172
THE BENEFITS OF LED TRAFFIC LIGHTS IN LONDON AND THE PILOT TEST SITES
D lbrahim and M. Beasley
Traffic Control Systems Unit, London UK
INTRODUCTION
Light emiting diodes (LEDs) are current operated
semiconductor devices, developed in the late
1960s. LEDs have commonly been used in the
past as small visual indicators, primarily in
calculators, watches, hi-fi equipment, computers
etc. LED light sources offer reduced power
consumption and longer life than the conventional
incandescent light sources. The design engineers
seeking more efficient light sources in
transportation applications soon realised the many
benefits of LED based light sources. The LED
development has been relatively slow as a result
of the availability of only a few colours and the
early LEDs not lasting very long. During the last
decade, brighter, different colour, more efficient,
and very long life LEDs have been introduces to
the market place and as a result of this, LEDs are
now being used in many different electronic
applications. One such application is the use of
LEDs as light sources to replace the conventional
incandescent traffic Iights. Conventional
incandescent light sources generate light by
applying voltage across a tungsten wire filament in
a glass sphere and causing it to be hot. Most of
the energy is thus dissipated as heat and this is
the reason why incandescent lights are not energy
efficient. LEDs on the other hand are
semiconductor based cold light sources where
light is generated by an electron energy state
transition across a p-n junction by passing a
current through the junction.
LEDs are now available in many colours including,
red, amber, green, and white. The colour
produced is nearly monochromatic and there is no
need to use external light filters to change the
colour. Incandescent light sources on the other
hand produce white light with a wide spectrum of
wavelengths and optical filters are used to remove
unwanted wavelengths to obtain the desired
colours. Unlike the conventional incandescent
lights, LED traffic lights do not need reflectors
which make them more suitable and safer in
applications where the sunshine hits the lights
directly. LEDs are solid state devices, capable of
operating from -4OOC to 100°C and they can
withstand much higher levels of shock and
Road Transport Information and Control, 21-23 April 1998, Conference Publication No 454 OlEE 1998
vibration than the incandescent lights. The life
expectancy of LED lights is virtually infinite but 10
to 15 years of continuous operation is guaranteed
by the manufacturers. The life expectancy of
incandescent light sources rarely exceed several
thousand hours of operation. As an example, in
London, the red and green traffic lights are
replaced twice a year, and the amber light is
replaced once every year. LED traffic lights are
constructed by combining several hundred LEDs
in strings. When one LED fails (open-circuit) only
the string containing the faulty LED fails. This is
not the case with incandescent traffic lights, where
the failure of the incandescent lamp causes a
signals-out condition. LED light sources are much
more efficient than the incandescent light sources
and they operate with reduced power
consumption, resulting in considerable cost
savings. Depending upon the country and the
standards used, a 12 inch red traffic light can
consume 150 Watts of electrical power. A red
LED traffic light consumes about 14 Watts of
power. The power saving is therefore 136 Watts.
Assuming that a red light is used 60% of the time
and the traffic lights operate 24 hours a day, the
annual savings will be around 730 kWhlyr. At a
standard electrical energy cost of f0.05 per kWh,
the annual cost savings would be around f36.50
per signal head for each red light replaced.
Clearly, very large cost savings can be achieved in
a city having many thousands of traffic lights. LED
traffic lights are now widely used in the USA,
resulting in large energy and cost savings, lbrahim
and Beasley (1).
This paper discusses the technical aspects of LED
traffic lights and provides estimates on expected
savings if all the traffic signal lights in London are
to be replaced by LEDs. The paper also gives
details of a pilot test site which is to be setup in
London in the first quarter of 1998 in order to
evaluate the performance of LED traffic lights.
LED TRaFFlC LIGHTS
Traffic light design is governed by many world-
wide standards which specify the optics,
enclosure, safety, electrical supply, and the
installation of these lights. In this section we shall
 173
took at some of the important specifications and
see how the LED traffic lights meet such
specifications.
Colour
The colour of the traffic lights as seen by the
motorists must be within certain bands, as defiiied
by the chromaticity diagram, lbrahim and Beasley
(1). In incandescent lights the correct colour is
obtained by using optical filters in front of the bidb.
Most of the red LEDs are manufactured using
AllnGaP technology, Evans ( 2 ) , and they emit
626nm light which lies well within the allowed
band. The amber LED is also based upon the
same technology and it emits in the 590nm band,
again in the allowed region of the chromaticity
diagram. It has always been a problem to
manufacture green LEDs economically until
recently. This has been one of the reasons why
the move to all three colour LED traffic lights has
been rather slow. Green LEDs are now being
manufactured with the InGaN technology, Mayer
(3), emitting light in the allowed 525nm band.
Light Pattern
It is one of the requirements that the light beam
pattern from a traffic light should not cross above
the horizontal axis as viewed by the motorists.
Light patterns frorn the LEDs are usually controlled
by using prisms in front of every LED, and some
LED manufacturers report directing nearly 90% of
the emitted light below the horizontal axis, thus
fulfilling the light pattern requirements, and at the
same time causing a reduction of over 50% in the
wattage requirements of the LEDs, Mayer (3).
Light Output Degradation
Unlike the conventional light sources, the light
intensities of early LEDs fell with ageing and these
LEDs could not withstand long term exposure to
adverse weather conditions. This has been one of
the major reasons why the early LED traffic lights
did not gain any popularity for a long time despite
their well known other benefits. Most of these
performance problems were solved with the
advent of indium based red LEDs in 1995. Light
output degradation is not a problem anymore with
the new technology LEDs and it has been
observed that the light output falls initially by 10 to
15 per cent in the first 1000 hours of operation.
The output intensity then remains constant for over
100,000 hours od continuous operation and is
predicted to fall by about 25% thereafter, Evans
(4).
ReliabiIity
Tests carried out on red LEDs show MTBF values
in excess of 8 . 3 ~ 1 0hours.
~ New technology
AllnGaP LEDs are expected to last for over
100,000 hours of operation before their output fall
by 25%. The choice of the operating current
affects the reliability of LEDs. When operated
between 10mA and 20m4 the light output
degradation is very low and the reliability is high.
The light output may however not be sufficient for
sunlight visibility. At operating currents above
30mA, the light intensity increases proportionally,
but the LED junction temperature also increases,
resulting in higher light output degradation which
may not be acceptable. The recommended
operating current is between 20mA and 30mA,
which provides the required light intensity and also
a low value of light output degradation.
Electrical Construction
LED traffic lights consist of several hundred LEDs
connected in series wired chains. Because LEDs
are open-circuit when they fail, a failing LED
causes a complete chain to fail. For red and
yellow aspects, it is common to have chains, each
chain made up of a number of LEDs connected in
series. As an example, if there are 10 chains,
each chain having 30 LEDs, then each chain will
represent 10% of the total LEiD count. The green
aspect is usually used in different modes and it is
common to use more chains, with less number of
LEDs in each chain. The LEDs are normally
mounted on a circular shaped PCB board and a
power controller circuit is used to drive the LED
chains. The complete LED optical assembly is
powered by mains voltage. Power is derived from
a mains power supply and ,fed to the individual
chains by constant current drives. Dimming is
usually peformed by reducing the current drives to
the LED chains. The circuit also monitors the total
current consumption of all the chains and if the
current falls below a threshold (set usually at
20%), the supply to all the chains are turned off for
safety, Microsense (5). The LEDs in a chain are
organised such that when a chain fails, the overall
light output pattern is not distorted.
Light Intensity
The total light output from an LED is determined
by integrating the luminous intensity through the
device radiation pattern. LEDs with high viewing
angles have lower luminous intensities.
Conversely, LEDs with narrow viewing angles
nave nigner luminous intensities. Normally around
500 LEDs are required to produce as much light
as an incandescent bulb. By making special
 174

lenses and prisms, this number is usually reduced TRAFFIC LIGHTS IN LONDON
to around 300 to 400.
London's traffic signals are currently the
Cost Savings responsibility of the Secretary of State for
Transport. There are about 3,800 signal
Figure 1 shows the annual cost savings when a installations within the Greater London area.
single 150 Watt conventional traffic light is
replaced with a LED light. In this figure the red, Traffic lights in London consist of:
green, and the amber duty cycles are taken as
60%, 35%, and 5% respectively. The red and 0 Traffic signal lights
amber LED lights are assumed to consume 13 0 Pedestrian signal lights
Watts, and the green light is assumed to consume 8 Pedestrian crossing control wait
6 Watts of power. Figure 2 shows the annual indicator panel lights
energy savings if the incandescent light has a 50 0 Regulatory box signs
Watt power rating instead of 150 Watts. 0 Other warning and emergency lights

There are around 130,000 traffic signal lights in

80 London, TCSU (6). These traffic lights are
currently maintained by the three traffic
h 70
k!. companies: Serco, Siemens, and Microsense. The
$, 60 map in Figure 3 shows the areas maintained by
.-I= each traffic company. The traffic lights are
m>cn 50
replaced before their lifetimes expire. The red and
$ 40 green lights are replaced twice a year. The amber
Q) is replaced once a year. As a result of this, the
-m 30 annual lamp failure rate is very low (just over 5%).
The traffic lights in London are tungsten halogen
2 20
and operate with 12V, consuming 50W. The
2 10 nominal light output is specified as 9001m, and the
life expectancy is 3000 hours, when operated at
0
12v.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Cost of electricity (plkWh) Replacement Costs

Assuming that the three colours are distributed

Fig. 1 Annual energy savings if a 150 W equally, the total number of lights of each colour
incandescent light is replaced with LEDs can be taken as 43,000. The current unit price of
the red, amber, and green LED lights when
purchased in large quantities is around f120 for
the red, f160 for the amber, and f210 for the
20
green. Assuming the LED lights fit into the
18
existing housings, the approximate installation
A 16 time is given as 15-20 minutes to replace each
14 light, Multilins (7). The unit labour cost to replace
.-F 12 a light can be estimated as f5. The total

-mi l 8o
investment cost is then:

3 Red: 43000 x f 125 = f5m

c 6
Amber: 43000 x €165 = f7m
$ 4
Green; 43000 x E21 5 f9m
flj

2
0 Making a total purchase price of about f21 m
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Cost of electricity (p/kWh) Red and amber LEDs each consume typically 13
Watts, and the green LEDs consume 6 Watts.
Assuming the red light is on 60% of the time,
green light is on 35% of the time, and the amber is
Fig. 2 Annual energy savings if a 50 W on 5% of the time, the total energy savings per
incandescent light is replaced with LEDs year can be estimated as:
 175

power consumption and hence large savings in

Red: 0.6(50-1:3)x8760x43000= 8300 MWh/yr electrical energy. The second one is the very long
Amber: 0.05(50-13)x8760x43000= 696 MWh/yr operating life and hence low maintenance costs
Green: 0.35450-6)x8760x430OO = 5800 MWh/yr and high availability time.

Assuming the electricity cost is €0.05 per kWh, the The analysis carried out in this paper estimate
annual savings from energy only can be estimated total annual savings in the order of €1.4 million if
as: all the traffic lights in London are to be replaced by
LEDs. The payback period (Table 1) is however
f0.05(8300+696+5800)~1
O3 f 740,00O/yr rather high and the reason for such a high
payback period is the currently high capital cost of
The total lamp maintenance cost is currently LED lights. It is expected that the cost of these
around f650,OClO per year. By adding he lights will fall considerably in the next three to five
maintenance costs, the total savings will be years as the demand becomes higher and there is
around €1.4 million per year. more competition. A lower' payback period will
then make these lights more cost-effective in
Table 1 gives a summary of the LED replacement London. It is interesting to note that a much lower
costs. payback period can be obtained in a city where
the incandescent lights operate at 150 W rating,
instead of 50 W.
Table 1. LED replacement cost in London
After the pilot test site in London is installed with
I Amber I Green
~

LED traffic lights, it is expected to monitor and

evaluate the performance of these lights over
Total number
Capital cost per I several years before a wider area implementation
(€/LED) and a bigger investment are considered.
Total capital I
(€m) REFERENCES
Installation cost
LED (€/LED) 1. lbrahim D and Beasley M, 1997, "LED traffic
lights and their potential use in London", Traffic
Total installa
Eng. And Control, June, 318-321.
cost (f)
Annual electr
2. Evans D, 1997, "Moving up the ratings,
savings (f) at assesing why LEDs perform for ITS", Traffic
EO.05lkWh
technology Int., 183-188
Annual maintena
savings (€) 3. Mayer M W, 1996, "Affordable green LED traffic
Payback signal", Traffic Technology Int., OcUNov, 95-98.
(years)
4. Evans D, 1996, "Long term light output
performance of AllnGaP LED technology", Traffic
Pilot Site Technology Int., ApriVMay, 88-92.

A pilot LED test site will be set up in London in the
first quarter of 1998 in order to evaluate the
performance of all three colour LED traffic lights.
The pilot site ha:; initially been selected to be in
the Victoria area and Figure 4 shows the possible
pilot site, including three traffic light installations.
This area was chosen to enable easy monitoring
by TCSU and it is envisaged that three different
suppliers will be involved in the pilot.
5. Pleydell M E, 1997, "Nlicrosense Advanced
Signal Head Functional Specification", Microsense
Systems Limited, Fareham, UK.
6. Monthly statistics, Fault Control Centre, Traffic
Control Systems Unit, Smith Square, London.
7. Multilins technical information, ITAB Neon AB,
Instrumentvagen, S-553 02 Jonkoping, Sweden.

CONCLUSIONS
The ideas presented in this paper are the ideas of
Amongst many other benefits, LED traffic lights Me auMors only and do not represent the iueas,
offer two main benefits when compared with the aims, or policies of any organisation or of any
incandescent lights. The first one is the very low body.
 176

Fig. 3 Traffic signal maintenance companies in Greater London

Fig. 4 LED pilot test site in London (Gt. Smith St. - Marsham St.)