November 20, 2014
The challenge
The US Navy is moving to Solid State Lighting (SSL) with very long life LEDs. Among the reasons are to avoid drawbacks of traditional lighting, such as the relatively short life of Incandescent bulbs, the too long warm up for HSP lights, and the mercury content in fluorescent lights. For being able to do this they needed LED drivers which not only meet the very demanding USN requirements and military specifications, but also are backwards compatible with existing lighting solutions. One example is fitting into the existing standard fixtures. Another is having three separate AC inputs which provide three levels of brightness in a LED array, depending on how many of the inputs are turned on. This is to replace an older fixture where three separate light bulbs were used for the same purpose.
The solution
POWERBOX developed very rugged, cost effective, long lasting LED drivers that meet the rigorous requirements of USN ships, most notably MIL-DTL-16377, General Specification For Fixtures, Lighting, and Associated Parts for Shipboard Use, MIL-STD-461, Military Standard Requirement for the Control of Electromagnetic Interference Emissions and Susceptibility, and MIL-STD-1399/300A, Interface Standards for Shipboard Systems. Powerbox’ drivers also meet all the compatibility requirements.
Added value
Powerbox’ long-life, high efficiency supplies coupled with LEDs remove the drawbacks of traditional lighting, dramatically reduce maintenance activities and stock for “changing a light bulb,” while simultaneously notably lowering the electrical load for lighting reducing fuel consumption.
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