Automotive components manufacturer and supplier Torre Automotive, previously known as Control Instruments-Automotive, says its Pitmaster light-emitting diode (LED) lights use between 60% and 90% less power, compared with incandescent lighting, which translates into significant cost savings for miners.

Torre Automotive is the sole distributor of US-based VisionX lighting products.

VisionX product manager Leonard Chester says the Pitmaster LED lights are suitable for drilling rigs and rope shovels and as structural lighting for underground mining and opencast mining activities. They can also be installed on operator cabs to provide a bright LED wide beam.

The Pitmaster LED is designed to replace 400 W metal halide and high-pressure sodium lamps. The LED operates on 24 V batteries, drawing only 12.5 A/h, while producing 14 790 lumens of light output.

The Pitmaster LED provides a 26% increase in light output in effective work areas (measured in lux on the work surface in 12 critical points), and an 80% decrease in light pollution, based on stray light loss.

Chester says the LED lights are suitable for any African mining environmen, owing to their being vibration, shock and water resistant.

The LED housings feature electronic thermal management systems, designed to dissipate heat to ensure that the lights maintain a safe, low-operating temperature to prevent touch burns, should an operator or mechanic come into contact with the housing.

Further, all lighting heads are low-voltage fixtures, with no risk of electrical shock or burn.

Meanwhile, Chester says LED lights are also better for the environment because they reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and counteract the greenhouse effect. Changing to a single LED bulb can keep half a ton of CO2 out of the atmosphere throughout its average 50 000-hour life cycle. LEDs are 98% recyclable.