Most chemical plants are flammable and explosive places, and corrosive environments, which have special characteristics compared to conventional plants. The lighting design of chemical plants has a direct impact on production safety, labor productivity, product quality, and labor hygiene.
The setting of chemical production units is developing towards the joint and open air. The outdoor open-air environment is affected by wind, rain, ice, snow, sunlight, sand, dust, and biology. Moreover, the outdoor temperature difference makes it easy to produce condensation. At the same time, most of the reaction material media in chemical production units have the characteristics of flammable, explosive, and corrosive, these conditions often exist at the same time, and all these harsh conditions, require chemical lighting in the structural design, insulation system, protection level, and surface treatment than ordinary lighting fixtures have a higher resistance to environmental impact performance.
Lighting equipment commonly used in chemical production installations are explosion-proof and anti-corrosion type, therefore, in the design of lighting distribution in chemical production installations, the selected lighting fixtures should be selected according to the environmental characteristics of the corresponding explosion-proof, anti-corrosion, and meet the requirements of the protection level of the lamps and lanterns.
Lighting methods
Chemical plant lighting methods are divided into general lighting, mixed lighting and accent lighting. The applicable principles should be in accordance with the following provisions:
- General lighting refers to the uniform lighting set up to illuminate the whole place, specifically the whole place indoors and outdoors, the lighting of most workplaces or the lighting of places not suitable for installing local lighting and mixed lighting, generally for uniform lighting. Workplaces should usually be set up general lighting; different areas of the same place have different illumination requirements, should use zoning general lighting.
- Mixed lighting refers to general lighting and local lighting together to form the lighting. For part of the work surface illumination requirements are high, only the use of general lighting is not reasonable places, it is appropriate to use mixed lighting.
- Accent lighting refers to the local workplace illumination required to strengthen the illumination, lighting direction requirements of the work surface or general lighting can not meet the production requirements of the local workplace lighting. In a workplace should not be installed only accent lighting.
Types of lighting
The types of lighting in chemical plants are divided into normal lighting, emergency lighting, maintenance lighting, guard lighting, obstacle lighting, and roadway lighting… Emergency lighting includes backup lighting, security lighting, and evacuation lighting. The following focuses on general lighting, emergency lighting, and roadway lighting.
General lighting
General lighting appropriate to the characteristics of the environment should be provided in all workplaces in order to maintain appropriate levels of illumination and to ensure that routine production operations can be carried out safely. General lighting should be provided in all indoor and outdoor areas where people work and are active. General lighting shall provide uniform illumination of each installation area. General lighting in process control rooms and electrical control rooms should be illuminated with anti-glare design luminaires, with particular attention to ensuring uniform illumination and avoiding shadows or light reflections on control panels and displays (CRTs).
Emergency lighting
Emergency lighting should be set up in places where it is necessary to temporarily continue work, monitor work surfaces, evacuate people, and exit route safety instructions when normal lighting is extinguished due to a fault. Emergency lighting should be provided in the following situations in the workplace:
- General lighting due to failure out, needs to ensure that normal work or activities continue to be set up in the place and should be set up backup lighting. For example, when the normal lighting due to failure, may cause an explosion, fire and casualties, and other serious accidents, or stop working will cause a great impact or economic loss of the premises and set up to continue working with the lighting, or in the event of a fire in order to ensure that the fire can be set up in order to carry out the normal lighting.
- General lighting due to failure, the need to ensure the safety of potentially dangerous people in the place, should be set up safety lightings, such as the use of disc saws and other places of work.
- General lighting due to failure, the need to ensure the safe evacuation of personnel exits and channels, should be set up to evacuate lighting. For example, evacuation lights to indicate the location of exits and the direction of escape routes and lighting to illuminate evacuation routes are provided at exits and passages.
- Emergency lighting includes backup lighting, safety lighting, and evacuation lighting, but in the lighting design of chemical plant areas, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the difference between backup lighting, safety lighting, and evacuation lighting. In principle, in the exits of buildings or installations, staircases, control rooms, substations and distribution rooms, self-propelled power stations, power stations, fire control rooms and at fire alarm buttons, diesel generator rooms, site-mounted instrument panels in situ, pump areas, near eye washers, at important valves or instruments, at important operating posts, etc., and where required for safety reasons to ensure operation of the installation or safe stopping when general lighting fails, emergency lighting should be provided.
Street lighting
For street lighting used for road lighting, it is advisable to use clock-controlled street lights with clock control, and automatic lights on and off. The lighting design of petrochemical enterprises should implement national laws, regulations and technical and economic policies; provide safe, suitable and effective lighting systems through lighting design, create a good production and working environment conducive to personal safety, production safety, improve product quality and labour productivity; achieve safety in use, energy saving, advanced technology, economic and reasonable, convenient maintenance and management.
Luminaire selection
- LED T8 lamps or tri-proof lighting fixtures should be used in places with low installation height.
- The places where the installation height of the lamps and lanterns is high and not easy to maintain, it is suitable to use LED mining lamps or floodlights.
- Special places should use LED explosion-proof lamps.
- Emergency lighting should be used in areas where emergency lighting is required.
