Smart LED Lighting Comes to Digital Manufacturing

From Dialight

Editor’s Note: This article is adapted from a special report from Dialight, a Rockwell Automation Encompass™ Product Partner. Download the FREE infographic, “Industrial LED Lighting and the IIoT – The Future Looks Even Brighter" that illustrates LED industrial lighting’s levels of connectivity and how it supports the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), including examples of integrations and enhancements offered by connected industrial lighting.

The IIoT, also known as digital manufacturing or smart manufacturing, is revolutionizing productivity in manufacturing, warehousing and other industrial facilities. By connecting equipment, supply stores, product output and infrastructure onto a centralized system for comprehensive management, IIoT provides unprecedented plant-wide visibility, integration and efficiency.

While the IIoT uses automation to optimize productivity and profitability mostly through production equipment and building management systems, adding connected LED lighting into the mix now is an option designed to provide some unique benefits, such as the following:

1. Better Communication. Smart LED lighting networks use wireless technology to communicate and send commands between the management console and each fixture. These nodes also can be used to extend connectivity throughout the plant, amplifying Wi-Fi connectivity in dead zones without additional equipment.

An emerging new technology called Li-Fi, which uses the visible light spectrum to transmit data, could soon replace Wi-Fi, using the light emitted by the fixtures as the data network.

2. Enhanced Safety. Connected lighting can be networked with smoke detectors and other hazardous substance alarms to provide an integrated safety network. The system can be configured to illuminate the fastest, safest evacuation route for personnel based on areas where airborne pollutants are detected, to confirm staff move away from the area instead of inadvertently into a trouble spot.

3. Improved Security. LEDs already provide better visibility and clarity on closed-circuit HD security systems compared to conventional lighting. Incorporating an HD Wi-Fi security camera into the lighting fixture itself can provide a two-for-one security solution that increases coverage and visibility with less infrastructure to install and maintain.

4. Productivity Tools. Smart lighting networks already are equipped with motion detectors and daylight harvesting sensors that automatically turn the lights on, off and dim based on need to reduce energy usage and cost.

Those same lights also could be equipped with optical and RFID sensors that can track equipment, supplies, people and product. This can help analyze and improve facility traffic and workflows, and tie raw materials inventory into requisition systems to automatically replenish supplies as needed. Through the Rockwell Automation controls system architecture, the lighting also can be adjusted based on the production line and its sensors.

5. Facility Diagnostics. Sensors embedded into each light can provide facility-wide diagnostics and data about operational, environmental and power conditions. For example, sensors can monitor atmospheric conditions, such as temperature and humidity, which can be critical for certain types of production or materials storage.

Sensors also can provide real-time monitoring for abnormal power conditions, such as a surge or low-voltage, to help protect equipment, and monitor and report overall power usage and energy savings.

6. Automated Demand Response (ADR). As a growing number of utility providers implement demand response programs, smart LED fixtures can be incorporated into an ADR program to reduce load with minimal impact on productivity. By programming nonessential lighting to automatically turn off or dim when the ADR alert is issued, facilities can cut consumption without having to shut down production equipment and with no manual effort. When the alert is lifted, lights automatically return to normal operation.

7. Custom Illumination. As LED technology evolves, the days of one-light-fits-all might be over. Smart lighting systems can support adaptive or customizable photometric characteristics, allowing facility managers to customize the light color or CRI for ideal lighting in any environment. This can optimize the UV and color amplification, based on specific needs.

IIoT technology is creating high-efficiency, high-tech facilities that maximize productivity and profitability through automation. Integrating smart LED lighting technology into the Rockwell Automation ecosystem is an option to help amplify IIoT investments, enhance safety, cut waste and achieve sustainability goals.

Dialight is a participating Encompass Product Partner in the Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork Program™ program. The company provides energy efficient LED lighting solutions for industrial users whose usage and operating environment place a demanding burden on lighting systems.

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