Energy Saving Lighting Solutions

Hitachi AAA Fluorescent Tube

Good lighting helps promote quality and competence within a hospital providing a welcome reassurance for patients. Hitachi recognises this and has designed a fluorescent tube that cares for patients’ health and safety while providing the hospital with optimal light that lasts.

Introducing the Hitachi AAA fluorescent tube with a Cyanosis Observation Index (COI) below the Australian Hospital Standard and the highest Colour Rendition Index (CRI) of all lamps on the market. The Hitachi AAA has been tested, approved and is the recommended fluorescent tube for hospitals.

The Hitachi AAA tube uses a new type of high colour rendering phosphor for the highest CRI of 98 emitting the closest light output to natural light and reproduces all colours faithfully.

The Australian Hospital Standard COI must be below 3.3. The Hitachi AAA tube has 3.0 CRI, that’s better than the Australian Hospital Standard so you can be sure that Hitachi AAA is the best lighting solution possible for your hospital and patients.

The AAA lamp emits absolutely no UV rays and will prevent discoloration and fading of objects and products while also caring for patients and staff in the hospital. ANL Lighting Marketing Manager Stephanie Leung says ‘This makes the Hitachi AAA Fluorescent Tubes the best lighting option for operating theatres, patient treatment rooms, consultation rooms, accident emergency areas and other areas within a hospital that require perfect colour rendition of skin.’

The Hitachi AAA tubes have a long life of 10,000 hours and hold a 1-year warranty that covers lamp failure and fading and is available in two sizes, a 20Watt and 40Watt lamp.

COI has been calculated in accordance with the method described in Appendix G of AS1680.2.5 : 1997.

It's important that medical staff be able to correctly diagnose cyanosis through clinical observation.

A hospital’s number one priority is patient care. An important aspect of medical diagnosis thorough clinical observation is the reliable detection of cyanosis.

Cyanosis is a condition where the skin and mucous membranes give off a bluish discolouration, which indicates that oxygen levels in the blood are dangerously depleted. The ability of medical staff to reliably detect the onset of cyanosis by visual observation may be critical to a patient’s well being.

The detection of cyanosis requires adequate power output around the 660nm wavelength. If the output is too low a patient’s skin colour may appear darker and they may be diagnosed as cyanosed when this is not the case. On the other hand, if the output is too high it may mask the cyanosis and it may not be diagnosed when it is present. The end result is that clinical staff cannot rely on visual detection.

To meet the Australian Hospital Standard and be suitable for detecting cyanosis in hospitals, all lamps must meet two criteria: a Cyanosis Observation Index of less than 3.3 and a colour temperature between 3200K and 5500K. Lamps with colour temperatures above 5500K provide false positive diagnoses of cyanosis and lamps with colour temperatures below 3200K results in failure to detect cyanosis.

Fluorescent lamps commonly in use may not have a continuous spectrum. When selecting lamps for the reliable diagnosis of cyanosis, Hospitals need to ensure that the lamps chosen have a COI of 3.3 or lower, have a colour temperature between 3200K and 5500K and are long lasting and cost effective.

The Hitachi AAA fluorescent tube has a COI of 3.0, a colour temperature of 5000K and the highest colour rendition index of all lamps currently on the market. The Hitachi AAA tube has been tested, approved and is the recommended fluorescent tube for hospitals. This makes the Hitachi AAA fluorescent tubes the best lighting option for operating theatres, patient treatment rooms, consultation rooms, accident emergency areas and other areas within a hospital that require perfect colour rendition of skin.

The Hitachi AAA tubes have a long life of 10,000 hours and hold a 1-year warranty that covers lamp failure and fading and is available in two sizes, a 20w (2ft) and 40w (4ft) lamp.

Vibe T8-T5 Fluorescent Tube Converter

Next time that fluorescent tube finally flickers and dies, think about this energy saving alternative from VIBE Lighting that could save you 35% in energy costs.

Rather than replacing the inefficient 36W T8 fluorescent tube with another one, VIBE has an eco-friendly convertor kit that allows a thinner, more efficient 28W T5 fluoro tube to be DIY installed in the existing fixture.

This simple retrofit – which can be installed by any home handyman – allows you to maximize your energy savings by using the more energy efficient T5 tube while also saving you the cost of replacing the existing T8 fixture.

The VIBE T8/T5 retrofit convertor kit features electronic ballasts that make stuttering starters redundant, while delivering excellent levels of light stability.

The Australian-approved convertor kits eliminate any flicker or hum commonly associated with tubes equipped with standard magnetic ballasts and have a 25,000 hour life – up to three times longer than the ‘fat’ T8 tubes.

The convertors are available in a variety of wattages matched with tube lengths:

14W – 600mm

21W – 900mm

28W -1200mm

35W -1500mm

There are two choices of VIBE T8/T5 convertor kit which can come with or without an optional high-grade reflector to focus strong, white fluorescent light on the task at hand and help reduce instances of fatigue and eye-strain associated with flickering tubes and dim lighting.

The convertor is easy to install and does not require any re-wiring or modification or any special tools – simply remove the old tube and standard magnetic starter ballast and install the adaptor and lamp.

Where existing fixtures are already equipped with an electronic ballast it must be removed by a registered electrician before the convertor kit can be installed.

Other features of the T8/T5 retro-kit include:

• Triphosphor tubes give full colour spectrum light output

• Higher colour index gives better colour reproduction (CRI of 83)

• High colour temperature for better visual acuity

• High power factor of 96 converts more energy to light

VIBE Lighting says an office replacing 200 conventional tubes with 28W T5 convertor kits could save an estimated $1305 in energy costs and more than 80kg of C02 per year.

VIBE says large users of energy for lighting such as hospitals, schools, offices and retail stores are set to benefit most by retro-fitting the convertor kits.

VIBE Lighting Marketing Co-Ordinator Stephanie Leung: “ There are any number of T5 fluorescent tubes on the market that can be used in the retro-kit. We recommend the 28W Hitachi T5 UV-Cut for its longer 25,000 hour life, its low mercury content of 2.5mg and because it cuts potentially harmful UV rays by up to 75%.”

Hitachi Clean Tube Test

Claims by Hitachi that its fluorescent ‘clean’ tubes can result in cleaner air have been verified in an independent test  done in a leading Melbourne hospital.

The Hi-Lumic Clean tubes, which are coated in an optical catalyst film, work to break down organic substances and purify the air whenever they are switched on reducing the  number of volatile organic compounds and bacteria in the  air.

Comprehensive laboratory tests conducted by Korea Testing and Research Institute for Chemical Industry show significant reduction in number of bacteria and elimination of bad odours with Hitachi Clean Lamps.

“We wanted to see if we could replicate a similar result here,” said ANL Lighting Managing Director Eddy Awad.

These claims have been confirmed in a test commissioned by ANL Lighting, the Australian distributors for Hitachi lamps and carried out by Advanced Air Technologies.

Jordan Panayotov for AAT, said: “ In terms of air quality every door is a different story as different pollutants in different concentrations present in the air at specific premises.

“ Having in mind that, for example, there are more than 1000 volatile organic compounds and over 400 species of mould and fungi – the combinations of these pollutants are myriad. On top of this the concrete situation can be very different in different points of time at the same premises.

“ Conducting tests for everything is rather complicated, time consuming and very expensive. Therefore a feasible and cost-effective solution is to measure the total number of particles in the air. For this purpose we use Ultrafine Particle Counter P-Trak product from U.S. company TSI – world leader in air quality monitoring,” he said.

For the test only particles sizes between 1micron to 0.02 micron were measured. For comparison – human red blood cell is 7 micron.

Measuring the number of fine particles in the air in two separate tests (4/7 &  11/7/08) in two separate areas within  the hospital – ground level and level one. Both cases included an inner corridor and adjacent rest room – readings were taken of the ambient air with the Hitachi  Clean tubes and with  conventional fluorescent tubes.

Data obtained in both tests using conventional lamps showed no difference in the number of fine particles in the air between the inner corridor and the adjacent rest room. Repeating the tests using Hitachi ‘Clean’ tubes showed a reduction in the number of fine particles which include  volatile organic compounds and bacteria.

Tests showed that, although that there was difference in the number of fine particles measured in the air in  the two dates (4/7 & 11/7/08), in both dates readings with Hitachi  Clean lamps were down by about 25 % – from 13,800 – 14,200  (conventional tubes) to 10,800 – 11,200 (Hitachi) per cm3 (on 4/7/08);  and from 13,200 – 13,800 (conventional tubes) to 9800 – 10,200 (Hitachi) per  cm3 (on 11/7/08).

Designed to purify the air whenever the lamp is switched on, Hitachi Clean tubes are coated with a thin film of titanium oxide which works to breakdown bacteria and eliminate odours.

As well as breaking down organic substances, the optical catalyst film on the Hitachi tube also reduces smelly odours and smoke in food preparation areas and toilets.

ANL Lighting’s Eddy Awad: The Hitachi ‘clean’ tubes are very effective in not only providing efficient lighting but in all areas where people and business are concerned with reducing bacteria and unpleasant odours, thus  providing cleaner environment.

“ Top of the list are hospitals and aged care facilities, medical rooms, schools and childcare centres – and into the hospitality industry, food industry, supermarkets, dining rooms, clubs,” he said.