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    1. Architectural Lighting
    2. Indoor Lighting

    Dialight LED fixtures destined for hazardous mining locations

    March 4, 2008
    Mining company Rio Tinto Energy America is installing LED fixtures in various locations to take advantage of their robustness and low energy consumption.

    Rio Tinto Energy America is to install LED-based SafeSite and LEDBright fixtures from Dialight Corporation throughout many of its coal mining and crushing facilities. The LED lights are intended to improve safety dramatically and to decrease maintenance and energy costs in these locations.

    Rio Tinto Energy America has begun to replace traditional high-pressure sodium, metal halide and fluorescent lighting fixtures with the new SafeSite and LEDBright fixtures to achieve a better, whiter grade of lighting with an instant-on feature so they can be used as needed.

    Specific applications at Rio Tinto Energy America include replacement of Hi Bay Lighting (400-watt HID fixtures) in maintenance areas with LEDBright fixtures; replacement of lighting on drill rigs where vibration shortens the life of traditional lights; and replacement of lighting in wash bays with LEDBright fixtures, thus eliminating the shock of hitting a hot fixture with cold water.

    Rugged LED fixtures are ideal for applications such as this, and provide extremely long life before servicing is required. With the great reduction in power needed to operate these new fixtures, they will assist Rio Tinto Energy America in efforts to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

    Rio Tinto Energy America specializes in the production of low-sulphur, sub-bituminous coal, and operates five coal mines located in Wyoming, Montana and Colorado. Future additional applications are presently being considered within Rio Tinto facilities.

    Doug Woehler, product manager at Dialight, says, "The emergence of LED technology designed specifically for hazardous environments means that companies like Rio Tinto Energy America can use SafeSite to make energy and maintenance cost savings without compromising on their lighting needs. In some environments where coal dust can create a potentially explosive atmosphere, traditional lighting cannot be installed. SafeSite provides a new, safe option to light these areas."

    SafeSite is designed to replace 75W to 250W HID light sources in hazardous location applications. The fixture provides better quality light, higher fixture efficiency and 30% greater energy efficiency than traditional HID light source technology. The SafeSite LED white downlight can be mounted on walls, stanchions and pendent mounts, and provides an instant-on response so it can be used as needed rather than wasting energy when not required.