding of Class 1, Division 1.

Charlie
Yeah, exactly. Class 1 is going to be in an environment where it's categorized as flammable gasses, vapors, or liquid. So there is something in the air that a spark, excess heat can, will ignite it. So you're in an environment that's enclosed, that's usually ventilated. That is you obviously need light in the area. So you're stepping up into these explosion proof lights. And then there's subcategories in these classes and those are known as divisions. And the division is division 1 and division 2, they exist in both classes, whereas a division 1 is something where the hazard is very likely. And division 2 is, it's not, well, you're in a hazardous situation, it's not as likely. So there are, it's a, you know, I'll call it a lighter duty product. A little bit more cost effective than like a class 1, division 1 product which is a pretty heavy duty, seriously safe, product.

Kevin
In class 2, division 1 and 2. Class 2, the difference that's more related to like, combustible dust. Like in a power plant you probably would find some.

Charlie
Yeah, power plants, think of like coal mines and you're mining coal, it's there. Dust is not going to ignite as easily as a vapor. So, it's basically small particles of solids, drifting along in the air. So while they are less flammable, so you can step down to a class 2 light. And then there's also divisions 1 and division 2, within the class 2 lights as well. And it's the same thing. It's, the division 1 is ‘a hazard is likely’, division 2 is, ‘it's not as likely in that environment’.

Kevin
All right, that's very helpful. Thanks. We talked about some of the applications like power plants. What are some of the most common applications? You see these explosion proof lights being used for.

Charlie
The most, the most common ones are, certainly gonna be the oil and gas rigs. They're gonna be mining applications and then also paint booths. Paint is very flammable. I mean, you wouldn’t think of it as something flammable, especially if you're working more with an oil based type paint. And some of these lackers that they're going to go on like automobiles, ship holes, it's something that, it's not your typical call, you know, wall paint that you're gonna put in your house, that's really not that flammable and often in a much more ventilated environment. So there's very little risk. So paint booths are probably some of the most common places that our products are sold to. And then there's also things that you really would never think of. That requires explosion proof lights. Think sawmills, with fine particles of sawdust, grain storage bins are frankly extremely flammable and you have to exercise some really extra care when you're opening them up. If there's stored grain. So these are some of the ones that you wouldn't think that would, you would need it, but they do and it's required.

Kevin
All right. Yeah. And I know that we offer different styles of explosion proof lights for, whether it's indoor or outdoor, for example, I see a lot of those square ceiling lights, the explosion proof high bays for indoor applications. You want to talk about the different styles of explosion proof lights?

Charlie
Yeah, so there's one of the more common is gonna be the high bay products. So this would be in a large area, that 20 to 50 ft tall ceiling. And that would be more of a use for say a round high bay. Once you get into some lower environments or maybe something that's mounted to the wall, inside or outside, you can go to our square and rectangular high bays / floodlights. So they're going to distribute the light in a pattern that is going to shine more specifically on an area, as opposed to broadcast it like a high bay. And then there's a kind of like a subcategory of that. And those are the linears, and the linears are, they're typically 4ft long, they're very narrow and they cast light in a wide angle. But they're used for even lower areas.

Paint booths are one of them where you can stick them in the corners and you can broadcast light in a long narrow space. So that's why you need that long narrow lamp, so it literally fits that space very, very well.

Kevin
Yeah. And it just seems like in general like many other areas of lighting, the switch to LEDs, I think explosive proof lights has been one of the areas that have lagged behind a little bit, but we're seeing a lot of industrial operations move towards this direction, wouldn’t you say so?

Charlie
Yeah, LEDs, I did want to touch quickly on the jelly jar light too that we carry and, that's more for a small area light, think, marine vessels, even paint booths where you maybe you have to illuminate the corners because you're not reaching the light. So anything, it literally looks like a jelly jar, they're small, compact. And you really use for infill lighting above doorways oftentimes. So those tend to be very popular for those.

And in terms of LED. Yeah, all lighting is moving towards LED. I mean, in almost every facet, whether it's general lighting in your home, commercial high bay, parking lot lighting, street lighting, automotive lighting. And it's certainly moving in that direction for explosion proof. And there's benefits to that, one is they're just smaller and they have less heat than trying to contain the heat of a metal Halide lamp that burns extremely hot that you're putting it in a very flammable environment LEDs since you don't, you're battling that temperature just lend themselves to this use very, very well. Better than most, outside of just the pure electrical savings that you have, energy savings.

Kevin
More energy efficiency, improved safety. It sounds like LEDs really are the way to go in this regard.

Charlie
Yeah, I would. I'd be willing to bet any new project, it's pretty much you're using LED and we're finding that a lot of our customers are now retrofitting, changing them out. Saying “I have this HID, what do you recommend just to convert over to LED, with a 400 metal Halide HID product?”

Kevin
All right. Yeah, it's, this has been great information. Thank you, Charlie.

Charlie
You're welcome. Thank you, Kevin.