This project pertains to assessing the lighting requirements of a super specialty/teaching hospital and generating lighting solutions that are also energy efficient for some of the key spaces in the facility
The objective of this project was to provide energy-efficient and effective lighting for a super specialty/teaching hospital under construction.
The methodology involved the use of computer simulations to assess the illuminance requirements for the different types of rooms and choose a luminaire according to BIS standards. There were five areas in the under-construction hospital for which lighting was to be designed–classroom, consultation room, surgery department, floor waiting hall and corridor, and scanner rooms.
Classroom:
- Indirect lighting system for low-brightness and shadow-free illumination
- LED down-lighters for a glare-free lighting of the blackboard
Consultation room:
- Indirect lighting combined with accent lighting
- Low-powered halogen examination light with a reflector would be effective for patient examination.
Surgery department:
- Nurse Station:
- Multi-level lighting
- Task lighting to supplement general illumination of the nurse station
- Common Patient Area:
- Similar to office lighting
- Recessed louver-type luminaire for uniform distribution of light
- Examination rooms:
- The color of the light should not change the natural appearance of a patient’s skin.
- Shadowless lighting
- Lighting to be confined to the bed area
- Adequate lighting over a circular area, 2 feet in diameter
- Consultation room: As mentioned above
Floor Waiting Hall and Corridor:
- Polished and highly reflective floors should be avoided in these areas as they generate glare.
Scanner rooms:
- Lighting to be indirect and light source to be away from patient’s direct line of sight.
- General lighting controlled by dimmer, as low illuminance is required during procedures and high illuminance during maintenance.
- MRI rooms should have incandescent, non-ferrous, or LED lighting so that the magnetic field of the MRI equipment does not affect the lighting system.
- Balanced luminance distribution is required near the computer monitor and the keyboard.
The authors identify a limitation of their project that the simulations were done for rooms without furniture or occupants.
Other limitations of this study:
- The authors provide very few specifications and requirements of the project.
- There are several inconsistencies in the article pertaining to the standards followed for the lighting – the text mentions adherence to IENSA, ANSI, and NLC norms, and the flow chart refers to BIS standards.
- There is no information about the software used to create the simulations.
- It is not clear why the simulations were done for vacant rooms.