Volkswagen Hall 58 Press Works

The new building, which is 194 metres long, 40 metres wide and 30 metres high, accommodates a giant press line which takes up almost half of the available floor space. 170 wide-area LED projectors from the Mirona product range generate suitable lighting levels and are installed at a mounting height of 21 metres. In other halls this height in conjunction with the previously used metal halide lamps proved to be problematic.

Illumination was not sufficient everywhere and carrying out maintenance was particularly difficult and time-consuming. "Relamping used to be necessary every 18 months, from the bridge of the hall crane," informed Torsten Eichwald, electrical planner at Volkswagen. This is now a thing of the past, thanks to LED. "We're not expecting to have to deal with the lighting system for at least the next 10 years." And this target does not seem to be too ambitious, either.

The reason for this is that TRILUX designed the Mirona LED for a service life of 100,000 operating hours at ambient temperatures of 25 degrees Celsius. "Fit & forget" is the principle behind it all. The "slumbering" efficiency reserves in the system make sure that this is genuinely implemented in practice because systems at VW are not utilised to 100% – a luminous intensity of just 300 lux is generated. This not only protects the systems but also enables compensation of the reduction in luminous flux due to ageing. This constant light control is connected to a light management system which in turn

guarantees uniform lighting levels at workstations in Hall 58 irrespective of the time of day. "Our colleagues on-site think highly of the new LED luminaires because light quality is simply a lot better compared to the standard systems," stated Torsten Eichwald. The VW managers are also very pleased with the push in efficiency thanks to the new technology. They expect energy overheads to be cut by at least 40% according to the VW electrical planner. Light which simply pays off.