Since its introduction, LED lighting has presented the airfield ground lighting industry with one of its most significant technological developments. An improvement in service life of up to 700%, a power rating in the region of one-tenth of that of a tungsten halogen (TH) equivalent, and improved low temperature operation are all giant leap forwards for AGL equipment, but at atg airports we believe many of the true benefits have yet to be realised.
The maximum operating conditions required for LED technology are much lower and along with a different current response means that an external interface is called for in order to operate on an AGL circuit alongside existing TH products. However, for a dedicated circuit with only LED fittings, by making a simple modification to the secondary output of the series. Isolating transformer enables the LED fitting to be operated directly from the primary circuit and thus removes the additional power and complexity required with an electronic convertor.
atg airports have taken this concept and developed the ‘passive system’, a straightforward AGL distribution system with no active components, designed to maximise the power and life benefits available from LEDs and provide a robust solution that can be readily applied to either existing or new systems.
The potential benefits of the atg passive system are based around significant savings for the airport. A 90% drop in CCR power consumption output and significant reductions in spares orders will lower operating costs whilst significant time savings can be made on the installation compared with a dedicated LED distribution system. The passive system has also been developed with considerations for the future, allowing for additional capacity to be added to the existing system with minimal disruption to the operating equipment.
As the global recession continues to influence the decisions of many global industries, the aviation industry will undoubtedly continue to tighten its belt as passenger demand continues to slow down across the world. atg airports will continue to develop both new and existing technologies such as the passive system, in order to best serve the needs of our customers across the world and provide the total solution for airports.