In order to improve health, maintain the body and recreate, a series of significant activities are performed, which correspond specifically to sports or what some also call physical education. Today, these activities are part of the culture of modern society, influencing the personal, psychological and hygienic development of the world population.
The importance in sports and recreational activities, has given the opportunity to organized populations to promote and maintain spaces for such activities, conforming physical education and sports as an integral part of all levels of education, from primary to university.
Therefore it is necessary to have an adequate area for sport, helping the human being in his attitudinal development, improving and strengthening his physical and mental capacity. These are areas, usually in the popular sectors are assigned to sports courts, where you can practice sports such as basketball, volleyball, tennis, indoor soccer, among others.
Now, in order to take advantage of the sports courts, the same must be operational both day and night, so, different types of users, including users, workers and the community in general may use it, may be operational from early morning hours, until after the sun sets.
Taking into account the above, as well as the fact that there are sports courts without artificial lighting or poor lighting due to lack of maintenance in the lighting system, it is necessary to have adequate data that achieve sufficient lighting to achieve the correct and best use of the court at night, achieving the performance of recreational activities, sports and meetings or assemblies of citizens. It should be noted that having a correct electrical system on the court can be used sound system with speakers and / or microphones, achieving a more enjoyable activity.
It is important to point out that the inefficient or non-existent lighting system can generate additional problems in the sector where the sports field is located since the same ones being left in the dark for a long time can be taken for antisocial that would constitute a danger and risk for the users as for the neighbors of the community.
For the correct adjustment of the lighting system, it is necessary to perform the illumination calculation, since in this way we can determine the lighting according to the place to be illuminated, also taking into consideration types of similar sports courts that have a lighting system deficient, it is considered a new mixed lighting system.
To establish the correct location of the lighting poles, it is necessary to have the measurements of the court. For our particular case, the court has the dimensions of; 30 m long by 20 m wide, for a total of 600 square meter.
Recommended location between light poles
L = Court length / 2 = 30/2 = 15 m.
Between light poles and corner of the court 15/2 = 7.5 m.
Recommended height of light poles
According to the Westinghouse lighting manual on a basketball court, the height of the poles on that type of court must be at least nine (9) meters long. H = 9 m.
Separation between the light poles and the sports court
For this data, the rules "IESNA RP-6" are taken into consideration, which establishes that the minimum distance between the posts and the edge of the court must be between 3 and 4 meters apart, however, engineers consulted indicate that if it is not possible to have the distance established in the standard, they can reduce it up to 40%, as long as the post does not represent an accident risk for the athletes or users.
Once the correct location of the lighting poles has been determined, we proceed to perform the calculations for the appropriate lighting system. To do so, we again rely on the "IESNA RP-6" standards, which indicate that the courts should use a lateral lighting system of 2 posts on each side of the court with a distance L equal to half the length of the court (previously calculated), in order to avoid the glare of the players. Considering again the Westinghouse manual, the minimum level of lighting for sports basketball courts is established in the following table:
As indicated then in the table above, for the indicated court, it is required that the lighting of the same be 100 lux.
For the calculation of the area, the total of the court was divided into 4 parts (A1 = A2 = A3 = A4), considering four lighting poles
When calculating the utilization factor, we use the data of the lamps according to the mounting height and the width of the area.
Now, according to information obtained from the Catholic University of Valparaíso, the luminaire utilization curve, based on the value X obtained, has a Fu = 0.38
For the calculation of the conservation factor we used the depreciation of the luminous flux and the environmental conditions, for this and considering a dusty area, a conservation factor of 0.7 was assumed.
Now, we substitute the data in the initial formula and obtain:
Then, taking into consideration that a lamp of the recommended generates an average illumination of 40,786 lux, we require 3 lamps for each post or area to be illuminated, which will result in 122.36 lux, this result being higher than the minimum recommended by the standards international
Now, in relation to the electrical connection, it is necessary to perform some calculations, therefore we use the data of the power and voltage, with which we obtain the electric current
Well, as the current consumption per lamp is 1.13 A, and each pole will use 3 lamps, the total consumption is 1.13 x 3 = 3.39 A
Now the calculation of the apparent power S for each lamp, using a power factor of 0.9, results in:
Consulting in the national electrical code in the table corresponding to the type of conductor to be used in relation to the apparent power, we obtain as a result that the recommended conductor type is number 12 THW and for this a half-inch PVC pipe will be required. In addition you will need a 2x20A protection
You can check the following link for more information about lighting calculations; Calculation of lighting installations
| Facilities | lux |
| Professionals | 500 |
| Inner fields of Universities and Colleges | 300 |
| Recreational (outdoors) | 100 |
The lux (symbol lx) is the unit derived from the International System of Units for illuminance or level of illumination. Equivalent to a lumen / m². It is used in photometry as a measure of the illuminance, taking into account the different wavelengths according to the luminosity function, a standard model of the sensitivity of the human eye to light.For the lighting system of this project, the use of high pressure sodium vapor lamps with a consumption of 250w will be taken into account, which work with a voltage of 220v, which generate a luminous flux of 23,000 lumens. Now, the lamp to use indicates a data in relation to lumens and we want to know if they are enough to comply with what is established in the previous table. Then, the relationship between Lux and lumen is indicated below:
The difference between the lux and the lumen is that the lux takes into account the surface on which the luminous flux is distributed. 1000 lumens, concentrated on a square meter, illuminate that surface with 1000 lux. The same thousand lumens, distributed over 10 square meters, produce an illuminance of only 100 lux. In other words, illuminating a larger area at the same lux level requires a larger number of lumens.Considering then what is indicated about lux and lumen, we must then calculate if the lamps are sufficient to obtain the corresponding illumination, for this we must calculate the average illumination E (med)
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Wow this post is very informative one. I came to know many things about Photometry and it's related field. True, a well illuminated playground is needed to avoid any damages to players and athletes.
It will be good if the field can be light using renewable energy sources like Solar power.
Many playgrounds are now lit using the Solar Energy which is a genius plan.
Your article was very good read for my brain. Hope you will post more content like this!
Thanks for the comment, very successful.
The idea of renewable energy sources will always be well received, you just have to review very well the aspect of the cost-benefit ratio, since this type of system requires batteries to work and it should be considered that if they are not discarded correctly they can generate environmental pollution, causing more harm than good.
You are right, waste management is one of the core aspect of sustainable development.
If we are able to minimize the cost-benefit ratio as you suggest, we can use this convenient and more eco-friendly energy sources like solar.
As sooner or later, we have to rely on this types of renewable sources anyway....
I think it is possible, just need some time...