The webinar is dedicated to redundancy airfield lighting system and its benefits for high-traffic airports.
As you will see, the main benefit of solar redundancy AGL is saving money from cancelled flights caused by a sudden loss of runway illumination. During the webinar, real case studies of RWY lighting failures were presented where airport financial losses from such emergencies reached $ 250.000 – 1.000.000 on average. By having S4GA solar-powered AGL installed on the runway, the airport could save this money.
Among many other benefits of redundancy AFL system should be mentioned: annual savings on electricity and reducing carbon emissions. These benefits were also presented and discussed at the webinar.
The Redundancy Airfield Lighting Webinar was hosted by Mr Łukasz Kornacki – S4GA Business Development Manager and expert in the Airfield Lighting Industry.
| QUESTIONS | ANSWERS |
| Q1: Is S4GA system certified for CAT I? | A1: Yes, the system is certified for Category I. S4GA has a unique advantage – we actually have high-intensity solar airfield lighting available. Please visit our website to see the certificates and the products. |
| Q2: What is the average lifetime of the S4GA lights including battery life and MTBF? | A2: On average, a standard battery would require a replacement every two years. However depends on the usage conditions it can take as well three years or less that two years. You can also have a higher quality battery that will require the replacement around every four years. That kind of batteries is usually used in extreme temperature locations and cost more.
But S4GA control and monitoring system, that is delivered with the entire solution, has a unique feature that provides you with the exact information regarding when the batteries should be replaced. S4GA ALCMS system monitors time and cycles of the battery, and advises the preventive maintenance to the user. So in order to avoid any potential issues related to battery damage, the CMS system lets you know exactly when to replace them. MTBF – We have certifications and calculations done, please contact us for more information. |
| Q3: You have solar and portable lights in the product portfolio given on your website. Why not to use portable fixtures as redundancy illumination? | A3: When talking about portable system and redundancy system – they serve different purposes. A redundancy system (solar-powered) is permanently installed on the runway and, in a way, waiting for potential failure to happen. The lights are bolted to the tarmac and can serve as a second, complete solution of airfield lighting that is available at any time for the user. So also by using it for a certain amount of time, it allows to save money for the airport during regular operations.
The portable lights are typically a solution that you would only use in case of a failure. However, that solution requires more time to install on the runway. It is possible, it will serve the same purpose, and at the end. you will have illuminated runway. But the switch-over time for portable lights will be much longer (even up to 40 minutes). At international airports, the 40 minutes already counts for a significant loss. Portable lights are not equipped with solar panels, so they would be typically battery-powered lights. If the potential failure would last for more than a week or two, you would need time to charge them. |
| Q4: What is the maximum usage time in CAT I operation before the battery runs out and how many times you need to reload? | A4: The time of operation for the CAT I fixture would significantly depend on the setting.
In case of S4GA airfield lighting, if you would install a CAT I high-intensity runway lights, you would in fact have two parallel runways, that would be both CAT I. You would not use the S4GA system on a maximum setting, because this system as a redundancy system would be only available up to non-precision approaches. If we are talking about non-precision approaches, that means that your lights would not require and could not even be set to 100%, because it is only typically used in very bad weather conditions of CAT I. So even though you would be able to do it you would most likely use the light at medium intensity, it is about 1500 – 2000 candela (20% of intensity). In that case, the operating time would be about 50 – 60 hours. If you need to use it in a 100%, you will still be able to do it in case of emergency, and this operating time for a standard battery would be 8 to 10 hours, which gives you enough time to fix the conventional lighting. Most of the cases of lighting failures time, presented during the webinar, did not exceed 10 hours and S4GA lighting would be able to cover these 10 hours at maximum intensity. |
| Q5: Is it possible to use S4GA system with no main slide system for VFR GA night landing for training flights? | A5: Yes, it can be used in international airports, so it can also be used on a GA via firefight too. |
| Q6: Can the batteries be replaced easily or is it requiring some training? | A6: No, it does not require a training and they can be replaced very easily. It takes only about five minutes and on the S4GA YouTube channel, you can find a video explaining step by step how to replace the battery.
In S4GA we use a worldwide standard battery, that you can purchase locally in your country. You don’t need to buy them from S4GA directly, as typically they would be heavy and bulky and shopping them half of the world wouldn’t always make sense. So when talking about replacing the battery, S4GA is an easy case and most important those batteries are available locally, as they are worldwide standard. |
