SPORTS LIGHTING 12-17

When floodlight lamps are to be operated at voltages above their rating,

as usually recommended when the annual hours of operation are to be of
the order of 200 or less, it is desirable to select a floodlight in which the lamp
will operate at or close to the base-up vertical position after aiming.
Base-up burning reduces bulb-blackening and bulb-blistering failures. If
it is planned to operate lamps at voltages above their rating in open flood-
lights, it sometimes is necessary to use hard-glass lamps to prevent breakage
caused by wind-driven snow, rain, or hail.
When a detailed cost analysis is not feasible, the following general rules
are recommended.
1. If the installation is utilized 200 or less hours per year, operate lamps
10 per cent above rated voltage.
2. If the installation is utilized over 200 hours per year but less than
1,000, operate lamps 5 per cent above rated voltage.
3. If the installation is operated for total periods approaching rated lamp
life (generally 1,000 hours) in one year, operate lamps at rated voltage.
It is important to note that it is intended that the voltages indicated are
to be available at the lamp sockets with the entire installation operating
at the time of day, week, and month in which they will be utilized most.
Aiming
offloodlights. In any design much depends on the aiming of the
floodlights. In certain sports employing a symmetric field such as foot-
ball, the development of an aiming or "spotting" pattern is relatively sim-
ple, requiring merely that scale drawings be made showing the field and the
floodlight-beam-spread angles. From an end elevation view, the vertical
aiming of the floodlight beam axes may be determined to obtain uniform
lighting across the field together with sufficient "spill," "direct filament,"
or "beam-edge light" in the space above to provide uniformity to a height
of 40 to 50 feet above the field. In this connection, care must be taken to
minimize the amount of light from the upper portion of the floodlight beams
falling in the opposite spectator stands. The plan view of the field makes it
possible to plan horizontal aiming of the floodlights to provide uniform
lighting in the longitudinal direction of the field. Rigorous calculation
methods make it possible to predetermine accurately the footcandle dis-
tribution provided by any given aiming pattern, but because such calcula-
tions are tedious, it is general practice to base spotting or aiming diagrams
on previous calculations and practical experience with similar fields.
15
A typical football spotting diagram is shown in Fig. 12-1 la while Fig.
12-116 shows an end elevation view of the vertical beam coverage of two
typical floodlights aimed in accordance with the diagram. It will be noted
in this case that relatively wide beam floodlights
(60 degrees) are used be-
cause the poles are close to the playing field. It will be noted also that
the upper parts of the beams of the tw-o sets of floodlights indicated fall in
the opposite stands. Bxnvever, since these are the wide beam type, the
candlepower in these upper portions (more than 16 degrees from beam
center) will be low, and the spill brightness from them will be within com-
fortable limits when evaluated with respect to the relatively high brightness
of the field itself.