Optical design and lighting application of an LED-based sports lighting system

Abstract

This paper describes both the optical development of an LED-based sports lighting system and the results of the application of the system to an actual sport field. A traditional sport lighting fixture is generally composed of a single 1500 watt High Intensity Discharge (HID) light source with reflectors used to control the light distribution. The efficacy of the HID light source is equivalent or nearly equivalent to most LED light sources, putting LEDs at a large cost disadvantage in a high light output application such as sports lighting due to the number of LEDs and supporting components required to run an LED system. To assess the feasibility and applicability of LEDs in a sports lighting application, an LED-based sport light has been developed and installed on a small soccer field specified to have an average maintained illuminance level of 30 footcandles. An existing HID sport lighting system was also installed on the same size soccer field adjacent to the LED field with the same average footcandle level for comparison. Results indicate that LEDs can provide equivalent average illumination; however the LED source and system component cost is substantially higher. Despite the high cost, it was found that improved optical control afforded by the optical design used in the system provides a significant improvement in offsite wasted spill light, glare control, and on field uniformity. This could provide an advantage for LED systems.