Emergency Escape Illumination for Building Evacuation

The construction of ever larger and higher buildings continues and leads to an increasing number of people in one area, therefore the buildings must be safe at all times, even if a main power failure occurs. Emergency lighting is part of the fire safety provision of a building and cannot be ignored. Light enables people to leave buildings safely, helps them to find their way round and reduces accident hazards.

Every building has its own specific requirements in respect of emergency escape illumination. The procedure in respect of emergency lighting:

1. Planning and design of the system
2. Positioning of emergency lighting luminaires (wall/ceiling mounted lights, signs)
3. Permanent installation of all fittings
4. Periodic testing/maintenance of the system

The safety signs must be visible from any points of the premises and need to show either the direction to the exit door or the exact location of it.

Intelligent Emergency Lighting
An intelligent emergency lighting system monitors all individual components of the system and gathers all collected information to a single location. This makes monitoring the system fast and easy, no matter how complicated the location is. The system records data about performed tests and the lamps can be programmed. A suitable emergency lighting system shows the right way to escape from the building and it works many years later too.
The intelligent emergency lighting system consists of a control panel with software, individually identifiable lamps and a power source. The system’s advantage is the lamps can be directed from one point. The monitoring starts automatically starts at pre-defined consistent intervals. This ensures that in case of an emergency the system works and the lamps turn on.

Energy Supply for Emergency Lighting
There are two ways in which back-up power can be provided: self-contained battery or central battery. The advantages of central battery systems are that the monitoring and the maintenance is simpler, quicker and less expensive. When battery replacement is eventually necessary, this is a quick and simple operation that avoids the disruption caused by having to access and dismantle numerous fittings in public areas. It is possible to build larger system with thousands of lamps. The luminaires contains fewer components to maintain and service. From the environmental point of view, by reducing the use of hazardous substances, it contributes to mitigating the harmful effects on the environment. Central battery systems are easy to test, simple to maintain and offer long-term cost advantages.

Intelligent and Central Battery Systems
ASM engineers have been striving to combine the advantages of intelligent and central battery systems during the development. As a result, a new member of the Clever Light range was created, the CL-600 series. The new intelligent central battery system is unique in this market. The system based on the AC/AC principle. The AC/AC system can be connected directly to the suitably designed mains luminaires, without having to make any modification to the luminaires and gain energy from a remote supply centre. The main unit (control panel) of the addressable lights can handle a maximum of 594 devices; 64 of these panels can be attached to the same system. Via the its 7” touch screen, the device can be set easily and clearly indicates the system status. The luminaires can be controlled individually or in groups. The control unit is modular and it includes line filter and adapters.v