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Technology  
Energy Saving System
How It Works
How It Works

In every electrical lighting environment there are a number of consistent issues to be accommodated:

  1. The incoming voltage is variable - in Australia the current standard is 240V +/- 6%. This means lighting fixtures are required to operate at as high as 254.4V (240 + 6%) and as low as 225.6V (240 - 6%). Other countries operate to different standards and as most light fixtures are manufactured for multiple markets, fixtures are in fact required to operate at range of voltages from as low as 190V to as high as 260V.
  2. All lighting devices suffer from light output decay over their lifetime as is depicted in the diagram below for a fluorescent lamp.

Energy Saving System - How It Works

This means that when lighting engineers are designing for the amount of light needed in an environment they must use the light output at the end of the useful life of the light type to ensure adequate light output for the full life of the lamp.

The GEL Energy Saving System takes advantages of these 2 circumstances to deliver significant power savings.

  1. By utilising an autotransformer with electronic management the GEL Energy Saving System is able to reduce the voltage to the light and consequently reduce the amperage used by the lamp. This can be demonstrated by using Ohm's Law that says the Voltage = Current x Resistance. For example at 240V a lighting circuit might draw 20 Amps and 12 Ohms of resistance: 240 Volts = 20 Amps x 12 Ohms If the voltage was reduced to 200V and there was no change to the resistance of the circuit it would now only draw 16.67 Amps: 200 Volts = 16.67 Amps x 12 Ohms The GEL Energy Saving System reduces the incoming voltage, in eight steps, by 36 Volts, as is shown in the diagram below: Energy Saving System - How It Works
  2. This reduction power consumption will cause a reduction of light output, but as there is always significant over-engineering in lighting designs, the light will still deliver more than the required light output as shown on the yellow line on the next chart.

  3. The GEL Energy Saving System also removes harmonics from the lighting circuits and this combined with the fact the lamps are using less power and that they will also run cooler, will extend their useful life by between 30% and 50%.