OSRAM and Safegate jointly develop robust and efficient LED lighting for taxiways. The ever-increasing volume of passengers and freight in global air traffic makes greater demands on safety too. Because of its major impact on passenger safety, airport operators are paying special attention to the lighting of runways for take-off, landing and taxiing. Lighting manufacturer OSRAM and Safegate, specialist for docking guidance and lighting systems at airports, have now developed resistant and energy-efficient LEDs for taxiways.

Conditions at airports are a tough challenge for light fixtures and lamps. Systems have to be capable of withstanding greatly fluctuating temperatures and vibrations and adhere to precisely defined colour spectra and light distribution levels at the same time.

OSRAM and Safegate have now developed an LED module of the Zelion product family for airport applications with 2-8 LEDs in yellow, green and red, which meet all these requirements. They can be used in numerous areas, including various tarmac operations such as the taxiway centre line, stop bar and clearance bar.

Dirk Wittenberg, Senior Product Manager (SP SSL) at OSRAM explains, “The challenge was to attach the lens securely to the circuit board despite the extreme environmental and safety conditions on the runway. Together with Safegate we have found a way to develop a robust and efficient LED solution, which meets the extremely high standards of international air transport”.

The LED circuit board also enables significant energy savings: two LEDs of 3W each (green) or only 2.5W (red and yellow) replace a 40W halogen lamp. Maintenance costs can also be greatly reduced, as the life of an LED is at least three times that of a halogen lamp. The LED modules are easily dimmable and by producing coloured light via LEDs directly this makes the previous use of colour filters unnecessary. The colour spectrum of the LEDs used meets all the global standards in force. They can therefore be used internationally without restrictions.