CASE STUDY Intelligence in the Lighting Control System of the “The new Kallang Paya Lebar Express- Kallang Paya Lebar Expressway way (KPE) in Singapore was officially opened on September 19, 2008. The in Singapore new six (6) lanes expressway cuts travel time from the north to the city by up to 25%. The TLACS is part of Challenge Control and monitor 16 000 luminaires in a new 12 km tunnel so as to the solutions that helped reach this optimize operations while maintaining a safe level of lighting at all times. objective. “ Solution The installation of the TLACS (Tunnel Lighting Addressable Control Sys- T.C. Chua, Singapore tem), an innovative and intelligent control lighting system for tunnels. Benefits ❖ A 25% cost reduction on cable installations for the luminaires. ❖ Optimization of lamp life expectancy based on the manufacturer’s parameters. ❖ Reduction of energy consumption of up to 25%, according to the true daily lighting needs. ❖ Improved traffic flow. ❖ Optimized operations. Overview Based in a densely developed urban en- effective, cost effective, and sustainable vironment and facing an increase in traf- to meet the needs of Singapore’s citizens. fic volume, the Land Transport Authority Developing an underground express- (LTA), the public agency responsible for the way system was a natural solution that development of the ground transportation addressed the various imperatives of plan in Singapore, has a mission to plan me- increased transportation needs and dium- and long-term transportation needs improved urban quality of life. while making sure that the plan helps to improve the efficiency and safety of road Stretching between the East Coast Parkway network users. (ECP) and the Tampines Expressway (TPE), the 12 km KPE tunnel has 13 entries and As is the case with many major cities 14 exits. Officially opened in Septem- around the world, Singapore has to face ber 2008, the KPE tunnel serves the the challenge of the increasing needs of growing residential, commercial, and its mobile population while preserving industrial needs of the north-eastern the quality of life in its urban environment. corridor. The KPE helps reducing the jour- Indeed, the LTA predicts that there will ney time in the northeast corridor by up be a raise of 60% in traffic flow—from to 25%. 8.9 million movements today to 14.3 million movements in 2020. The KPE tunnel is part of a development plan that began in the 70s and will span The network transport solution proposed over the course of the next 10 to 15 years. by LTA must necessarily be integrated, paGE 1 CASE STUDY Objectives The first objective in the design of KPE tunnel being the safety of the motorists, the LTA was looking for a safe and sustainable solution that would improve traffic flow and reduce transit time by 25%. Figure 1: Singapore’s Expressway development plan One of the envisioned strategies to improve traffic flow was installing a control lighting system that would: ❖ Reduce the black hole effect, which would, in turn, enable motorists to refrain from braking as much upon entrance to the tunnel. ❖ Ensure an optimal level of lighting and adhere to the most stringent of safety standards (which means a lighting management system with a minimum of failures). ❖ Provide real-time control and monitoring of each luminaire and its components. This would enable timely responses and minimize human interventions in the tunnel. To ensure that the system provided the utmost security, the LTA determined that the system must: ❖ Be addressable and control each lamp individually. ❖ Monitor the status of the luminaires, including the voltage and the state of the ballast with its different electrical parameters. ❖ Automatically adapt the luminosity inside tunnel based on the one outside. ❖ Adjust the light state following a command from the luminescent camera or another source in the system. ❖ Alternate luminaire usage on a daily basis in order to maximize use life. ❖ Ensure constant lighting with the uniform wear of lamps. ❖ Adjust the stages of the tunnel’s lighting based on a pre-determined schedule. ❖ Enable a preventive and corrective maintenance of the entire lighting system. ❖ Trigger a real-time alarm to inform operators of incidents. ❖ Provide an intelligent system with automatic controls so that all components of the lighting system can be managed. ❖ Feature a user friendly interface for sharp learning curves and minimal training. ❖ Support redundancy in all of its components. ❖ Enable a fail-safe mode in which all luminaires turn on in case of an anomaly. ❖ Maintain data history for up to five (5) years. paGE 2 CASE STUDY Solution The TLACS was the perfect solution For this project, the TLACS included the following components: available to meet these requirements. The main purpose of the TLACS ❖ LPC (Local Product Controllers) allows for automated control and ❖ NWC (Network Controllers) surveillance of multiple lights. It is spe- ❖ SVR (Server-Router Cluster) cifically designed for tunnel light control. ❖ GSR (Gateway Servers) ❖ TMC (Tunnel Main Controllers) The LPCs are installed in the luminaires. Their function is to turn luminaires on and off as well as permanently monitor electrical parameters to diagnose the various troubles that could unfold from external components, such as ballasts, capacitors, lamps, etc. ITPMS Control Operator Control The NWCs gather data from the LPCs: state, Room Workstation Room Workstation status (on/off) and their total hours of usage. They control the state of the LPC’s according to the requested lighting level. As for the SVRs, they transfer network data coming from the NWCs to the TMCs. They also receive a signal of a photometer to then trans- mit is to the NWC. Luminance Cameras Finally, the TMCs are used as servers that main- (LCAMs) tain and update two databases. The first TMC stores the tunnel data history. The second one stores the tunnel configuration. The user interface located at the command cen- ter is connected to the TMC in order to config- ure, control, and monitor tunnel operations. Power line communication technology or Dedicated wire Figure 2: Tunnel Lighting Addressable Control System paGE 3 CASE STUDY Optimization of lamp life improved traffic flow expectancy based on the The optimal and safe lighting at the en- manufacturer’s parameters. trance and throughout the tunnel helps While controlling the time period in which optimize the flow of traffic, which, com- Results luminaires are on (for instance, less lu- bined with other advanced solutions, has minaires are required at night) and alter- contributed to reducing transit time of up A 25% cost reduction on cable nating the sequence for each lamp in the to 25% between the northeast sector and installations for the luminaires luminaire, the TLACS ensures a homo- the city center. In addition, it has helped to Even if the luminaires installed in the tun- geneous wear of lamps. This in turn pro- improve the connectivity with the rest of nel contain two lamps, only one cable has vides standardized lighting throughout the the motorway network of Singapore. been installed from the luminaires. It has tunnel and facilitates maintenance. therefore been possible to reduce 300 km Optimized operations (on a total of almost 1200 km) worth of Reduction of energy consump- Lighting scenarios, customization of alarms cables installed in the tunnel as well as tion of up to 25%, according to and onsite configuration and testing of decrease the number of cable accessories the true daily lighting needs. lamps are features that are helping to sub- and the installation time. The ultimate re- Rather than establishing the level of light- stantially reduce the time and the number sult: near $1 million dollars in cost-savings. ing with a pre-established schedule, lighting of manual intervention in tunnels. With today’s price of copper being four is now configured based on outside lumi- times more than it was 10 years ago, the nosity. This provides better comfort for The preventive maintenance program, results are compelling: real savings can motorists while improving safety for tun- which is certainly the TLACS’ most in- be achieved when choosing a system that nel users and offers an important energy novative feature in terms of optimizing uses power line communication or a solu- saving. operations, helps to minimize lane closures tion that uses almost half the wire such as Furthermore, with an average of 177 rainy for the replacement of lamps. The TLACS the TLACS. days a year in Singapore, the lighting in the enables operators to efficiently create entrance of the tunnel is reduced in a sig- an optimized maintenance road map to nificant way to adapt to the true outside identify lamps that are no longer working luminosity. The TLACS therefore lowers and lamps that are about to attain their the level of lighting on rainy or cloudy days, maximum use life. compared with systems based on pre-es- tablished schedules. These archaic systems Thanks to the TLACS, tunnel operators often plan the level of maximum lighting to can not only more optimally manage tun- 4380 hours a year (12 hours a day), rather nel lighting but also substantially decrease than 2022 hours, which is the real average operational costs and provide the utmost annual sunshine hours in Singapore. safety for tunnel users. As an overall result, the TLACS helps to save 25% of energy costs as well as reduce the wear of lamps. Figures 3: Fluctuation of copper 2000-2010 Disclaimer: All of the above information, including drawings, illustrations, and graphic designs, reflects our present understanding, and is to the best of our knowl- edge. We believe that the data presented is accurate and reliable. Users, however, should independently evaluate the suitability of each product for the desired application.