mercredi 11 janvier 2017

Facts About Aircraft Warning Lights On Buildings

By Sarah Smith


Aircraft warning lights refer to high-intensity lighting devices that are attached on structures such as buildings in order to avoid collision. These devices serve as a measure for avoiding collision. The intention of using these devices is to make buildings more visible to aircraft passing by. In most cases, they are used at night even though they can be used during daytime too. Aircraft warning lights on buildings must be visible from several miles away for them to be effective.

Generally, only two types of these lights exist, that is, white flashers and red lamps. Red lamps are programmed to remain on throughout or to go on and off at a certain rate. The rate is usually low and does not change even though it can be changed. White flashers are normally xenon discharge flashers. Red lamps are gaining more popularity in some countries such as the UK over white flashers.

Red lamps have incandescent filament bulbs installed into them. Red lamps have a very short lifespan, something that has made their design to be ruggedized to improve lifespan. Operating power used in them is also lowered in order to achieve a higher lifespan. Incandescent bulbs are in the recent past started to be replaced by high-power red LEDs.

LED-based lamps have a much longer lifespan. This increases reliability while reducing maintenance costs. Some manufacturers have started to produce medium-intensity strobes basing on LED technology as a replacement for xenon flashers. This has made xenon flashers still desirable in the US. Thus, white flashers are used during the day while red lamps are lit at night.

The use of red lamps tends to be dominant in urban areas, because they can be spotted easily by pilots from a height. Even though white flashers are used in some urban areas, they are not very common. They are usually not common because they tend to merge with background lighting at night, something that makes it difficult for them to be spotted by pilots. This problem does not occur in rural areas.

In general, any kid of structure can be installed with the lamps. Some examples of structures are wind turbines, electricity pylons, water tanks, tall buildings, chimneys, cranes, broadcast masts, and broadcast tower. Shorter structures may also have the devices installed if they have a close proximity of an airport. Here, they warm incoming and outgoing pilots.

Usually, lights are organized in sets of two or more lamps up the structure. The top of the structure will have a set of lamps and other sets will be placed at predetermined intervals downwards. The height of the structure may determine how many lamps are comprised in each set at each interval. Similarly, the height determines the interval between lamps and the number of sets.

These lamps often cause light trespass. Those who live near the lamps often place complaints about the light trespassing. Towerkill of birds together with light pollution are also important issues of concern.




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