Computer-aided lighting design system created

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Sep 14, 2000

The independent British CAD software developers CADlogic have provided a highly sophisticated, tailored, computer-aided lighting design system to boost major lighting manufacturer Abacus Lighting

The independent British CAD software developers CADlogic Ltd of Lichfield, Staffs, have provided a highly sophisticated, tailored, computer-aided lighting design system to boost major lighting manufacturer Abacus Lighting Ltd of Sutton-in-Ashfield, Notts.

Abacus has built an international reputation as one of the World's leading exterior lighting specialists, based on its commitment to innovation, high engineering standards and quality production.

Services range from the design and supply of individual equipment to total turnkey packages including lighting design, installation and commissioning.

Installations include airports, docks and harbours, railway marshalling yards and station platforms, sports facilities and stadia, industrial areas and security lighting, roads, motorways, expressway interchanges and general amenity areas.

Abacus Lighting Ltd operates from its modern works (6,000 sq m) and offices (1,200 sq m) situated on a 3.6 hectare (9 acre) site at Sutton-in-Ashfield.

Since its formation in 1958, the company has grown steadily and now employs over 270 people at its HQ in the UK and at Shanghai Abacus Lighting Ltd in the People's Republic of China.

In 1988, the company achieved certification for its Quality Management System to BS5750:Part 1, ISO 9001 AND EN 29001.

During 1994, Abacus was successful in attaining the updated Standards to BS EN ISO 9001, EN ISO 9001 AND ISO 9001.

Abacus sets great store by training its staff to achieve their true potential, and this has led to the company receiving the "Investors in People" award.

Abacus is a member of the Lighting Industry Federation (LIF) and Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA) and is approved by the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting (NICEIC).

CADlogic started writing Abacus Lighting's new computer-aided lighting design system, based upon AutoCAD Release 14, in January 1999 and had it installed by the Autumn.

At the heart of CADlogic's automatic routines is the calculation of illuminance values, expressed in lumens per square metre, to meet the requirements of most possible lighting scenarios.

CADlogic's considerable experience and expertise in customising CAD software over the past 12 years enable their range of CAD systems to be adapted to the most specialised of tasks.

These complete solutions allow the user to optimise design efficiency and quality, new business proposals, and the return on investment, whilst reducing the "time-to-market" of new design ideas.

In this case, the object-orientated, special extension to AutoCAD Release 14, called Abacus G.O.L.D ("General Outdoor Lighting Design"), replaced a previous Unix design tool at Abacus, which with time had become outdated and was neither supported any longer nor Y2K compliant.

Running on four Pentium 450 seats at Abacus Lighting, the CADlogic CAD software offers the company the benefits of exceptional time savings and much greater usability and productivity.

Abacus G.O.L.D is being used for the design and calculation of lighting in installations ranging from large retail parks, amenity and city centres to sports floodlighting at all levels including design of major stadia world-wide, where the versatility to tailor illumination to different events and sporting activities is a key feature.

In the future, G.O.L.D will be applied to the design and calculation of Abacus road lighting installations, including the effect and contribution of shadowing and reflected light from buildings and objects within the lit environment.

High-quality presentation of lighting projects is of great importance to Abacus, whose clients including leading architects and consultants who expect sophisticated design layouts.

The new G.O.L.D program allows Abacus Lighting drawings to meet these exacting requirements with ease.

The special G.O.L.D program represented an investment by Abacus Lighti ng of ?63,000, with an additional ?40,000 spent on the purchase of the copy of AutoCAD Release 14 from CADlogic and a range of state-of-the-art computer hardware.