Avaliação de sistemas de iluminação externa considerando a visão mesópica

Abstract

The street lighting systems in Brazil are important components of the matrix of electric energy consumption, economic cost and especially environmental impact, being a subject of paramount importance for sustainable development, as minimizing the waste of energy favors the preservation of the environment. In this context, when considering the perception of light by the human eye, different visual responses are observed, resulting in different visual operation regimes and spectral sensitivity curves. Considering the classical photometry is based on the sensitivity of the vision under the photopic regime, which corresponds to the sensitivity of human vision in places with high levels of luminosity, in outdoor environments it is common to face the mesopic regime, that is, an intermediate range between high and low luminance. In view of the above, the objective of this work is through the mesopic photometry to assist the elaboration of street lighting projects considering as a prime motivator energy efficiency for urban areas. For this purpose, a bibliographic review was carried out on the proposed theme, and later, through the measurement of illuminance and luminance data in some of the public thoroughfares in the city of Juiz de Fora, to accomplish a comparative analysis between the conventional and the mesopic method. Finally, it was concluded that the replacement of sodium lamp-based luminaires (HPS) with light-emitting diode (LED) based luminaires is favorable for energy consumption, which is further enhanced considering mesopic vision.