Low-cost and safe lighting design for classrooms Ezetoha CF.1, Okeoma G.2 1Department of Computer Engineering Technology, Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State 2Department of Building Technology, Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State Abstract Proper lighting of classrooms has been a problem around the world. Though, daylighting systems could be integrated in classroom buildings to provide proper lighting at reduced cost, ignorance of building designers’ cause building of classrooms with poor lighting. This work is on low-cost and safe lighting design for classrooms. Integrated design approach was adopted for this design.The model provides proper lighting through natural light or daylight and artificial light through 15 LED panel lights connected to an AT89C51 microcontroller-based controller.The daylighting design consists of five sets of nearly continuous windows on each of the south- and north- facing walls, ceiling, walls and floor with corresponding reflectance of over 70%, over 50% around 20%, and curtain for shading. Each set of window is made up of daylight section and view section. The fagade of this design faces due south.The components of this lighting design bring natural light into classroom in such a way that electric lights can be turned off for most portion of the day, thereby reducing energy costs and preventing students and teachers discomfort associated with regular use of electric lights. The design maintains classroom illuminance around 300lux with negligible glare, thereby preventing excessive variation of illuminance that can reduce visual performance, cause discomfort and hyperactivity. It was urged to adopt this design in order to provide safe and low-cost lighting for classrooms. Top Keywords Lighting Design, Low-Cost, Classrooms, Daylight, Artificial Light. Top |