Emergency lights: purpose and features.

Emergency lights: purpose and features.

Emergency lighting is lighting that is turned on when the power supply system of the working lighting is damaged.

Emergency lighting provides the minimum necessary lighting conditions for continuing work indoors and outdoors in cases where the absence of artificial lighting can cause serious consequences for people, production processes, disrupt the normal functioning of the vital centers of the enterprise and service centers for mass consumers.

Emergency lighting includes evacuation and backup lighting, as well as lighting of high-risk production areas.

Emergency lighting provides the minimum necessary lighting conditions for continuing work indoors and outdoors in cases where the absence of artificial lighting can cause serious consequences for people, production processes, disrupt the normal functioning of the vital centers of the enterprise and service centers for mass consumers.

Emergency lighting includes evacuation and backup lighting, as well as lighting of high-risk production areas.

Evacuation lighting— this is emergency lighting that provides the necessary conditions for the evacuation of people or the completion of urgent work (installed at exits and fire safety equipment).

Backup lighting is emergency lighting that makes it possible to continue work in normal mode or to safely stop it.

Lighting of high-risk industrial zones is emergency lighting that ensures safety conditions when performing potentially hazardous work and continuing the normal technological process.

Emergency lighting fixtures and evacuation lighting fixtures are different things.

The latter are needed to indicate evacuation exits, etc., and their presence is strictly controlled by fire safety authorities.

In the case of emergency lighting systems, the issue is much more complicated.

According to regulatory documents, they must be in any public or industrial premises, including shopping malls or business centers.

In order for emergency lighting to comply with all standards, the following points where it is needed should be identified first:

— evacuation routes — locations of lighted «Exit» signs indicating the direction, as well as an «Exit» sign above the exit (either to the street or to another room);

— large halls larger than 60 sq. m;

— special risk areas (where high-risk work is performed, or public areas);

— important objects such as elevators, escalators, technical rooms, transformer rooms, boiler rooms, etc.;

— toilets with a total area of ​​more than 8 sq. m, as well as smaller ones in the absence of outside light;

— locations of emergency buttons, fire-fighting equipment, as well as dangerous places during evacuation (steps, changes in floor level, intersections of corridors, places where corridors turn).

Any room using emergency lighting must have at least two emergency lights in case one of them fails.

Lamps located along the evacuation route must be located at such a distance from each other as to provide a minimum illumination of direct light of 1 lux along the central line of the corridor.

They must not be located further than two meters from critical points of the room.

Where and in what cases is emergency lighting necessary?

Escape lighting
—at each door intended for exit in case of emergency;

—directly on the stairs, so that each flight of stairs is illuminated;

—at mandatory evacuation exits and safety signs;

—at each change in direction of movement;

—at each intersection of corridors. Outside and next to each final exit from the building;

—directly at each fire-fighting device and fire alarm button;

— where lighting of evacuation routes is required (tunnels, corridors, etc.);

— in stairwells of residential buildings 6 stories or more high;

— in the premises of public and auxiliary buildings of industrial enterprises, if more than 100 people can be in the premises at the same time.

Backup lighting

Necessary where stopping a technological or other process is impossible or extremely undesirable, for example, during a complex surgical operation, in central control rooms and control panels for power systems, transport, rescue services, etc.

According to regulatory documents, they should also be in any public or industrial premises, including shopping malls or business centers.

Lighting of high-risk industrial zones

It is necessary where there is a risk of death or injury to a person due to the shutdown of working lighting, for example, in large warehouses where people work and forklifts are used at the same time.

Currently, in our country, the requirements for luminaires and emergency lighting systems are regulated by a number of regulatory documents, the most important of which are:

• GOST R IEC 60598?2-22?99: Particular requirements. Emergency lighting luminaires.
• NPB 249?97 «Luminaries. Fire safety requirements. Test methods».
• SNiP 23?05-95: «Natural and artificial lighting». Section «Emergency lighting», pp. 7.60 — 7.68;
• PUE 7th edition. Chapter 6.1 «Emergency Lighting» p. 6.1.21 — 6.1.29.

The first two documents regulate the requirements for emergency lighting fixtures as electrical devices, the other two provide a classification of emergency lighting, describe the rules for placing fixtures, connecting to the power supply network, and provide the standardized characteristics of emergency lighting.

Classification of emergency lighting fixtures according to GOST R IEC 60598?2-22?99
a) by operating mode:
– non-permanent (non-permanent emergency luminaire: A luminaire in which the emergency lighting lamps operate only when the power supply system for the working lighting is disrupted.);
– permanent (continuous emergency luminaire: A luminaire in which the emergency lighting lamps operate continuously when working or emergency lighting
is required.);

— combined non-permanent (combined emergency luminaire: A luminaire with two or more lamps, at least one of which is powered by the emergency lighting supply network, and the others by the working lighting supply network. The luminaire may be of permanent or non-permanent action.);

— combined permanent;

— composite non-permanent (composite autonomous emergency luminaire: A luminaire of permanent or non-permanent action, equipped with an emergency power source for the operation of an auxiliary luminaire.);

— composite permanent;
– auxiliary (auxiliary emergency luminaire: A luminaire of permanent or non-permanent action, the power source of which in emergency mode is located in a composite emergency luminaire associated with it.).

b) by the type of luminaire power supply:
By the type of power supply, emergency lighting systems can be centralized from an independent power source (usually a separate transformer) or autonomous, in which each luminaire is powered by a separate emergency power supply device (battery).
– autonomous (autonomous emergency luminaire: A luminaire of constant or non-constant action, in which all elements, such as batteries, lamp, control unit, devices, signaling and monitoring, if any, are located in the luminaire or next to it (within a cable length of 1 m));
– with centralized power supply (emergency light with centralized power supply: Light of permanent or non-permanent action, the power supply of which is provided by a centralized emergency system located outside the light).

Raketa brand emergency lights

The emergency light market includes lights of permanent (in which emergency lighting lamps operate continuously when working or emergency lighting is needed) or non-permanent (in which emergency lighting lamps operate only when the working lighting power supply system is disrupted) action.

UK «Arsenal Bezopasnosti» supplies emergency lights of the «Raketa» brand, the line of which includes two types:
— «Raketa 01?30LED», a LED autonomous emergency light of constant or non-constant action; — «Raketa 01?28», a lamp autonomous emergency light of constant or non-constant action.

Emergency lights «Raketa» can be used both for shopping malls and business centers, and in everyday life (garage, cottage, bathhouse, electrical panel), on vacation (hunting, fishing, camping). The lights are connected to the household network ~220V, 50Hz and have a built-in charger for batteries.

Emergency light «Raketa 01?30LED» is classified as a two-mode light of constant or non-constant action (the mode is selected using the ACDC switch on the light), has 30 super-bright LEDs as emitting elements and can be in autonomous mode for more than 10 hours.

The emergency light «Raketa 01?28» is classified as a non-continuous light (switches on when there is no power supply), has two fluorescent lamps as emitting elements, has an energy-saving mode (one or two lamps work, selected using a switch), has a «Test» button that monitors the operability of the light, and a circuit for protecting the battery from deep discharge and overcharge.

Technical specifications: