sparks
ELECTRICAL NEWS
february
2014
22
lighting
IESSA round-up for 2013 : About better light and lighting performance
President’s message fromGregMarcia,
president of IESSA
As the lighting industry moves through these
uncertain times, I believe it is time to return to the
fundamentals. It is time to reassert normal good
engineering values, observe standards and chal-
lenge exaggeration, misinformation and spin. The
association and its members must look at lighting
from a sustainability point of view and not allow
the industry to be usurped by charlatans and
chancers.
We must focus on energy efficiency and carbon
reduction but we must also concentrate on
measuring and learning from the performance of
real buildings, and not be taken in by‘greenwash’
hype. As an industry, we must unlock, track and
benchmark real performance data and lighting
performance.
IESSA and its members are about better light
and lighting performance in the fullest sense;
we must make that clear in the way we conduct
ourselves and in the role we play.
I would like to thank all members for support-
ing the activities of IESSA, its branches and the
management committee this year. Last year was
challenging but we achieved some realistic goals
and set a strategy plan for the association. I credit
this to our committee members who worked
hard and showed dedication andmotivation.
We wouldn’t have achieved any projects without
their support and the support in terms of time for
them to serve IESSA.
Connie Jonker, IESSA technical advisor,
reports on‘Development of new compulsory
specification for luminaires - VC9012’
Since the first publication of the compulsory
specification for electrical and electronic appli-
ances, Government Notice 466 in 1981, which
was later replaced by VC8055, the specification
covered a large range of electrical appliances,
including luminaires.
This had the disadvantage that the stakehold-
ers, participating in the development of the
compulsory specification, come fromdifferent
technological backgrounds, whichmeans that
each has a different focus on the safety require-
ments to be regulated. While this has had a
negative effect on the content and develop-
ment of specificationVC8055 and the method of
regulation, IESSA and other technical associations
requested the revision of VC8055 into various
parts, covering different product groups. Follow-
ing this request, NRCS approved a new project to
develop a compulsory specification for lumi-
naires, VC9012.
This project also included the newNRCS ap-
proach, whereby the safety risk of the products
categories are evaluated and graded to distin-
guish between high, medium and low risk prod-
ucts. For the various luminaire types, the risks of
electrical shock, fire and burns were evaluated.
The outcome of this risk assessment was used
to formulate the scope of VC9012, which now
gives a much clearer selection of luminaire types
covered by the compulsory specification and the
types of luminaires excluded. It is believed the
new draft specification will address many of the
issues raised on the VC8055 scope.
The proposed scope of VC9012 mainly cov-
ers portable luminaires, luminaires which are
regularly touched, handled or adjusted and
luminaires which are installed by the‘ordinary’
person. Luminaires installed by skilled persons
in fixed installations are generally excluded.
Although there are still some grey areas in the
luminaire types covered, the new scope should
give far more clarity to users.
The new draft alsomakes provision for two
types of approval, namely the present LoA sys-
tembased on type approval and also a system
for luminaires manufactured under a Type 5
product certification scheme, where conformity
of production and audit reports issued by the
product certification body are used as a basis
for renewal of LoAs. Once a final agreement is
reached between SABS and NRCS, industry will
be informed on the processes to be applied for
the regulation of SABS certified luminaires.
The new draft VC9012 has developed through
the working group stage and is now ready
for further processing and approval by NRCS
management. It is expected that VC9012 will be
circulated by NRCS for comment during the first
quarter of 2014.
Natasha Nel Sakharova reports on CIE
Division 2Technical CommitteeMeetings
and CIE ExpertWorkshop on Advanced
Methods for Photometry, held in October
2013 in Bled, Slovenia
The International Commission on Illumination
(CIE) offered a two-day workshop on state- of-
the-art techniques in the field of photometry,
held in Bled, Slovenia. The emphasis was on
basic concepts as well as advanced techniques
in photometric and colorimetric measurements,
aimed at engineers and researchers in LED and
solid-state lightingmeasurements. The event
was organised by the CIE Division 2 in coopera-
tion with the Lighting Engineering Society of
Slovenia (SDR). The CIE Division 2 focuses on the
physical measurement of light and radiation.
Division 2 technical committee meetings were
held prior to the workshop.
The CIE is regarded as the best authority on the
subject of light measurement and is recognised
by ISO as an international standardisation body.
CIE Division 2 focuses on the development of
improvedmeasurement methods, technolo-
gies and acceptable measurement conditions.
The introduction of LED sources requires that
establishedmeasurement methods be revised to
accommodate the spatial and spectral character-
istics of LED-based light sources. The main topics
at this workshop include imaging photometry,
measurement uncertainties (MU) of colour
quantities, sampling theory applied to spectral
measurements and spectral correlationmethods
for estimating the MU for spectral quantities.
The National Metrology Institute of South Africa
(NMISA) has taken the initiative to contribute
to the establishment of a solid-state lighting
calibration andmeasurement research facility.
Having a representative from the NMISA, at this
workshop andmeetings, ensures that the facility
that will be established is in line with the current
CIE measurement methods. Consequently, the
NMISA constantly ensures dissemination of such
knowledge to the local lighting industry through
the SABS TC064/SC 01 LEDWorking Group.
