Bridge Lighting: 5 Things Specifiers Look For
Lighting bridges means meeting some tricky and unusual requirements, and no one knows bridges better than Lumenpulse.
1. Durability
Lighting maintenance is rarely more difficult than on a bridge. And the stakes are high - safety may be at risk if lights fail, not to mention the appearance of a prominent piece of infrastructure. Lumenpulse prides itself on its robust, long-lasting fixtures for bridges. On a recent tender for lighting of bridges, Lumenpulse was proud to be the only supplier to meet the city of Paris' strict requirements for durability.
2. Vibration protection
Sebastien Jegado, who leads Lumenpulse in France, says vibration protection is a key selling point for bridge lighting. "LEDs are electronic. Electronics are extremely sensitive to vibration, and bridges are well known for vibrating a lot," he explains. "So how can we manage vibration and protect the electronic device?" The answer is vibration-protective mounting systems, which meet the 3G anti-vibration standard. Many of Lumenpulse's luminaires can be specified with a special mounting with the 3G vibration rating.
3. Control (without re-wiring)
The ability to introduce cutting-edge lighting control without adding any new wiring is a game-changer for bridge lighting. That's what's possible with Lumenpulse's Lumentalk technology, which communicates with luminaires over existing mains power lines. "Most of the time there's no control on bridge lighting," says Jegado. "They may want to make energy savings, to do Christmas displays, to bring the lighting alive, but they can't because wiring is either impossible or extremely expensive. What we say is: just remove the old luminaires and replace with Lumenpulse ones and it's done, you've got control. It's amazing. People love it."
4. Experience
Getting bridge lighting right is never easy, and you're much better off dealing with a company that knows its way around these kinds of projects. Lumenpulse has lit dozens of bridges with its LED luminaires in countries including the US, Canada, France and Sweden. "We light a lot of bridges, so we have a lot of experience," says Jegado. "So we have a lot of people who've already worked on these types of projects."
5. Customisation
Every bridge is totally different, and the requirements for lighting can be very specific. Picking products off the shelf is unlikely to give the best results. Lumenpulse's approach is to work with clients and come up with a bespoke approach. Jegado says: "Clients understand that we design for their needs. We're not trying to sell them a product or force them to use particular things. We adapt to the project."