Tyne Tunnel
Advanced Lighting Technology were approached by one of our existing customers The City of Newcastle Tyne and Wear Transport Authority who operate the vital road tunnel under the River Tyne which links North and South Tyneside.
The Tunnel Operators had an increasing problem with the maintenance of their aging lighting system within the tunnel. The lighting system was installed approximately 30 years previously and the luminaires were of a bespoke manufacture and were designed to fit the actual fabric of the Tunnel. Also the components and lamps within the fittings were obsolete and were increasingly difficult to source.
Therefore simply replacing the units with modern luminaires was impossible as the method of mounting was unique to the Tunnel structure.
The maintenance engineers from the Tunnel provided a sample of the bespoke luminaire for Advanced Lighting Technology to look at it with a view to a total re-vamp of the luminaire with a specific brief. The engineers wanted to modernize the luminaire, maintain or improve the quality of the lighting within the Tunnel, reduce the energy consumption used for the Tunnel lighting whilst dramatically reducing maintenance for the Tunnel Engineers.
The sample bespoke fitting comprised a large body with a polycarbonate diffuser housing magnetic switch start control gear and 2 x 100w 8ft twin T12 type fluorescent lamps.
Advanced Lighting Technology designed a retrofit gear tray pack which would fit perfectly within the existing luminaire body. The gear tray housed modern electronic control gear for up to date 28w T5 lamps. The lamps were fitted on top of the gear tray in front of a specially design reflector manufactured from MIRO 4 94% reflective specialized aluminum which reflected the light more efficiently down to the roadway within the tunnel due to the design and shape of the reflector. Advanced lighting also manufactured replacement bespoke polycarbonate diffusers to replace the existing diffusers which had become discolored due to the time they had been present within the Tunnel.
In addition to the components we designed to modernize the bespoke luminaire Advanced Lighting sourced special Thermo T5 lamps which have an extended lamp life of 45,000 hours which is 4.5 times longer than the 100w T12 lamps which they were to replace.
Advanced Lighting Technology demonstrated the sample we had produced and the Engineers at the Tunnel were delighted with what we had come up with.
Advanced Lighting Technology received the order to modernize the bespoke lighting units for the Tunnel which consisted of 638 x Twin T12 8ft units and 72 triple T12 8ft units.
Advanced Lighting Technology modernized the luminaires in batches of 50 to minimize disruption to the Tunnel. The Twin units were fitted with geartrays with 4x28w T5 lamps and the Triple units were fitted with geartrays for 6x28w T5 lamps. We also replaced the ageing polycarbonate diffusers as part of the process and supplied the luminaires back to the tunnel complete so the engineers simply had to mount the fittings to the brackets which were integral to the Tunnel structure and connect the luminaire to the Tunnel power supply with a simple electrical connector.
Once the work was completed the Tunnel Engineers where astonished at the result. Energy consumption had been halved saving approximately £34,000 per annum and many tons of harmful Co2, preventative maintenance had been eliminated and the quality of light in the Tunnel had improved significantly.
