In order to continue the hockey game at night, we need to use the suitable hockey court lighting. The standard size of the hockey field is about 91 x 55 meters, and if need to illuminate such a large area, we usually use high power outdoor floodlights of up to 1500 watts to 4,000 watts. In addition to sufficient brightness, the best lighting system for the hockey arena should be anti-glare and flicker-free to enhance the view of the players and the audience.
This article will present how to illuminate a hockey stadium or club with LED stadium flood light and the befits of using LED stadium flood lights after replacing metal halide, halogen and mercury vapor lamps.
1. How to illuminate the hockey stadium
Unlike other commercial lighting, stadium lighting is more challenging because we need to solve more different professional lighting problems.
1) The lux level of hockey stadium
In general, the brightness level increases with the standard of competition. For recreational or community hockey club competitions, the lux level is about 200 to 300 lux. For national tournament, it takes about 500 to 750 lux. If the hockey arena is designed for holding international tournament such as Men’s & Women’s Champions Trophy, Commonwealth Games or World Cup and other international championships, then the horizontal illumination should reach up to 1000 to 2000 lux.
Meanwhile, we also need to consider the horizontal and vertical illumination in the lighting design. Horizontal illumination means the brightness on the ground, but vertical illumination is for the face and body of the hockey players. The lux level of vertical illumination is an important parameter for FHD or 4K broadcasting because it allows the camera to clearly capture the athlete's movements.
In the hockey stadium lighting design, the challenging task is how to maintain horizontal and vertical lux levels in a 1:1 ratio. Our lighting designers will provide the best Dialux photometric lighting plans for different needs. And we offer the customized stadium lighting fixtures because understand that each project has its own unique pole arrangement and lighting requirements. So kindly contact us if you have any need.
2) The uniformity of hockey stadium
Due to the limitations of the light pole and luminaire arrangement, it is normal to have bright and dark spots in reality. However, it will be intolerable if the performance of the hockey player is important enough during the games.
The illumination uniformity is measured on a scale of 0 to 1 (maximum). It is the ratio between the minimum lux on the ground and the average, or the ratio between the minimum lux and the maximum lux. For professional competitions, the requirement for illumination uniformity is approximately 0.7, but we can offer high quality lighting solutions with 0.7 to 0.8 illumination uniformity.
3) Avoid flickering
Observable flickering not only strains the eyes of players and viewers, but also affects video recording. The flickering issue is especially obvious if you use fluorescent lights, metal halide lamps or other gas discharge lighting fixtures. In order to provide better illumination for the hockey stadium, we have developed a flicker-free LED lamp that supports high-speed cameras up to 5000 to 6000 Hz to capture fast-moving ice hockey and hockey sticks.
4) Using anti-glare lenses to reduce light pollution
Sometimes we use up to 5,000 to 20,000 watts of LED lights for the hockey stadium. Poor optics can cause serious light pollution in the surrounding area. It not only affects the living quality of nearby residents, but also affects the surrounding wildlife. We use precise optical lighting lens that can concentrate the light into a designated area, reducing light leakage by >95%.
2. The befits of using LED stadium flood lights for Hockey Field
There are three main befits of using LED stadium flood lights for field hockey, if you are hesitant to use the LED lights or replace the existing HID, metal halide lamps, and halogen lamps with LED lights.
1) Higher durability
One of the biggest incentives is that we can enjoy longer lasting luminaries after replacing the LEDs. Compared to halogen bulbs, LEDs have a 10 times longer lifespan. We can save on the cost of buying new lights and the cost of installation each time you change. Our LED sports lights have a service life of 80,000 hours or have been in use for more than 30 years.
In addition, LEDs have better durability because of their better IP rating. Our LED lights are waterproof IP67, making them suitable for outdoor high mast lighting. It operates normally in storms and other inclement weather conditions.
2) Higher energy efficiency
LEDs consume less energy to provide the same lumen brightness. Do you know that different types of lighting have their own luminous efficiency (energy efficiency)? Our LED lamps have 140 to 170 lumens per watt, while halogen bulbs are only 10 to 15 lumens per watt and metal halide lamps are 75 to 90 lumens per watt.
So it is worthwhile to make this investment because it offers many long-term benefits, although the initial cost is slightly higher than traditional lighting.
3) High flexibility
Since we have our own R&D team and factory, we can customize LED floodlights according to different needs. For example, after obtaining the customer's ground lux and uniformity requirements, pole height, number of poles on the field and other basic information, we will provide tailored lighting solutions with different structural design, power, beam angle, etc., so that our LED stadium flood lights to meet different lighting projects’ requirement.
Welcome to contact OAK LED if you need us to offer any lighting design or professional advice for your lighting projects.
