Electrical and Lighting Technology Roadmap

At the 2022 Emerson Exchange conference, Emerson’s Harish Shinde and Lisa Nowak shared a roadmap for Emerson’s electrical fixtures and lighting technology advancements. Energy efficiency plays a significant role in sustainability initiatives, and lighting is an important area to investigate.

Harish opened by highlighting the three main segments in the electrical & lighting business. Electrical & construction materials, Power quality & distribution, and heating cable systems.

 Lisa showed the portfolio’s advancement of lighting offerings over the past half decade. Harish shared how the SolaHD uninterruptible power supplies have been reduced in size and increased in efficiency. Current challenges with power supplies are that they provide no health diagnostics but run to failure.

The SolaHD power supplies embed diagnostics that support predictive maintenance. Power supplies can be proactively managed. One important measurement is the ambient temperatures in the cabinets where they and the other electronics are located. High temperatures can reduce the lives of the equipment.

Another important measurement is load. Measuring the current to a motor can diagnose early problems with the motor in the event of rapid changes or load spikes. Redundancy is another significant capability for many applications. Diagnostics can provide a warning if the load exceeds a single power supply’s maximum, thus no longer acting as a redundant pair. For example, if a 10amp pair of power supply has a load of more than ten amps, even though they can support 20 amps, an alert will notify them that they are no longer redundant.

Lisa discussed lighting solutions that can enhance safety & reliability, are network integrated, and support custom monitoring and reporting. Lighting can reduce when no personnel is in the area and return to necessary brightness when they are in the area. The data from the networked lights can feed ESG reporting requirements.

The Mercmaster Connect provides integrated dimming control for a wide range of Appleton lights. It also can give occupancy sensing and daylight control. LED lighting can provide much more vibrant and accurate color lighting than traditional HID [high-intensity discharge] lighting. Typical drivers to upgrade lighting are improving safety, reducing maintenance costs, and greater energy efficiency.

Lisa next discussed electrical solutions. Powertite lock collars disable the ability to disconnect electrical power. PlexPower Stainless Steel Enclosures provide easy access and meet the requirements for explosion proof applications.

Visit the links above more information on these solutions for lighting and electrical applications.

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