Testing the properties of illuminance sensors designed for controllable lighting systems

Currently, when the price of electric power keeps increasing, it is very effective to control a lighting based on pre-programmed requirements depending on the actual value of illuminance. To be able to perform such control, it is necessary to measure the illuminance value as accurately as possible. This paper deals with testing of several low-cost industrial sensors of illuminance intensity. There is a detailed description of industrial illuminance sensors of the lighting labelled MAX44009 and TSL2561. These sensors provide information about the illuminance intensity in a digital form and communicate via serial I2C communication. The results of photometric measurements of both sensors give satisfactory results. In the future it is planned to use these sensors in FARCOM-ECO system of firm TRAKCE to control illuminance levels in the platforms and train yards. The control of illuminance will significantly reduce an energy consumption of the lighting systems.