Management of Electrical Lighting System Using Programmable Logic Controllers

Abstract

Automatic lighting in building automation is a technology mainly designed for energy efficiency and uniformity of illumination during working hours. In this paper design and implementation of automatic lighting controller, consists of low cost and simple approach of electric lighting interface module with Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) is presented. To achieve illumination standard, the number of lamps were accordingly determined and their illumination levels were maintained automatically with the use of PLC. In order to quantify the results obtained by the PLC as a controller, the results were also obtained without using the PLC. It is observed that, illumination levels were found to be 300-310 lux and 120-160 lux with and without using the PLC respectively. Furthermore, uniformity ratio and power consumption were also estimated. It is observed that, the uniformity ratios were found to be 0.9 - 0.95 and 0.1 - 0.15 with and without using the PLC respectively. Thus, illumination level and uniformity ratio with PLC’s are in close agreement with the anticipated values. Also, the power consumptions of the lamps used in the system with and without using the PLC were found to be 100 W and 400 W respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that the proposed model is reasonably efficient in saving electrical energy. That is the energy saving of nearly 75% is obtainable in a system of lighting control using PLC.