Illuminance - Recommended Light Levels

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Psychrometrics Recommended light levels - illuminance - for some common types of working activities • Add this Page!
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● • Fluid Mechanics
● • Gas and Light Level or Illuminance, is the total luminous flux incident on a surface, per unit area. The work plane is where the most important tasks in the room or space
are performed.
Compressed Air
● • HVAC Systems Measuring Units Light Level - Illuminance
● • Hydraulics and
Pneumatics Illumenance is measured in foot candles (ftcd, fc, fcd) (or lux in the metric SI system). A
foot candle is actually one lumen of light density per
● • Insulation square foot , one lux is one lumen per
● • Material square meter .

Properties
● 1 lux = 0.0929 foot candle = 1
● • Mathematics
lumen /sq meter = 0.0001 phot
● • Mechanics ● 1 ftcd = 1 lux / 10.752
● • Miscellaneous ● 1 lumen/sq ft = 1 foot candle =
1x10 4 lux = 1 phot
● • Physiology
• Piping Systems
Common Light Levels Outdoor
●

● • Process Control
● • Pumps Common light levels outdoor at day and night can be found in the table below:
● • Standards
Organizations Illumination
• Steam and Condition
●
(ftcd) (lux)
Condensate
Sunlight 10,000 107,527
● • Thermodynamics
Full Daylight 1,000 10,752
● • Water Systems
Overcast Day 100 1,075

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Illuminance - Recommended Light Levels

Very Dark Day 10 107

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• Add this Page! Twilight 1 10.8
Deep Twilight .1 1.08
Full Moon .01 .108
Quarter Moon .001 .0108
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Starlight .0001 .0011
Overcast Night .00001 .0001
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Common and Recommended Light Levels Indoor

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The outdoor light level is approximately 10,000 lux on a clear day. In the building, in the area closest to windows, the light level
Temperature may be reduced to approximately 1,000 lux . In the middle area its may be as low as 25 - 50
lux . Additional lighting equipment is often necessary to compensate the low levels.

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Earlier it was common with light levels in the range 100 - 300 lux for normal activities. Today the light level is
more common in the range 500 - 1000 lux - depending on activity. For precision and detailed works, the light level Magazines
may even approach 1500 - 2000 lux .
o C
Diesel Progress
o F The table below is a guidance for recommended light level in different work spaces: International
Edition
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Illumination
Activity (lux,
Length lumen/m 2 )
Public areas with dark surroundings 20 - 50
1 Simple orientation for short visits 50 - 100
Working areas where visual tasks are only occasionally performed 100 - 150

m Warehouses, Homes, Theaters, Archives 150

km
Easy Office Work, Classes 250 CircuiTree
Normal Office Work, PC Work, Study Library, Groceries, Show Rooms,
in 500
Laboratories
ft
Supermarkets, Mechanical Workshops, Office Landscapes 750
Normal Drawing Work, Detailed Mechanical Workshops, Operation Theatres 1,000
yards
Detailed Drawing Work, Very Detailed Mechanical Works 1500 - 2000
miles Performance of visual tasks of low contrast and very small size for prolonged
2000 - 5000
periods of time
nautical
miles
Performance of very prolonged and exacting visual tasks 5000 - 10000 E&P (Hart's E&P)
Performance of very special visual tasks of extremely low contrast and small
10000 - 20000
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size

Volume Sponsored Links

m 3

liters
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Illuminance - Recommended Light Levels

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Illuminance - Recommended Light Levels

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International
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Illuminance - Recommended Light Levels

E&P (Hart's E&P)

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