Fluorescent lighting cuts maintenance costs

Shell UK has completed a lighting upgrade across 12 of its North Sea oil platforms, which involved the removal and installation of several thousand explosion-proof fluorescent lighting units.

The programme is part of a much larger enhancement and rejuvenation project at Shell, which involves not only emergency lighting, but also other types of electrical equipment located in hazardous areas, including pumps, generators, switchgear, motors and control equipment.

The programme is currently being expanded to include Shell UK's onshore facilities.

For the lighting units, the original supply agreement between Cooper Crouse-Hinds (UK) and Shell UK Exploration and Production Europe was made back in 2005.

The eight-year contract involves the supply of lighting to both onshore and offshore installations, using the CEAG ELLK 92 range of fluorescent light fittings from Cooper Crouse-Hinds.

The lights have been fitted to both indoor and outdoor locations across the 12 Shell North Sea oil platforms.

As part of the contract, technical support and installation training were also provided by Cooper Crouse-Hinds.

John Ferguson, senior electrical engineer at Shell UK, said: 'In 2005, we evaluated three suppliers of explosion-proof fluorescent lighting.

'We needed to replace most of the fluorescent lights across 12 of our offshore oil platforms, for obsolescence and other age-related reasons.

'In awarding the contract, the key drivers for us were cost of ownership of the lighting and a range of other factors that were weighted and scored accordingly.

Quality and reliability were important factors for Shell.

Ferguson added: 'Since 2005, in excess of 10,000 light fittings have been supplied to us and only around 20 fittings have had to be returned to the supplier.

'However, only two or three of these were due to design or technical faults with the product - the rest were because of incorrect installation on our behalf.

'Overall, we are very satisfied with the quality and reliability of the lights.

Ease of installation and maintenance of the light fittings were also critical factors in selecting the supplier.

Ferguson said: 'Cooper Crouse-Hinds went the extra yard by providing a handy, pocket-sized reference guide for all our maintenance engineers and technicians.

'This included important installation and maintenance information and was very easy to use.

Cooper Crouse-Hinds UK also provided on-site installation training.

'On the technical support side, Cooper Crouse-Hinds reacted very quickly to any queries that we had.

'In one particular example, the company modified the design of its light fitting ballast by incorporating new circuitry that detects the early stages of the tube end-of-life phenomenon and shuts down the fitting, thus avoiding a potential overheating problem with the fluorescent light,' added Ferguson.

The ELLK 92 range of fluorescent lighting units are available for Atex Zone 1, Zone 2, Zone 21 and Zone 22 hazardous areas.

The lighting units come in 2ft, 4ft or 5ft lengths, with twin lights.

The 2ft and 4ft versions can be supplied as emergency lighting.

These versions have a NIB battery fitted, which monitors the lighting, providing onboard maintenance with LED indication for capacity and faults.

The ELLK 92 units are designed with a glass fibre reinforced plastic enclosure and a polycarbonate protective bowl.

The units are protected to IP66 (EN 60529).

Permissible ambient temperatures range from - 20C up to +50C.

As well as lighting units, Cooper Crouse-Hinds provides a range of other explosion-protected electrical equipment, including emergency light fittings and signs, switches, terminal boxes, control stations, portable lamps, connectors and plugs.

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