Light works on new Vectra production line

A Cooper Lighting and Safety product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Apr 9, 2003

Cooper Lighting and Security has supplied over a thousand specially developed luminaires for the new Vectra production line at Vauxhall Motors in Ellesmere Port.

Cooper Lighting and Security has supplied over a thousand specially developed luminaires for the new Vectra production line at Vauxhall Motors in Ellesmere Port.

As part of its investment in production-line technology in the run up to the launch of the new model, Vauxhall asked Cooper to come up with a new luminaire that would be capable of withstanding the particular demands of the car-manufacturing environment, while providing lighting levels ranging from 500 to 3000lux.

Cooper's team of lighting design engineers immediately rose to the challenge and within very tight timescales produced initial designs for the new fitting - dubbed the Cheshire - which is a twin 70W totally enclosed luminaire with a toughened-glass front panel and a quick-fit connector system.

Feedback from Vauxhall engineers resulted in a few slight modifications to the design, and the special luminaire went into production at Cooper's Doncaster factory soon afterwards.

The Cheshire luminaire features standard triphosphor T8 lamps, a high-frequency ballast for maximum energy efficiency, and a highly polished anodised aluminium parabolic reflector.

The front of the luminaire's IP54 housing is hinged for easy access and incorporates a toughened glass panel to prevent damage from the sparks that fly off car bodies during the robotic manufacturing process.

Ease of maintenance is also a key issue for Vauxhall, so the Cheshire was designed with a quick-fit connector system that allows a complete luminaire to be replaced in the shortest possible time.

Any maintenance work on the luminaire, even changing a lamp, can then be carried out without disrupting the production line.

The lighting level of 3000lux, which is required in the final inspection area, was achieved by positioning the Cheshire luminaires at close spacings both above and vertically to the sides of the production line.

In addition to the Cheshire fittings, Cooper has also supplied Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant with nearly a thousand Pacemaker 400W high-bay luminaires, a thousand Crompack batten luminaires fitted with special reflectors, hundreds of Tufflite IP65-sealed fluorescent luminaires, and a wide variety of emergency lighting products.