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Cooper Lighting and Security has supplied two Menvier 12kVA static inverters to power the emergency lighting throughout the futuristic National Space Centre in Leicester.
Most prominent among the numerous attractions at the Centre is the 42m-high chrysalis-shaped building that houses two 32m-high rockets.
As with any facility that is open to the general public, the provision of an effective emergency lighting system was clearly a vital consideration in the design of the Centre's electrical services.
The use of static inverters, which convert DC power from a built-in standby battery to 240V AC 50Hz single-phase power, offered the advantage of allowing a vast range of conventional luminaires to be used as emergency fittings.
Luminaires selected from the general lighting scheme are powered from the inverters and are wired independently of other systems, using fire-resistant cabling.
The lighting levels from the conventional luminaires when powered by the inverters are much higher than those that can generally be achieved when using traditional self-contained or converted emergency luminaires, thus enabling the required emergency illumination levels to be achieved with fewer emergency fittings.
Furthermore, the use of a large centrally located battery with a 10-year design life - as opposed to individual small batteries with a 5-year design life within each emergency luminaire - greatly simplifies maintenance in years to come as the batteries reach the end of their design life and require replacement.
Cooper Lighting and Security ACM1 control modules were installed within the emergency luminaires to allow full local switching of the normal mains supply to the fittings under 'mains healthy' conditions, with automatic transfer to the emergency supply in the event of local or total mains failure.
The Midlands Regional Office of mechanical and electrical services company EMCOR Drake & Scull undertook all installation work on this prestigious project.
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