Requirements of Outdoor and Indoor Sport Lighting

Regardless of outdoor or indoor, the places for sporting are of large size. Many people enjoy exercising or watching matches in sports halls. The sporting places are cubical spaces with length, width, and height.

When we design a lighting system for sporting places, it is necessary to measure the size. Only by having a clear awareness of the size of the places, can we decide the layout of the LED light. But there are still a large number of factors that should be considered when selecting the light for your application.

Moreover, the requirements differ for different people in sports halls. For example, spectators need a comfortable lighting environment that allows them to enjoy the game. While the stadium operator needs a cost-effective and energy-saving lighting system to earn more profit.

This post will show you the lighting requirements of different people and places. Hope to support your choice.

Outdoor Sport Lighting

The LED light used outdoors should withstand the harsh environment, such as long term sun exposure, wind, rain, extremely high or low temperature, etc., as well as human factors. What’s more, there is natural light in the daytime in outdoors, so the effect of natural light should be taken into account when designing a lighting system. The requirements of outdoor sports are as follows.

Waterproof & dust-proof

To indicate the degree of protection of electrical equipment enclosures against the intrusion of foreign objects, IP (Ingress Protection) is generated as the scale. The LED light rated with high IP value means it is not only dust-proof, but also able to withstand high pressure and steam cleaning. The higher the IP rate of the fixtures, the better the effect of dust and water resistance. The light with a high IP rate can avoid the original closed structure of the LED lamp suffered damage. Water and dust seepage will cause internal circuit damaged and the corrosion of copper foil, resulting rust of moisture on the resistance and LED lead.

Impact resistance

It is critical to ensure that the lights can work properly even if they are damaged or broken because of a certain degree of impact by balls and other objects. Otherwise, people will be hurt or plugged into darkness. Thus, when we choose the fixtures for the outdoor environment, pay attention to the IK code. IK Code applies to the level of protection from external mechanical impact for enclosures of electrical equipment. Therefore, IK code of the light for outdoors is important to avoid unpredictable dangers. The IK code is rated from IK00 to IK10. The higher the rating, the better the impact resistance.

Minimize light pollution

With the raised awareness of environmental protection, people have a higher demand for light quality. Thus, more attentions are paid on lighting pollution. Most outdoor sports places are located near residential areas, so strict requirements of lighting angles and coverage are presented to protect people around from disturbing as over brightness that would be harmful to the eyes. In addition, light pollution may cause people to feel anxiety, lack of concentration, and bad sleeping experience. It would cause serious insomnia and headaches even worse. Narrow beam and medium beam angle fixtures are more suitable for outdoor sports. Without redundant lights, it can protect people from glare and light pollution.

Indoor Sport Lighting

There is limited natural light in indoor sports places, therefore, the appropriate lighting system is significant. Illumination, CRI, visual comfort, lighting uniformity, and glare should be considered for a qualified lighting system. The lighting quality should remain high in terms of uniformity, visual comfort, and limitation of obtrusive light. Clear visibility and a comfortable environment are important. Based on the size of indoor sporting places, medium beam angles and wide beam angles are more applicable. The requirements of indoor sports are as follows.

Proper Illumination

With the proper illumination, the audience will have a more pleasant experience as they are clear about how wonderful the game is. Players can judge the height and landing point of the ball more accurately to improve their game performance. Referees are able to make more accurate judgments and improve the fairness and impartiality of the game. Generally speaking, the vertical illumination should be greater than half of the horizontal illumination. It is the most ideal environment for sports when the vertical illumination is equal to the horizontal illumination. Moreover, the illuminations for practice and match are different. Professional competitions often have higher requirements for illumination.

High CRI

CRI (Color Rendering Index) is the ability to reflect the true color of the item. The closer the color rendering index is to 100, the more natural the colors of the product will appear. The LED lights with the ability to reveal the exact color of the objects are important in sports areas. It can not only promote accuracy for players to judge the track of the flying ball, the location and the surrounding environments, but also offer a clearer vision for audiences.

Visual comfort

Visual comfort is relevant to glare and flicker. Glare is one of the important factors in evaluating the quality of lighting, which is related to the installation method of the lamps, the installation height, the number and density of the lamps, and the light distribution of the lamps, etc. Flicker can lead to hazy vision in athletes. To reduce flicker, we have to know how it is generated. Flicker is caused by the periodic changes in the current of AC power supply, while the luminous flux will also change periodically. Make people create an illusion when observing objects. The periodic changes in current cause instability of the light source, resulting in obvious stroboscopic flicker during lighting. When observing the movement of the sphere, you may see a relatively blurred shadow in low resolution.

Lighting uniformity

In the stadium, over large power of a single lamp, unreasonable emission of the lampshade, and incorrect installation height and spacing will lead to uneven light distribution. But the human visual field space will be converted with the conversion of the viewing angle, and the uneven distribution of light will cause blurred vision as sudden too bright or too dark lighting. For television broadcasting, when the camera shoots a panoramic view of the playing area, the greatly varied illumination will cause camera exposure. The lighting should ensure uniformity and limitation of obtrusive light on the track area, both sides of the pole, cross projection, as well as eliminate shadows, to meet the requirement of HD camera shooting.

Brightness ratio

The brightness ratio is the difference between the color of the object and the background. Our eyes can discriminate objects on the background with two conditions, the background and object color are different, or the background and object have a certain brightness contrast. The brighter object and the slightly darker background will be great for better vision. Conversely, if the background is brighter than the objects, visibility will be significantly reduced. In poor lighting conditions, especially the lack of luminance difference, it may cause false visual phenomena, then distort the perceived object and have an impact on the judgment.

In order to increase the color difference between the object and the background, the lighting manufacturer will use an opaque lamp shade to block the shadow of the lamp and project it onto the wall, the rest of lights will flash on the ground, then luminance of the background wall is reduced. 

Lighting Requirements

Athletes, broadcasting personnel, spectators and sporting place operators are involved in the sporting areas. But their lighting requirements are not the same as each other. To meet their needs, let’s talk about the lighting needs of different people in the same sporting place.

Athletes

Athletes have the highest requirements of lighting quality as it will deeply affect their competitiveness. The basic requirement is to allow them to have a clear vision and then they can judge the track of balls and the environment precisely. Then, the lighting quality should remain high in terms of uniformity, visual comfort and limitation of obtrusive light. High quality lighting can help athletes concentrate on the game and strengthen their performance.

Spectator

Nevertheless the speed of athletes's action and the viewing distance, the spectator want a pleasant environment to enjoy the game. Therefore, the fixture should be selected with a high color rendering index without glare. High color rendering index lighting can reflect the natural appearance of objects. Glare will affect viewers' visibility and do harm to eyes and cause discomfort experience. Without glare, spectators can clearly know the gaming process about which player is scored and how the players perform to win or lose the game.

Broadcasting personnel

Broadcast personnel would like the proper illumination without flickering to offer the broadcasting as vivid as possible on the screen of TV or other electronics. For slow motion, the lighting should support the 1,500 fps broadcasting requirement. They also hope the lighting can ensure a colorful image without flickering the game, the broadcast can therefore deliver the optimal slow motion of the scene of the game performed by the inspiring athletes.

Operators

Operators of stadiums or sporting halls pay more attention to the energy consumption and cost of LED fixtures. The energy saving and cost-effective fixtures create greater profitability. Lower installation costs and maintenance are also considered when selecting the fixtures. Operators also need the lighting to be appropriate and provide attractive games to spectators, then they are able to manage the game more easily. In addition, the benefits of sufficiently safe fixtures for operators are obvious. The more spectators join the game, the more they earn.

Lighting Solution

The sports venues are diverse, to meet the specific standards of each field, careful consideration is necessary. For example, it is particularly important to allow staff to be able to detect swimmers with difficulty in the swimming pool. For badminton, basketball, volleyball, baseball, rugby, etc., the ball, regardless of its location and speed, should always be clearly visible. LED high bay light and flood light are generally used for sport lighting. AGC always focuses on offering a better lighting solution to our clients, the benefits of our solution are as follows.

Tennis court

• Lighter weight heat sink compared with traditional lamps.
• PC optic lens up to 93% lighting transparency.
• Backlight control achieves superior lighting quality.
• Quick mounting by reading the graduated scale, installation easier.

Basketball court

• All into one, cold-forging technology heat sink with good heat dissipation.
• High system efficiency 140lm/W, lumen package up to 84000lm.
• Precise lighting distribution 10°/30° to offer excellent light pollution control.
• Bracket with universal angle adjustment by horizontally and vertically.
• Strong anti-corrosion, fixture body handed by electrophoresis and powder coating.
• Quick install and efficient maintenance, the driver box can be fixed together with the body or put aside.

Baseball field

• Modular design from 200W to 1200W.
• Efficiency up to 135lm/W, more energy saving.
• Provided with 10kV built-in surge protection devices.
• Multiple optics lens optional 10°/ 15°/30°/45°/60° and asymmetric. 
• This convenient and humanized design enables it to fit different requests in outdoor lighting applications.