DESIGN OF SOLAR-POWERED LED ROAD LIGHTING SYSTEM

Turkey is rich in terms of renewable energy sources and, therefore, is now encouraging the use of sustainable clean lighting systems in road applications. High pressure sodium lamp is the most widely used type in main roads, but other types of lamps such as mercury vapour lamps or metal halide lamps can be utilized for street lighting. Since it enables energy and money saving, LED light technology has replaced high pressure sodium lamps nowadays. Once solar power system (PV) is integrated with LED lamp for street lighting, the amount of saving and local impact might be enriched. LEDs used as light sources in road lighting luminaires with rising lumen values, decreasing junction temperature, higher colour rendering efficiency, longer lifetime have become more efficient than many light sources with the latest developments. Since the structure of the luminaires in which the LED light sources are used differs from that of the conventional light sources, the optical, thermal and electrical design of the LED luminaires must be considered differently. Thus, this study concentrates upon design considerations and the operating principle of solar-powered LED road lighting luminaire in details. Also, a simple solar panel system was designed and the economical values obtained at the end of 20 years were compared when using the on-grid system and the off-grid system.