Cold room lighting
Also known as: cold room light fitting, cold store lighting
Short definitionInterior lighting made with dust-tight and waterproof fittings that withstand cold and moisture. Today nearly all of it is LED, and every watt it burns is added to the heat load of the room.
All the electricity drawn by a lamp in the room turns to heat, and the refrigeration system has to reject that heat. Lighting is thus paid for twice. An LED fitting gives 120–160 lumens per watt, and its efficiency and life improve in the cold. A fluorescent tube, by contrast, starts late at −20 °C and its light falls. The fitting should be at least IP65, and in a freezer room its driver should be approved for −30/−40 °C.
The lighting level is set by the task: 100–200 lux for storage, 200–300 in aisles where orders are picked, 300–500 for packing. Fittings go above the aisles, at a height where they neither cut the evaporator air stream nor get hit by the forklift mast. Cable entries are made with sealed glands; otherwise moisture creeps in along the cable and forms ice. A motion sensor shortens the burning time. In a freezer room, emergency lighting and an illuminated alarm button are not skipped.