A leading Canadian manufacturer of road and tunnel lighting control systems, Nyx Hemera Technologies, is to install its flagship product in one of New York City’s main arteries, the Queens-Midtown Tunnel.
Operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority – Bridges and Tunnels (MTABT), the Queens-Midtown Tunnel comprises twin tubes carrying two lanes of traffic in each direction, with approximately 88,000 vehicles using the crossing daily. Connecting Queens to Manhattan, the 6,414ft-long (1,955km) tolled tunnel is currently undergoing major restoration work, made necessary by 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, under a fast tracked schedule. Once the repairs are completed, Nyx Hemera will install its flagship product, the Tunnel Lighting Addressable Control System (TLACS), along with Schréder’s low-energy LED luminaires, in the Queens-Midtown tunnel in New York City afterward.
The TLACS platform will facilitate the installation of the new tunnel lighting system due to the power line communication technology used to control the luminaires that does not require the installation of control wiring. The use of this technology will help to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in wires, conduits and connectors, as the communication to control the luminaires will be on the existing electrical wires that supply electricity. The TLACS communicates with local product controller (LPC) units, installed in both Schréder’s OMNIstar and LEDNova LED luminaires, allowing them to be turned on and off, and dimmed up and down.
The high powered OMNIstar units will illuminate the tunnel’s threshold zones to provide the required high luminance requirements specified for the tunnel entrance, and the LEDNova luminaires will illuminate the interior sections of the tunnel. The TLACS system dynamically controls luminance at the tunnel portal according to outside light levels, and reduces the ‘black hole’ effect for drivers. It will also control the lighting in the tunnel to achieve a safe and comfortable lumens output for drivers. The TLACS will also help the operator save even more energy, due, not only to the low power requirements of the LED luminaires, but also the dynamic control of the luminaires as per the real needs, which are based on the variable luminosity at the tunnel portal.
Nyx Hemera will also provide a dedicated SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) for the lighting system. This will help the MTABT in their day-to-day operations, as they will be able to remotely and individually monitor the electrical parameters of all 2,000+ luminaires and maintain a better control over the entire lighting system. The FEMA-funded (Federal Emergency Management Agency) tunnel repair and upgrade project is scheduled to be completed by July 2018.
“We are delighted that the TLACS has been chosen as the lighting control solution for the Queens-Midtown tunnel,” said Pierre Longtin, president of Nyx Hemera. “The TLACS will improve the lighting system’s lifecycle by monitoring and controlling the internal luminaire temperature. Overall, the MTABT will benefit from additional energy savings, and also eliminate unnecessary equipment and operations, which in turn will reduce the tunnel’s overall carbon footprint.”
