Airport Business - 30

AIRFIELD LIGHTING
saves YVR 715,000 kilowatt hours of
energy per year or the equivalent of
powering 72 residential households.
Back in the States and shirking their
old incandescent lighting for the benefits
of LED as part of the final phase of an
overall runway upgrade project is Duluth
International Airport (DLH). DLH's
main goals in upgrading their lighting
is replacing aging tech and increasing
cost savings by doing so.
"We have new center line in pavement
light going in, as well as in pavement
touchdown lights on the west end. The
new in pavement lights include drainage
that sheds water to the drain tile along
the runway at the bottom of the can. In
the past we had some cans that would
fill up with water, obviously that's not
good. Water and electricity don't mix to
well. You gain your money back from
all the labor savings," described Blaine
Peterson, DLH's director of operations.
Labor sav ing s are often an
overlooked benefit of LED lighting.
LED lights require fewer visits
from maintenance workers
to change lights or repair
fixtures, meaning fewer
trips onto the runway and
protecting laborers from
a runway's inherit dangers,
saving airports potential
costs in a number of ways. The
additional benefit of fewer runway trips
is also the reduction of potential foreign
object debris (FOD) wreaking havoc on
a runway.
Peterson said all the lighting upgrades
at DLH will be to LED lights, including
centreline lights, taxiway lead in lights
and taxiway guiding signs.
"We are basically putting LED lamps
everywhere," said Peterson. "The LED
lights that we have put in areas seem to
be cleaner lights, a little brighter light.
The PAPI on the west end are the newer
LED technology, you can definitely
notice that when you're lining up and
shooting the approach on the west end
versus coming in on the east end where
the PAPI has not been replaced yet."
DLH's lighting system is also
receiving what Peterson said is a minor
software upgrade to control the lights
from DLH's air traffic control tower -
allowing for the adjustment of the lights
timing and intensity. To power the

An example of the in ground
lighting being installed at
Duluth International Airport.
DULUTH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

lighting upgrades, DLH is making
upgrades to their electrical vault and
circuitry, something other airports
looking to make the similar jump to LED
will need to consider, according to Frank
Kazienko, airport lighting specialist at
OCEM Airfield Technology.
"The basic situation is that, because
they're going to be talking about their
power requirements, how is it going to
affect their vault where all their power
sources come from. If they put in LEDs,
they're obviously going to be downsizing,
so they should be looking at replacement
of equipment within the vault," said
Kazienko.
Other areas an airport needs to
consider is the type of climate and
environment the lights will be in and
exposed to - such as the water logging
issue DLH is addressing with their
upgrades.

30 \ AIRPORTBUSINESS / AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019

"The other thing that we consider
for airports and that airports are asking
us as a manufacturer more and more
- and this is not only in the U.S., it's
globally - is not to simply comply with
the requirements of ICAO, IEC, or FAA,
but often to exceed these requirements
by meeting specific airport conditions,
like a very low temperature or very
high temperature when we are talking
about the south end of the world," added
Angeloni. "And they should be looking
at a manufacturer that can cover these
requirements, both for the control system,
but especially for the power system.
The power system when making the
transition to LED should be using more
modern technology, which would allow
them more operating power supply to
the LED. And then if we look at the
individual fixtures, airports should be
looking at individualized protections.
They should be looking at the safety of
the operator that maintains the lights." 
Airport Business

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