Essentials of optimising illuminance (lighting) in textile mills

Dr K Selvaraju
1
, Dr M Senthilkumar
2
, Dr S Karthi
3
and V S Velayutham
4

The textile industry is highly labour intensive and most of the manual jobs in this
industry involve cutting and piecing operations. Since the fibres and yarns demand good
lighting to identify the breaks or faults, textile mills visually demand uniform and bright
lighting for most of the operations carried out in various departments like ring spinning, loom
shed, drawing and denting, inspection, stitching, etc. Too much of a lighting also causes
glaring and eyestrain to the workers. In the case of spinning mills, the workers should be in a
position to locate the end breaks while patrolling the machines and piece the end without
defect. In weaving mills, the weaver should be able to mend the warp break by drawing the
end through the warp stop motion pins, heald wires and dent in the reed without wrong
drawing defect. In garmenting, the tailors should continuously stitch the fabrics without
defects, insert the threads in the stitching needle, etc. All these jobs warrant optimum
lighting to achieve maximum productivity, avoid occupational hazards to the workers, and
reduce waste generation and defects.
In the recent years, Indian textile mills face shortage of labour mainly due to high at-
trition rate. One of the main reasons reported by the mills for high attrition rate is poor ambi-
ence. In Indian textile mills, the power cost accounts for 12 to 15 per cent on the sales turn
over while the labour cost accounts for 8 to 10 per cent on the sales turnover. The lighting
bill is around 1 to 1.5 per cent in the total electricity bill. Hence, even 1 per cent increase in
productivity is much higher than the electricity bill spent for proper lighting. Due to steep
increase in power cost, the spinning mills in general has reduced the lux level by substantially
reducing the number of lamps and not replacing the conventional fluorescent lamps on time
(needs replacement after 8000 hours of burning due to decay in lux level). Many mills use
T5 fluorescent lamps, which emit UV rays. The intensity is high with non-air holding reflec-
tors. This would happen with the T5 fluorescent lamps coming with reflection tube cover.
The studies conducted in some of the South Indian textile mills have shown that the
lux level maintained in the working areas vary from 30 lux to 250 lux while the average is
less than 100 lux. As per the norms of various international organizations and Indian organi-
sations including Bureau of Energy Efficiency
1,
the optimum lux level to be maintained in
textile mills vary from 150 lux to 700 lux, while it is 150 lux for spinning preparatory and
200 lux for ring spinning. With the latest technology LED lamps (tailor made technology for
Indian mills ambience), the lux level reduced by 10 to 15% due to better colour rendering
index of LED lamps when compared to the conventional fluorescent lamps. The case study
mills have also revealed that the productivity, waste generation and defect levels were on
higher side in the mills maintaining lower illuminance when compared to the mills maintain-
ing optimum illuminance level.

2

Lighting related issues and remedial measures
When we think about lighting in the workplace, the first thing that comes to our mind
is eyestrain. The various studies reported in Light Corp
20
have revealed that inappropriate
lighting can cause a host of problems. Kensington Technology Group workers study
concluded the eyestrain as a root cause of physical stress in the workplace. A study
conducted by American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) reported that 68 per cent of
employees were concerned about their lighting. The Steelcase Worldwide Office
Environment Index conducted by Louis Harris and Associates found that 64 per cent of
computer users listed eyestrain as the number one health hazard in the workplace. The
Cornell University Study of a Xerox facility in upstate New York found that 24 per cent of
the workers in a poorly lit environment reported a loss of work time due to vision problems
and discomfort. The Reno Post Office Study felt that quality lighting was more than a luxury
and proper lighting could increase the productivity by 6 six per cent and the payback for the
new lighting was less than a year. The study also revealed that improved lighting reduced
machine operator error to 0.1 per cent and while the investment of $300,000 made in lighting
projected to yield energy savings of about $50,000, the reduction in operator error was worth
about $400,000 per year.
Research works on lighting related issues demonstrate that light has profound impact
on the working performance of the people. It has direct bearing on physical, physiological
and psychological health of the working people. During the last two decades, medical science
has consistently portrayed that light has a positive influence on the health of the working
community (Philips)
23
.
Inadequate lighting results in reduced productivity, higher rejections, wastage,
accidents, etc., and also affects the health of the workers. Too little light, shadows or dirty
light sources generally cause insufficient lighting. This may cause to squint and cause
eyestrain. The workers will not be in a position to work with normal posture resulting
musculo-skeletal strain. If the lights are too bright, then it results in glare, over heat inside
the department and affects the visibility and health of the workers. The light sources should
be properly located to maintain uniform illuminance and safeguard the health of the workers.
Energy Trace Webzine
18
has stated that poor lighting can cause eyestrain, fatigue and
headaches resulting in poor working performance of the employees. Glare from light sources
and unbalanced luminance ratios in the workplace would also cause occupational hazards and
affect the performance of the employees.
Light flickering is yet another issue which affects the working performance and cause
visual fatigue. There are two types of light flickering; one is due to failure of tube lights or
high voltage fluctuation that can be seen visibly and the other is wavy light effect and can be
seen only through cameras. Prolonged working with high concentration (precision work)
under the later type flickering light may cause headache. Fluorescent tube lights with
mechanical ballasts and 50Hz power supply will have more flickering than the tube lights
with electronic ballasts (Wilkins et.al)
16
.
3

Ocular, visual and systemic are the signs and symptoms of visual strain. The ocular
problem needs to be attended by the optician. The visual problem is caused by poor lighting
contrast. Headache and eyestrain are the most common systemic symptoms. The employees
should be advised to go for regular eye check, take proper treatment and use appropriate
spectacles as per the advice of the opticians. Combination of natural lighting and artificial
lighting will not only save energy but also reduces the eyestrain and gives better productivity.
Illumination study should be conducted periodically (atleast once in a year) and
corrective steps to be taken. The fluorescent lamps normally decay after 7,000 hours of
burning and if the decay is beyond 15%, such lamps should be replaced. Periodical cleaning
of lamps would ensure constant lighting. The lux level might drop upto 20% if the lamps are
not cleaned. In cotton textile mills, owing to micro dust generation and static charge problem
(micro dust accumulate over the lamps), frequent cleaning is required not only to maintain
the lux level but also to avoid fire accidents.
Occupational Health Service, Labour Department, Hong Kong
19
has stated that poor
lighting may affect workers' performance and health as poor visibility increases the chances
of errors being made. It also means that people work at slower pace (low rating). Besides,
natural working posture may not be possible under poor lighting, thus resulting in musculo-
skeletal strain. The age of the person greatly influences the ability to focus on objects.
People beyond forties cannot see objects at closer range. In most of the departments in a
textile mill, the employees above forties should be subjected for eye tests and use appropriate
spectacles. The eye specialist may recommend bifocals, trifocals or even a separate pair of
glasses depending upon the nature of work
..
Otherwise, they will not be able identify the end
breaks, ends on the cops or cones, ends on the beams, draw and dent the warp thread properly
in the loom shed and their performance rating would drop considerably. Uncorrected vision
would also cause aches and pains.
Van Bommel et. al
15
has observed that good lighting on the task and in the workplace
is essential for optimal task performance, especially with a progressively ageing workforce.
Better lighting contributes positively to task performance (in terms of higher speed and lower
failure rate), safety and accidents rate, absenteeism, health and well-being. In the metal
industry, they have observed that good lighting (increasing the lux level from 300 to 500
could increase productivity by about 8 % and still more in night shifts. The rejection rates in
different industries reduced from 18% to 90%.
Mikellides
8
has observed that lighting would stimulate the employees to perform well.
He has observed that differing light levels give changes in the EEG (Electro Encephalo
Graph) pattern, influencing the central nervous system and hence various body functions.
The studies done by Mikellides
8,
Scheer et al
10
and Ueyama et al
14
have revealed that lighting
has direct effect on heart rate and insulin level.
Durat et al
2
, Grimnerger et al
4
and Ueyama et al
14
have investigated on the effects of
light on alertness and arousal level particularly during night shifts. In industries, the proper
lighting enables alertness that is essential to perform to the expected level, avoid accidents,
etc., particularly during night shift. They have also observed that higher lighting makes the
people staying alert for a longer period that was reflected in the EEGs with fewer delta waves
4

indicating sleepiness. In other words bright light has an alerting influence on the central
nervous system.
Kerkh
5
observed that people working with combination of electric light and daylight
had much less stress during summer than in winter. Partonen et al
9
had also observed that
higher amount of daylight component in summer reduces the stress complaints and bright
light in winter could compensate the difference.
All electric lamps in general emit both light and heat. Lamps with reflectors may
focus the heat radiation, ultraviolet radiation, causing discomfort, burns and skin allergies,
arc eyes, etc. Air handling reflectors can disperse the heat and effects to a certain extent.
Uplights or indirect lights are used to reduce the heat and other ill effects.
Light and the biological clock
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety
17
has stated that people receive
about 85 percent of their information through their sense of sight. The centre has stated that
good quality lighting reduces injuries from momentary blindness caused due to eyes
frequently adjusting from brighter to darker or vice-versa surroundings. The ability to see at
work or an object depends on the time to focus the object, size of the object, lighting
condition, contrast between the object and the background
The visual light sends the signals though a separate nerve system to our biological
clock that regulates the bodily actions. The hormones cortisal and melatonin control the
alertness and sleep. In the morning hours, the cortisal level increases that prepare the body
and mind for the daytime activity. At the same time melatonin level drops and reduces the
sleepiness. The functioning of corisal and melatonin should be balanced to prevent any oc-
cupational hazards to the employees at the workplace. Proper lighting has direct stimulating
effect on the body. This effect is partly psychological and partly physiological, influences
central nerve systems and thereby the heart rate and insulin level. This is the reason why
lighting is given so much of importance in the modern society. Retails outlets, offices, etc.,
give a major thrust for lighting. But in most of the retails shops in India, high wattage CFL
lamps are used to attract the public and also to display the materials. Such lighting system
emits huge UV rays and should be avoided. In the properly designed shopping malls and
branded show rooms, the outlets are properly illuminated. It is essential to design suitable
lighting system ergonomically to avoid any occupational hazards relating to lighting.
Impact of lighting on productivity
Like many other elements the managements take things for granted such as air
they just dont think about lighting. Unfortunately, while there have been significant devel-
opments in lighting technology, much of it hasnt been applied to support how people cur-
rently work especially in the textile mills. Many research works reveal that a quality light-
ing program can boost productivity and performance, reduce fatigue and eyestrain, and in-
crease an organizations opportunity for success. The studies conducted by Van Bommel et
al
15
has revealed that proper lighting improved the productivity by 8%, increased tasks per-
formance by 16% and reduced rejections by 29% and reduced absenteeism by 52%.
According to the Rocky Mountain Institute
22
lighting is a key factor in allowing an
organizations main component, its people, to get their jobs done. It has been reported that if
the environment is inhospitable, it can have a detrimental impact on the outcome of their en-
5

deavours the product that they produce. A study report of this institute has observed that in
a typical business expenditure breakdown, labour accounts for 85 per cent of the operating
costs while lighting accounts for only 1 per cent and a productivity increase of even 1 per
cent can offer savings in excess of an entire electric bill. In the globalised environment,
higher productivity and lower energy costs make businesses more competitive. Productivity
and occupational health (many brands have brought lighting as one of the codes in the com-
mon code of compliance) are much more important than conserving energy and saving costs
by installing the lamps which affect the eyesights, emit UV rays etc.
By balancing efficiencies with effective lighting systems, proper lighting can cut
down on the need for supplemental task lighting, error rates and quality control issues. It can
affect a factory or warehouses bottom line in the form of energy costs and the hard dollars
actualized therein, higher productivity, lower absenteeism and smaller insurance premiums
(Light Corp)
20
.
Textile mills lighting technology options
In textile mills, mostly fluorescent tube lights are fitted in the false ceiling for lighting
purpose. Consequent to the steep increase in power cost during the last decade, the textile
mills use electronic ballast in place of mechanical ballast. Some mills also use T5 fluorescent
tubes to conserve energy. But the white-light sources based on LEDs have a promising fu-
ture. Although initial costs may seem to be higher for an end-user, (LEDs are today around
50 times as expensive as incandescent light bulbs and around three to seven times the cost of
compact fluorescent lamps, based on normalized light output), when averaged out over the
lifetime of the product, LEDs are actually already a cheaper and will soon become more so
(Sidhha Pimputkar et al)
11
.
Guidelines for mounting of light fittings in textile mills
The spacing of the light fittings in a textile mills would depend upon the lux level
required, height of the false ceiling, length and breadth of the building. The lux level should
be measured at the working area and not on the floor. For example, the drafting zone in ring
spinning, the fell of the cloth in the loom shed, the stitching area in garmenting, etc. ILO
3

has suggested installing the light fitting in such a way that the space between the lamp
(length) could be 1 height between the working area and the false ceiling. In the case of
alleyway next to wall height and for next to wall height could be used as the guidelines
for spacing the fittings. The tube light fittings should be fixed vertical to the machines to
maintain uniform lux. If the fittings are fixed parallel to the machine, then in between the
lamps, the lux level would be lower. In addition, in ring spinning department, the light
fittings should be installed in a zig-zag manner to get uniform illuminance.

As per ILO
3,
the glare is worse when the mounting height of the light fitting
installation is lowered because the light would reach closer to the horizontal line of sight.
Hence, as far as possible the fittings should be installed closer to the ceiling. In larger rooms,
the glare will be more when compared to the smaller rooms, as the light would again
approach the line of sight. The fluorescent tubes emit light 360 and it would glare when
installed below the ceiling due to the lights emitted in the top and also from the sides which
would come in the line of sight. In addition, in hot areas where air-conditioning is not
6

provided, it would also generate more heat with fluorescent lamps. With T5 lamps, the UV
rays would become additional problem. This would happen in the garmenting or stitching
units in the home textiles manufacturing units where the lamps are normally fitted at eight
feet height. Care should be taken to prevent such glare to reduce the eyestrain to the
employees. Non-transparent LED lamps do not create such problems as they emit the light
only on one side (around 120). The heat emission is also very low with latest technology
LED lamps with isolated drivers.
Illuminance level in textile mills
The labour department of Hong Kong
19
has recommended that the minimum level of
illumination for work in general office as 200 lux. The optimum lighting for normal
deskwork is between 300 to 500 lux. It has been suggested to use spotlight or task light or
local light for precision work to improve the lux level on the job rather than increasing the
general light across the department. This would conserve energy, reduce glare, prevent heat
generation, and provide better ambience for the workers resulting in higher productivity.
ILO
3
has stated that fine and precision works and aged people usually need more light; but,
too much of light would cause eye strain and generate unwanted heat resulting discomfort to
the employees.
Table 1
SITRA Norms for illuminance in spinning mills
12

Department Good Average Poor
Blowroom, humidification plants and packing 50 40 <25
Preparaotry 70 50 <40
Ring spinning, ring doubling and TFO 100 75 <60
Post spinning and inspection room 150 100 <60
The norms recommended by The South India Textile Research Association for
illuminance in spinning mills are given in Table 1. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)
norms for illuminance in textile mills are given in Table 2. From both the tables, it can be
observed that the norms recommended by SITRA are much lower when compared to BEE
norms. The various studies conducted by the industrial engineering division of The Southern
India Mills Association (SIMA) in various textile mills reveal that BEE norms give better
ambience and yield better productivity, reduce waste generation and defects.

Table 2
BEE norms for Illuminance (lux level) Cotton Textile Mills
1
Average lux
level
1. Bale breaking, blowing, carding, roving, slubbing, 150
7

spinning (ordinary counts), winding, heckling,
spreading and cabling
2. Warping, slashing, dressing and dyeing, doubling
(fancy) and spinning (fine counts)
200
3. Healding (drawing-in) 700
4. Weaving : 1) Patterned cloths and fine counts, dark
2) Patterned cloths and fine counts, light
3) Plain grey cloths
700
300
200
5. Cloth inspection 700
6. General factory areas:
1) Entrance, corridors, stairs, clock-room, etc.
1) Canteen

100
150
7. Factory outdoor areas: Stockyards, main entrance,
exit roads, car parks, internal factory roads
20
8. Testing laboratory: 300
9. Electrical and instrumentation laboratory 450
10. Colour matching 700
11. General Offices:
1) Computer work station, conference rooms and ex-
ecutive offices, counter, office area,
1) Filing room, public area

300

200

Choice of interior colour schemes, colour of the machines and roof height or false
ceiling should be kept in mind while designing the lighting installations. The illuminance
level should be checked in the working area (like drafting zone in ring frames, shedding zone
and the fell of the cloth in the looms, thread path in cone winding, stitching area in the
sewing machines, etc., in textile mills). In spinning mills, the count pattern should be kept in
mind. Fine and superfine count mills need more lighting. In the spinning preparatory
department, around 150 lux level is sufficient irrespective of count. In the case of ring
spinning department, where the major job of the worker is to locate the broken ends and piece
without defect, proper lighting is required. For coarser count mills, the lux level could be
around 170-180, finer count mills it could be 200-220 and for superfine count mills it could
be around 230-250. In the case of loom shed, the lux requirement would vary depending
upon the cover factor or thread count, type of weave, colour of the yarn, count of the yarn,
auxiliary motions (like jacquard) attached to the loom, etc. Three levels of illuminance (lux)
would be required for loom shed depending upon on the combinations of the aforesaid
factors. For the weaving mills, poor lighting would generally cause wrong drawing defect.
Even one wrong drawing would cause heavy compensation of the weavers. Hence, the
illumination should be properly simulated and the light fittings should be installed
accordingly.
8

Impact of working performance on waste generation in ring spinning
Table 3 shows the waste generation level for different piecing rates and patrolling
time of the ring frame sider. Proper lighting enables the sider to locate end breaks from
longer distance and enables to piece more ends and also enable zig-zag patrolling. For
example in 40s count, with 2016 spindles per sider and with 8 breaks per 100 spindle hours,
with zig-zag patrolling the pneumafil waste reduces from 4.1% to 2.8% with 8 ends piecing
rate by the sider when compared to a sider making single side patrolling. Inadequate lighting
makes the sider to make only singe side patrol and in addition the patrolling rate or pace
substantially drops when there is no adequate lighting. The patrolling time per 100 spindles
increases from 0.083 minutes (with optimum lighting) to 0.120 minutes (with poor lighting),
an increase of over 44%.
Table 3
Pneumafil waste generation in ring spinning
Count: 40s K warp
Number of spindles per sider: 2016
Breaks per 100 spindle hours: 8
Patrolling time per 100 spindles (mins) with single side patrolling: 0.120
Patrolling time per 100 spindles (mins) with double side patrolling (zig-zag): 0.083
Break
mending
rate of sider
(ends/per
minute)
Waste %
Single side
patrol
Double side
patrol
8 4.10 2.80
9 2.20 1.50
10 1.60 1.10
11 1.30 0.90
12 1.10 0.80

The lighting has direct impact on the piecing rate of the sider. The ends should be
visible to enable the sider to piece at a higher rate (identification of end from the cop,
locating the traveler and inserting the end insider the traveler and lappet hook and also
piecing at the roller nip without defect). The pneumafil waste percentage increases from 1.1
percent to 4.1 percent with 12 ends piecing rate to 8 ends piecing rate. Even 0.1% increase in
pneumafil waste generation would increase the cost of production by Rs.2.5 lakhs per year
for a 25,000 spindle mill producing 40s carded warp. In addition, the worker attrition rate
increases with poor lighting as they get eyestrain and unable to perform upto the satisfactory
level of the shift supervisors. This clearly indicates the need for optimizing the lux level in
9

the ring spinning department. In the case of coloured yarn spinning, the lux level should be
from 200 to 300 depending upon the darkness of the colour in the ring spinning department
and in the preparatory it could be from 150 to 200 depending on the colour. In the case of
post spinning department, it could be on par with ring spinning department and in the packing
department it could be higher by 50 to 100 lux as quality inspection of the cones are
involved.
It may be noted that the lux level could be 10 to 15 per cent lower with LED lamps
due to higher colour rendering index. The lux level could be further reduced with non-
flickering technology LED lamps.
Careful choice of interior colour schemes makes a valuable contribution to good
lighting. The colours used at the workplace have psychological effects that should not be
overlooked. When the time comes to repaint the factory building and offices it costs little to
select pleasing rather than drab colours. The workers will see in this a clear sign that the
management is attempting to make working conditions more pleasant. The colours of
machinery and equipment are supplementary safety factors. Their importance should be
recognised by the manufacturers of the textile machinery and equipment.

Case studies
Illumination studies were conducted by the industrial engineering division of SIMA in
six spinning mills, five weaving mills and five administrative offices (four spinning mills and
one weaving mill) located in South India. As the mills desired to maintain confidentiality of
the information, code numbers have been used for all mills. The lux level maintained by the
aforesaid textile mills and administrative offices are depicted in Table 4, Table 5 and Table 6.
High variation in lux level can be observed in all the cases. The table reveals that the man-
agements do not pay adequate attention for proper lighting in textile mills. In general, illu-
minance level is very low in most of the textiles owing to steep increase in power cost and
acute power shortage in the recent years in States like Tamil Nadu and Andra Pradesh. The
employment pattern has changed all over India and mostly the workers are employed for a
shorter duration (causal workers, migrant workers, apprentices, etc.) and therefore the work-
ers also do not demand for proper lighting. The labour attrition in textile mills is more than
10% per month in most of the mills across the nation.
In general, it was observed that in the mills having lower lux level, the systems,
workers morale/culture and productivity were at average or below average level. High
productivity and exporting mills maintain higher lux level. It was also observed that in the
spinning mills that maintain higher lux level in the ring spinning departments, the workers
were able to make double side patrol and able to identify the end breaks from a longer dis-
tance. This enables the ring frame siders to improve the patrolling efficiency by upto 50%
and piecing (end mending) rate over 25%




Table 3
Lux level in spinning mills
Mill No. 01 02 03 04 05 06
10

Contamination picking 80-90 30-40 -- 50-85 80-90 160-170
Mixing 60-90 30-40 50-60 50-70 40-60 60-65
Blowroom 40-90 30-40 30-60 40-70 30-60 60-65
Carding 60-80 35-60 40-60 100-105 20-70 100-105
Drawing 70-90 40-60 50-60 90-145 70-125 90-95
Comber 70-90 -- 50-60 90-140 65-85 80-90
Simplex 70-90 -- 40-60 80-140 25-100 70-90
Ring spinning 23-140 -- 50-80 75-200 65-120 70-120
Open end spinning -- 65-100 -- -- 90-110
Doubling -- -- -- -- 180-230
Two For One twister -- 40-70 -- -- 250-300
Winding (auto coner) 60-75 -- 30-55 55-120 80-140 70-100
Winding (manual) -- -- 90-110 -- 90-100
Cone packing 60-90 60-80 50-80 60-120 90-120
Source: SIMA

Table 4
Lux level in weaving mills
Mill No. 07 08 09 10 11
Warping 50-70 90-100 80-100 120-150 70-90
Sectional warping -- -- -- 130-160 70-90
Sizing 40-70 70-90 60-80 90-120 50-70
Drawing-in 130 -180 120-150 120-160 200-250 120-150
Loom shed 130-180 140-170 120-180 180-210 110-150
Fabric inspection 120-200 150-220 130-180 250-300 150-200
Fabric packing 90-120 80-110 70-110 150-180 90-100
Source: SIMA






Table 5
Lux level in textile mill administrative offices
Mill No. 01 04 05 11 12
11

Reception 110-150 150-170 185-220 150-180 170-200
Attender/Despatch 90-120 150-170 150-200 120-150 150-180
Staff area 120-150 150-180 180-220 130-200 120-285
Executives area 150-160 150-180 200-250 150-220 150-280
Officers cabin 180-220 -- 250-280 220-240 200-250
CEO cabin 250-300 -- -- 250-260 230-500
MD cabin 250-320 180-200 220-250 250-280 280-290
CMD cabin -- -- 250-280 300-350 380-430
Mini conference room 150-160 180-200 180-200 200-220 110-150
Conference hall 180-200 -- 180-220 250-300 230-510
Source: SIMA
During the study, it was observed that many textile mills switch off the lights in day-
time and also use only 60 to 70 per cent of the lights even during night time to cut electricity
bill an easy method of energy conservation; but at the cost of the working comfort and
productivity of workers. It was observed that the mills fail to maintain even the old lux
norms recommended by textile research organisations
12
(75 to 100 lux in the working areas)
and the actual lux levels observed in the majority of case study mills range from 30 to 100.
In these mills, the labour productivity was observed to be lower by 10 to 20 per cent when
compared to the mills maintaining optimum lighting. In the case of spinning mills with poor
lighting, the pneumafil waste generation in the ring spinning department was higher by 0.3 to
1.0 per cent as the workers could not make zig-zag or double side patrolling and also could
not work at normal pace. The workers had to strain to locate the end breaks due to poor
lighting. The end breakages in the winding department were on higher side by 5 to 10 per
cent due to poor quality of piecing in the ring spinning department.
In one of the case study mills spinning 50s combed compact yarn, after improving the
illuminance level from 60 to 100 in the spinning preparatory and from 90 to 130 in the ring
spinning department and from 70 to 120 in the winding department, the overall productivity
level improvement was observed to be 10%. In the ring spinning department, the number of
sides per tenter could be increased from 1512 spindles to 2016 spindles resulting which in-
creased the labour productivity 33% and the ring frame doffing time reduced by 0.2 minutes.
The starting breaks reduced by almost 40%, which resulted in labour productivity improve-
ment and reduction in waste generation. In the autoconer section, the cop creeling rate per
minute increased by 5 cops per minute. The winders could attend the malfunctions (attending
the entangled threads in the cones) easily and the elemental timing reduced by 20%. In addi-
tion, the workers got motivated with improved lighting. While, conducting the trials, one
particular section in the ring spinning was kept with old illumination level for a week to test
the feed back from the workers. All the workers insisted the factory manager on a daily basis
12

to improve the lighting in their areas and the management immediately increased the illumi-
nation level.
General guidelines for lighting and energy conservation
1

Maintain the lux level in various departments as per the recommendations of BEE.
Use task light or spot light where ever the lux requirement exceeds 500 lux.
Use indirect lighting (uplighting) to avoid glare in offices.
Keep the light fittings closer to the false ceiling or roof to avoid glare.
Avoid using CFL lamps, flickering and transparent LED lamps closer to the line of
sight.
Provide window blinds to avoid glare of daylight.
Provide separate switches for the row of lighting located near the windows and doors so
that only required number of lights could be used to conserve energy and also to
maintain uniform illuminance.
Use sensor lights in offices and the areas where the lights are used occasionally so that
the lamps can automatically would go off when there are no movement people for a
longer duration.
Provide separate controls and feeders for lights, control the power quality to ensure
better life. Use inverters for lighting power supply to maintain power quality.
Replace the light fittings as per the schedule to maintain uniform lux.
Prepare a cleaning and maintenance schedule for the light fittings and maintain them
properly.
Paint the walls and machines periodically to have proper reflection and contrast and
maintain uniform lux and also avoid glare. Light colour painting would improve the
lighting.
Avoid using incandescent/tungsten filament lamps that consume around 80% more
power for the same lumen output and also emit enormous heat.
Use electronic ballasts in place of conventional ballast for fluorescent lamps.
Use LED lamps with latest technology driver that saves energy over 60% when
compared to fluorescent lamps. These lamps are maintenance free and environment
friendly (do not emit UV rays, does contain mercury, most of the materials are
recyclable and solid state technology)
LED Lamps for textile mills
A spinning mill having 25,000 spindle capacity would need around 1000 T8 1200 mm 36W
tube lights with electronic ballasts to provide optimum lux level in which case, the power re-
quirement is around 38 KW. However, the power requirement with LED lamps would be
only around 16KW that can give 20% higher lumens than the conventional lighting. Howev-
er, textile mills in India need special technology lamps (drivers) to with stand the tempera-
ture, free from flickering and give longer life to have better return on investment.
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Now-a-days, numerous brands of LED tube lights are available in the market. Technology of
driver is the heart of LED lamps. Higher technology drivers are expensive, but they are safe,
provide eye strain free illumination, maintenance free long life, etc. But predominantly, the
LED lamps come with non-isolated drivers that appear cost attractive in the short run. The
following points could be kept in mind while choosing the right technology LED lamps for
textile mills:
Product quality and safety certification (GS, CE, ROHS, CCC, etc.)
Quality and transmittance capability of PC mask tubes (certain brands use full plastic
mask tube to avoid electric shock which is common with non-isolated driver; high
technology lamps would have half plastic and half aluminium to cool the lamp and
give longer life)
Brightness of LED tube light
Reliability of dust-proof design, fire proof, anti UV, anti-low temperature cracking
characteristics
Physical and circuit isolation of driver to with stand heat, ensure constant DC power
supply and long life
Avoid stimulus smell or odour (such lamps likely to have lead, mercury, cadmium and
other toxins)
Technical specification of the LED chip
Lumen per watt
Power factor
Harmonics level
Ability to withstand surge current
In the post WTO era, almost all the manufacturing sectors are compelled to adhere to various
compliance codes to grab global opportunities particularly from the leading brands and achieve a sus-
tained growth. The industry is currently facing acute shortage of labour. Hence, the industry has to
maintain good ambience to retain employees, achieve higher productivity, reduce waste generation
and defective products to sustain its global competitiveness in the open market. The research work
carried out by various organisations, lamp manufacturers, users and research scholars and also the
case study results reported in this paper reveal that it is essential to optimise the illuminance level in
the textile mills depending upon the lay out conditions, type of machinery and more importantly the
type of textile products manufactured. The LED technology has gradually entered the textile industry
in India and mills have started using the same. It might take few more years for the industry to re-
place the entire conventional lamps with LED lamps that would give longer life. Textile mills need to
be careful while choosing the right LED technology lamps for Indian tropical conditions to conserve
energy, have better return on investment, maintenance free technology and longer life of the light fit-
tings and their accessories. Optimum illuminance avoids any occupational hazards for textile worker
who need to continuously focus on the processes for identifying breaks, defects and also to ensure
safety. Since the textile mills work round the clock throughout the year, it is all the more important to
have proper lux level and tailor made technology to suit the individual mill conditions.




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