Relamping the Arch

Shedding new light on outdoor design

Hillsboro workers replace arch's high-maintenance incandescent lights (yellow) with long-life LED lamps from LEDtronics (blue)

The town of Hillsboro, Oregon, has the Hillsboro Arch, built and installed to be an example of the town's civic pride. Until recently, hundreds of small incandescent lights located along the arch's 90-foot contours would shine against the night sky. However, when the bulbs began to blow (each light lasted an average of 14 months), facilities manager Mike Klein began searching for an alternative to the incandescent lights originally installed in the design. It was difficult to relamp the arch every 14 months, the problem compounded by the fact that the town's light rail line ran beneath the arch. The transit authority was reluctant to stop rail service, reroute trains and inconvenience commuters to enable maintenance crews to relamp. Klein had to operate quickly to keep the landmark from resembling the marquee of a dilapidated old theater.

"We considered using flood lights to wash the structure in color, but then started to research something with a longer life," explained Klein. Although he knew about LED technology, he conducted research to find a company that made LED bulbs that would easily replace the arch's incandescents. LEDtronics, Torrance, CA, produces a 470nm blue LED that uses a tenth of the power required by an equivalent incandescent lamp and, more importantly, operates for 11 years.

While LEDs seemed a logical choice based on life expectancy, the price compared with incandescent lamps concerned Klein. However, those financial concerns were calmed when analysis showed that the cost of the LEDs would be offset by the reduced number of times the arch had to be relamped. In fact, savings from reduced power usage, maintenance cost, and downtime were expected to return the town's capital investment in six to eight months.

LED lamps use 80-90% less operating power than standard incandescent bulbs, which expend 90% or more of their energy in the formation of heat. Conversely, LEDs emit nearly 100% of their energy as colored light while generating negligible heat. In the short time since the town relamped the arch, they already see a reduction in operating costs. The arch now operates at 0.6 kW for all 580 lamps compared to 2.7 kW with incandescent bulbs--a 4-fold decrease in operating costs.

"In four months since the 580 LEDs have been installed on the arch, there have been no failures," said Klein, adding, "Over a similar 4-month period, we would often lose 5 to 10 percent of the incandescent lamps to burnout." Cost savings aside, the arch just looks better, too, returning to the townspeople the civic pride it was meant to instill. --KC

For more information:

Circle 597 - LEDtronics or connect directly to their website via the Online Reader Service Program at http://www.OneRS.net/107df-597