Table of Contents
Lighting Layout Got You In The Dark?
Warehouse Lighting 101

Warehouse Lighting 101

You have a design build opportunity to light a warehouse interior and you need to select fixtures to illuminate the space. What do you do?

First of all, take a deep breath and don't panic. With a few measurements and some data about the target area, you'll be able to make the right choices.

Start by breaking the overall area down into its various dimensioned parts:

• open area
  
• bulk storage
• racked storage
  
• shipping and receiving
  
• loading and staging areas
  
• office or paperwork areas

Dimension each of the areas including:

• overall length and width
  
• ceiling height
  
• bottom of fixture height
  
• aisle width
  
• racking width and top of product height for racked and/or open storage areas

Quick tip: Look for repetition or consistency in the racked and aisle sizes in order to break them up into similar sized "hallways." For racking areas note the actual aisle width and rack width.

You'll need to make sure that the bottom of fixture height and fixture placement takes into account the space required to clear heating, ventilating and air conditioning, sprinkler systems, and other equipment mounted to the ceiling. Whether you're retrofitting HID high bays to linear fluorescent high bay fixtures or lighting a new space, you'll need to consider National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) compliance for maintaining sprinkler head clearance.

Linear fluorescent high bay fixtures need to be no greater than 4 feet by 2 feet (Ruud's linear fluorescent HN Series and 4-lamp H Series fixtures are within this dimension). You may have to relocate or add fixtures to accommodate sprinkler head spacing in retrofit or new design applications; for more information about retrofitting HID high bays with linear fluorescent high bays, consult our High Bay Lighting Comparison Guide.)

Identifying the various uses of warehouse space helps determine both the illuminance level required and the best lighting fixture for the area. Your customer's particular warehouse design may have specified light levels that need to be achieved. For example, specific horizontal or vertical light levels at face of product may be required.

• Aisles typically require 20-30 FC maximum
• Shipping/receiving requirements are typically 30-50 FC
• Paperwork areas usually require 50+FC
  

For aisles, these factors will ultimately determine light levels:

• Size of item stored
  
• Size of picking label or print on box (in case it will need to be read and not scanned)
  
• Color of box or items stored

You can contact our Application Engineering Department (1-800-236-7000 or applications@ruudlighting.com) for more specific recommendations. Click here to see an example of a typical warehouse layout

You can then, for example, specify fixtures designed for aisles, such as Ruud's IAL Series Aisle Light or HN Series linear fluorescent high bay fixtures. Make sure each fixture is mounted in the correct orientation to make use of its asymmetrical light distribution; an HN Series linear fluorescent high bay fixture is aligned along the length of an aisle, whereas an H fixture could be aligned with the long axis across the aisle or to illuminate open bulk stock, shipping or receiving areas. (include a link to the illustrations on page 47 and 56 of the 2006 Ruud catalog here.)

Bulk storage areas typically require 4- or 6-lamp linear fluorescent high bays, either Ruud HN or H Series, or HID high bay fixtures such as Ruud's IA or IAR Series. Shipping and receiving areas typically use 6-lamp linear fluorescent high bays (Ruud's H Series) or HID high bays (Ruud IA or IAR Series).

After you've considered warehouse space usage, think about the activity planned for the space and whether occupancy sensor-controlled or two-level fluorescent lighting should be used. Warehouse usage studies show that occupancy sensor-controlled lighting is on only 15 to 20% of the time. Occupancy sensor control is often used on fixtures located in ancillary aisles and bulk or open storage areas where there's typically less activity. Main aisles may or may not be candidates for occupancy sensors, depending on the aisle usage. Shipping, receiving or staging area fixtures are not usually fitted with occupancy control.

Using occupancy sensors to control 2-level aisle fixtures saves considerable energy. The sensors used in a six- or four-lamp linear fluorescent high bay fixture can be set in a variety of ways to maximize savings. For example:

• Occupancy sensors set to turn off all but two lamps in every other T5HO 6-lamp fixture in an aisle would reduce energy consumption by 83%
  
• If two lamps remain lit in every T5HO 6-lamp fixture in an aisle, the energy savings is 66%
  
• In aisles with 4-lamp fixtures, occupancy sensors set to turn off two lamps in every other 4-lamp fixture cut energy usage by 75%
  
• Turning off two lamps in every 4-lamp fixture of an aisle would cut energy usage by 50%

For more energy savings information see our energy savings web site at: http://www.ruudlighting.com/save_energy/index.html

Consider carefully the factors above and you'll select the lighting that best suits your customer's warehouse. If you're short on time or have other questions about warehouse lighting layouts or fixture selection, Ruud Lighting's Application Engineering Department provides free lighting layout assistance. We can offer recommended practices, show examples, or create a layout designed to meet your customer's specific warehouse lighting requirements. Call our Application Engineering Department at 800-236-7000, fax an application request to 800-236-7500, or email your request to applications@ruudliting.com

--Mike Krueger, Technical Services Manager, Ruud Lighting, 262-884-3289, Mike_Krueger@ruudlighting.com