Project description
Lighting up tunnels the smart way
Emergency lighting systems (ELSs) are a priority for working safety in underground construction projects. However, existing power supply circuits force emergency lights to remain on for unnecessarily long hours. Powered by batteries, this translates into excessive energy consumption and increased operation costs mainly due to frequent recharging cycles. In this context, the EU funded SMARTUNNEL project will bring to the market the longest-life ELS available. This new system, designed and developed by Uni-light LED, is a smart LED ELS for tunnels under construction or refurbishment. It will allow reductions of up to 30 % excessive battery exhaustion/recharging cycles through intelligent control allowing discrimination between an unintentional power outage and intentional interruption.
Objective
During rail and road tunnel construction/refurbishment, the initial investment required for lighting system installation, including emergency lighting systems (ELS) amounts to an average 6% of total tunnel construction cost. Current ELS power supply circuits force lights to remain on for long hours when not needed: when power is turned off manually, existing circuits keep ELS on (powered by batteries). This leads to needless energy consumption and fast battery deterioration. We, at Uni-light LED, have developed Smartunnel, a new smart LED ELS for tunnels under construction/refurbishment, which turns off when light is not needed. Our smart switch and intelligent control allow discrimination between unintentional power outage and intentional interruption, so that emergency lights are lit only under the first scenario. This prevents excessive battery exhaustion/recharging cycles thus making Smartunnel the longest-life ELS on the market (10 years, 80% reduction in battery waste). Smartunnel offers 20-30% increased energy efficiency leading to effective savings of €13,000/3km per year. Our flicker-free and electromagnetic interference-free lights improve visibility and reduce health issues, enhancing safety and security for tunnel workers. Conveniently, Smartunnel can use existing wiring installations to power emergency lights, curbing the cost of new wiring in existing tunnels. We already commercialise 7 lighting product types, based on our patented LED light Driver and Thermal Management Technology for illumination in agriculture, industry and on ships, thus far reaching 100 companies in the UK, Sweden, Germany and Austria. The success of our existing systems has funded Smartunnel development. Following the optimisation of our design into a pilot for phase 2 validation under real conditions. We aim to achieve a tunnelling construction market share of 21 % in Europe as well as 8 % in USA by 2024, creating at least 20 new jobs at Uni-light LED in the process.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering waste management waste treatment processes recycling
- engineering and technology environmental engineering ecosystem-based management climatic change mitigation
- social sciences sociology social issues social inequalities
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme -
H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
See all projects funded under this programme -
H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
115 41 STOCKHOLM
Sweden
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.