A lighting fixture is that component of a luminaire that holds the lamps, serves as a protective enclosure, or housing, delivers electric power to the lamps, and incorporates devices for control of emitted light. The housing contains lampholders and usually also reflective inside surfaces shaped to direct light out of the fixture in controlled patterns. In addition, a fixture also incorporates means of venting heated air and houses additional light-control equipment, such as diffusers, refractors, shielding, and baffles. The power component consists of wiring and auxiliary equipment, as needed, such as starters, ballasts, transformers, and capacitors. The lightcontrol devices include louvers, lenses, and diffusers. Fixture manufacturers provide information on construction, photometric performance, electrical and acoustical characteristics, installation, and maintenance of their products.
Some luminaires are sealed to keep out dust. Some are filtered and vented to dissipate heat and prevent accumulation of dust. Also, some are designed as part of the building air-conditioning system, which removes heat from the lamps before it enters occupied spaces. In some cases, this heat is used to warm spaces in the building that require heating.
Safety Requirements. Construction and wiring of fixtures should conform with local building codes and the National Electrical Code (NEC), recommendations of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and Standard for Lighting Fixtures, Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.
The NEC requires that fixtures to be installed in damp or wet locations or in hazardous areas containing explosive liquids, vapors, or dusts be approved by Underwriters Laboratories for the specific application. Auxiliary equipment for fluorescent and HID lamps should be enclosed in incombustible cases and treated as sources of heat.
The NEC specifies that fixtures that weigh more than 6 lb or are larger than 16 in in any dimension not be supported by the screw shell of a lampholder. The code permits fixtures weighing 50 lb or less to be supported by an outlet box or fitting capable of carrying the load. Fixtures also may be supported by a framing member of a suspended ceiling if that member is securely attached directly to structural members at appropriately safe intervals or indirectly via other adequately supported ceiling framing members. Pendent fixtures should be supported independently of conductors attached to the lampholders.
The NEC also requires that fixtures set flush with or recessed in ceilings or walls be so constructed and installed that adjacent combustible material will not be exposed to temperatures exceeding 90C. (Thermal insulation should not be installed within 3 in of a recessed fixture.) Fire-resistant construction, however, may be exposed to temperatures as high as 150C if the fixture is approved for such service.
Screw-shell-type lampholders should be made of porcelain.
Lenses may be made of glass or plastic. In the latter case, the material should be incombustible and a low-smoke-density type. It should be stable in color and strength. The increase in yellowness after 1000 hr of testing in an Atlas FDA-R Fade-Ometer in accordance with ASTM G23 should not exceed 3 IES-NEMA-SPI units. Acrylics are widely used.
Considerations in Fixture Selection. Because fixtures are designed for specific types of lamps and for specific voltage and wattage ratings of the lamps, a prime consideration in choosing a fixture is its compatibility with lamps to be used. Other factors to consider include:
Conformance with the chosen lighting method (see Art. 15.14)
Degree to which a fixture assists in meeting objectives for quantity and quality of light through emission and distribution of light
Luminous efficiency of a fixture, the ratio of lumens output by the fixture to lumens produced by the lamps
Esthetics in particular, coordination of size and shape of fixtures with room dimensions so that fixtures are not overly conspicuous
Durability
Ease of installation and maintenance
Light distribution from fixtures, to summarize, may be accomplished by means of transmission, reflection, refraction, absorption, and diffusion. Reflectors play an important role. Their reflectance, consequently, should be high at least 85%. The shape of a reflector spherical, parabolic, elliptical, hyperbolic should be selected to meet design objectives; for example, to spot or spread light in a building space or to spread light over a fixture lens that controls light distribution. (The need for a curved reflector, which affects the size of the fixture, can be avoided by use of a Fresnel lens, which performs the same function as a reflector. With this type of lens, therefore, a smaller fixture is possible.) Light control also is affected by shielding, baffles, and louvers that are positioned on fixtures to prevent light from being emitted in undesirable directions.
A wide range of light control can be achieved with lenses. Flat or contoured lenses may be used to diffuse, diffract, polarize, or color light, as required. Lenses composed of prisms, cones, or spherical shapes may serve as refractors, producing uniform dispersion of light or concentration in specific directions.
Types of Installations. Luminaires may be classified in accordance with type and location of mountings, as well as with type of lighting distribution: flush or recessed (Fig. 15.13), ceiling mounted (Fig. 15.14), pendent (Fig. 15.15), wall mounted (Fig. 15.16) or structural.
Structural lighting is the term applied to lighting fixtures built into the structure of the building or built to use structural elements, such as the spaces between joists, as parts of fixtures. Structural lighting offers the advantage of a lighting system conforming closely to the architecture or interior decoration of a room. Some types of structural lighting are widely used in residences and executive offices. For the purposes of accent or decorative lighting, for example, cornices, valences, coves, or brackets are built on walls to conceal fluorescent lamps. For task lighting, fixtures may be built into soffits or canopies. For general lighting, large, low-brightness, luminous panels may be set flush with or recessed in the ceiling.
Lighting objectives can be partly or completely met with portable fixtures in some types of building occupancies. For the purpose, a wide variety of table and floor lamps are commercially available. Because the light sources in such fixtures are usually mounted at a relatively low height above the floor, care should be taken to prevent glare, by appropriate placement of fixtures and by selection of suitable lamp shades.
Number and Arrangement of Luminaires. With the type of lamp and fixture and the required level of illumination known, the number of luminaires needed to produce that lighting may be calculated and an appropriate arrangement selected. The lumen method of calculation, which yields the average illumination in a space, is generally used for this purpose.
The method is based on the definition of footcandle (Art. 15.10.4), in accordance with which the level of illumination on a horizontal work plane is given by
Lamp manufacturers provide data on initial lumen output of lamps, but these values cannot be substituted directly in Eq. (15.35), because of light losses in fixtures and building spaces and the effects of reflection.
To adjust for the effects of fixture efficiency, distribution of light by fixtures, room proportions and surface reflectances, and mounting height and spacing of fixtures, the design lamp output, lm, is multiplied by a factor CU, called coefficient of utilization, to obtain lumens output for Eq. (15.35). (CU is the ratio of lumens striking the horizontal work plane to the total lumens emitted by the lamps. It may be obtained from tables available from fixture manufacturers.) Thus,
Layout of luminaires depends on architectural and decorative considerations, size of space, size and shape of fixtures, mounting height, and the effect of layout on quality of lighting. Different types of fixtures may be used in a space; for example, one type to provide general lighting, other types to provide supplementary local lighting, and still other types to produce accent or decorative lighting.
Details of the lumen method of calculation are given in books on lighting (see Art. 15.20, Bibliography).
Manufacturers list the maximum permissible spacing for each type of luminaire in photometric reports on their products. This spacing depends on the mounting height, relative to the work plane, for direct, semidirect, and general-diffuse luminaires, and relative to the ceiling height for indirect and semidirect luminaires.
Spacings closer than the maximum improve uniformity of lighting and reduce shadows.
Perimeter areas, however, require much closer spacing, depending on location of tasks and on the reflectance of the walls; generally, the distance between luminaires and the wall should not exceed half the distance between luminaires, and in some cases, supplementary lighting may have to be added. Computer programsare available for comparative analyses of different types and arrangements of luminaires.
