LED technology focuses on improving industrial safety

by Del Williams

Whether you’ve got to fix a midnight gas leak, repair critical production machinery on the evening shift or need to ensure good footing in mine shafts, sewer tunnels, catwalks or slippery corridors, you know how important proper task lighting can be to your job.  

One slip-up due to poor lighting or a flashlight that runs out of power at that highly inopportune moment can literally be life-threatening. This is particularly true in industrial environments where hazardous gases, liquids or materials are present. 

In many respects, industrial technicians’ need for flashlights is similar to that of firemen and police officers, who also respond to emergencies night and day, indoor or out, in good weather and bad. To avoid serious problems, however, industrial technicians must not only handle emergencies effectively but also inspect, maintain, repair and operate complex equipment, often in cramped or dimly lit settings.

“Proper task lighting via flashlight is critical to ensure we see and do our work correctly,” said Peco Energy Co. manager of gas methods and training Tim Flanagan. “We operate 24/7 in shadows and darkness all too often. Working in holes or ditches outdoors to repair a gas leak can be challenging, as can checking customers’ fuel lines indoors in poorly lit conditions.”

To do their jobs properly – whether in emergencies, repairs, preventive maintenance or equipment operation – industrial flashlights are the tool of choice, primarily because of portability. Flashlights should not only illuminate clearly and brightly, but also be capable of producing a beam that is capable of penetrating the dust, steam, fog, exhaust or other particulates that can so easily obscure vision around machinery. This, of course, should be accomplished with a minimum number of battery changes, bulb failures or other inconveniences that can hamper industrial safety or efficiency.

Fortunately, a brand new light emission method called Recoil Light-Emitting-Diode (LED) Technology is now available that make the industrial work site easier and safer. 

Recoil Light-Emitting-Diode (LED) Technology, in fact, will soon be used in everything from street lights, traffic lights and stadium lighting to projection TVs and virtually all fixed and portable lighting systems. Although its possible uses appear unlimited, its first practical application is now occurring in flashlights for industry.

Derived from the mechanics of lighthouses and locomotive headlights, which demand focused light beams capable of cutting through fog and haze for long distances, Recoil LED technology enables better flashlight focus, brightness, longevity and durability for safer, more secure industrial processes.

Mines, utilities, refineries, petrochemical or industrial concerns, and others with a professional need for bright, focused, reliable, and long-lasting portable lighting will immediately benefit.

Pioneering the new technology in the industrial safety and security industries is Torrance, Calif.-based Pelican, a manufacturer and innovator of advanced lighting instruments.  The company is known for introducing a number of previous lighting innovations including bright-burning Xenon gas bulbs, an anti-shock battery protection system, third-party safety certification for hazardous environments, and an umbrella valve that prevents spark-ignited explosions by allowing battery-induced gas build-up to escape.

“In the long term, Recoil LED technology will offer relief to the nation’s cities, businesses and overloaded electric grid, plagued by recent blackouts and high energy costs, by reducing the need for electricity generation and distribution,” said Kevin Deighton, director of product development at Pelican.

“Right now, however, the technology has immediate benefits for anyone needing portable lighting - from those working in darkened or enclosed environments such as miners, maintenance, repair, or operation crews to those in fire service, law enforcement, and search and rescue,” said Deighton. “The technology keeps flashlights lit 50 percent longer than traditional incandescent bulbs and maintains brightness longer, for up to 10,000 hours of bulb life, even under rugged or underwater conditions.”

The journey from incandescent to LED lighting
In modern incandescent lighting, electricity heats a tungsten filament inside a glass bulb until the tungsten gets white hot and emits visible light. However, despite the 120-plus years since Edison invented the incandescent bulb, it remains tremendously energy inefficient, with just 4 percent to 6 percent of the electrical power supplied to the bulb converted to visible light. The remaining energy is lost as heat. Moreover, incandescent light bulbs burn out quickly.

The halogen light, found in many flashlights, also uses a tungsten filament but enclosed in a much smaller quartz bulb. Halogen bulbs emit more light than standard incandescent bulbs, but they are also extremely energy inefficient, often burning out only 50 hours of use. This creates a high mean-time-between-failure (MTBF) rate, which can create problems when bulbs burn out during critical or life-threatening applications in the field. 

“We’ve been edging away from halogen bulbs for a number of reasons,” said Flanagan.

“Because halogen bulbs burn hotter, they’re not ideal for flammable environments where accidental ignition is possible.  Since they burn hotter, their burn out rate is faster, which can create problems in the field when a replacement bulb isn’t handy.  And they’re not rugged enough for an abusive environment, where they’ll get dropped, dumped in holes or vibrate around in trucks bouncing off things. Durability is key for us.”

Moreover, in flashlights, both halogen and incandescent bulbs cast a washed-out oval-shaped pattern of light, sometimes known as the fisheye effect. This is due to scattered peripheral light reflecting imperfectly forward off the flashlight reflector.  Even when sufficiently bright, there are black spots and distortion present in the light cast which are actually shadows of the flashlight filament.

As an alternative, newer and cooler light sources such as LEDs, are not only more energy-efficient, but also sturdier and more compact. LEDs don’t have a filament to burn out and don’t get especially hot. A much higher percentage of its electrical power is converted directly into light, which significantly reduces electricity demands. LEDs are already prominently used in the electronics world, in digital clocks, watches and display screens of many types.

Directed LED lighting hits a snag
For energy efficiency and longevity reasons, LED technology has already been applied to create a generation of LED flashlights.  But existing LED flashlights cast only a wide, diffused beam capable of illuminating objects only several feet away. 

The problem with existing LED technology for spot illumination is that it’s primarily designed to be seen and not to see with. The round tip of tiny LED bulbs provide a fine viewing angle for applications such as display panels, but scatter light too widely to be used effectively for flashlight or spot lighting purposes.

“One technique tried was directing LED light through a double convex lens to focus it,” says Deighton. “But the lens by itself was an unsatisfactory compromise. White LED light lacked the necessary brightness, and colors changed. Multiple LED lights, in turn, provide better fill lighting, but still don’t focus well enough to illuminate objects at farther distances.”

The Recoil LED lighting solution
While conventional incandescent and LED flashlights shine light imperfectly forward with scattered peripheral light, shadows and distortion, Pelican’s Recoil LED Technology for flashlights takes the opposite, counterintuitive approach. Like a lighthouse, the new technology focuses light by firing it backwards.  A special parabola-shaped reflector then captures 100 percent of the light and reflects it forward. 

The resulting parallel-focused beam of light is free from scattered peripheral light, which greatly increases its ability to cut through obscure environments like smoke, fog and dust. Since there is no filament involved in the process, the bright-white, color spectrum-tested light is also free of the black spots, shadows and distortion found in traditional filament-based lighting. This improves the effectiveness not only of personnel in industrial settings or working in enclosed or darkened environments but also of those in fire service, search and rescue, and law enforcement as well.

“The brighter, more focused, and more penetrating the task light is, the better for inspection and repair,” said Flanagan. “We’re considering the cooler LED light in part because we feel it’s safer for flammable environments. If the battery and bulb last longer, and it’s more durable, those are definite advantages as well.”

Recoil LED Technology provides focused light for up to 10,000 hours of bulb life in the new flashlights. For urgent maintenance turnarounds or safety-critical applications in the field, this reduces the flashlight’s MTBF rate to virtually zero, since the bulb only has to be changed once every 10,000 hours of use, instead of once every 50 hours as with traditional incandescent or halogen bulbs. The heightened illumination provided also makes objects or people easier to spot and work with, with less downtime and expense for battery changes.

Exclusive voltage regulated LEDs also maintain the flashlights’ peak brightness longer, whereas conventional flashlights’ brightness level declines steeply from first use. To achieve this, electronics in the new flashlights check battery power and increase current over time so a constant wattage is maintained.

The new flashlights are approved for use in hazardous locations by third-party certifiers such as UL, FM, CE, and MSHA, as well as engineered to continue working after drops of 30-feet. They are sealed to prevent ignition from sparking in hazardous locations, such as near flammable gases, liquids, dusts or fibers. 

They include an umbrella valve that prevents spark-ignited explosions by allowing battery-induced gas build-up to escape, an anti-shock battery protection system, and a battery polarity guard tray that makes operating the flashlight impossible if one or more cells are inverted.

For technicians maintaining, repairing, or operating critical machinery in dark or enclosed settings, Recoil LED technology is blazing a brighter future. The improved focus, brightness, longevity, durability, as well as safety and cost savings have been a long time coming since the days of Thomas Edison, but are now available for all our benefit.

Del Williams is a technical writer based in Torrance, Calif.

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