More than 600 new light emitting diode (LED) lighting fixtures were installed on USS Chafee (DDG 90) during the ship’s recently completed availability, providing the ship with longer-lasting lights that use less electric power than the replaced incandescent and fluorescent light fixtures.
The new fixtures have a minimum 50,000-hour lifespan compared to the 1,000-hour incandescent globes and 7,500-hour fluorescents. The ship is expected to save more than $50,000 per year using the new lights.
“The longer lifespan also results in a huge amount of savings in regards to maintenance,” said Ben Hatch , electrical engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division – Ship Systems Engineering Station in Philadelphia, who oversaw the installation. “LEDs last 50 times longer than the incandescent meaning the lights only need to be replaced every six years compared to what was every other month.”
USS Chafee is the first ship to receive all new lighting fixtures. In early 2012, USS Preble (DDG 88) is expected to receive the same fixtures, as well as LED bulb replacements for the ship’s two-foot fluorescent fixtures, which are the most common lighting on DDG 51 class ships.
“The T12 fluorescent fixtures will just be a bulb replacement instead of the entire fixture,” said Hatch. “The cost savings will be even greater because the entire fixture does not need to be replaced.”
Savings are expected to exceed $100,000 per ship per year when the scope is expanded to include the T12 fluorescent fixtures in the backfit program.
The Naval Sea Systems Command will continue installing the fixtures aboard in combatant and amphibious ships over the next several years as part of the Navy’s maritime energy strategy.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, December 09, 2011