‘One-Watt’ traffic signals from Siemens

Small is big news on the Siemens stand as the company unveils its ultra-low consumption One-Watt technology for traffic lights. The move from incandescent bulbs to 230V LED lamp heads had seen an enormous reduction in power consumption (down from 60Watts per head to around 15W) but means the load resistors and switching elements in the signal units are often the biggest energy consumers.
April 6, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

Small is big news on the 189 Siemens stand as the company unveils its ultra-low consumption One-Watt technology for traffic lights. The move from incandescent bulbs to 230V LED lamp heads had seen an enormous reduction in power consumption (down from 60Watts per head to around 15W) but means the load resistors and switching elements in the signal units are often the biggest energy consumers.

With One-watt technology the use of 24V LEDs and digital driver modules has eliminated the need for load resistors and switching elements and means a complete signal head may require only one or two Watts to operate.

This provides huge benefits as a large city like Berlin can avoid some 2,000 tons of carbon emissions and save €500,000 in energy costs every year.

In cities still using conventional filament bulbs in their traffic lights, the potential savings are significantly higher and according to Siemens One-Watt technology traffic signals will typically pay for themselves in less than five years.

Furthermore, Siemens said its LED signals retain full light intensity and also reduce service costs and it monitors voltage, current and the luminosity of the LED units, adding that may become possible to predict when LED units will fail so enable preventative maintenance.

The first One-Watt pilot projects are running in Bolzano, Italy and in Bietigheim-Bissingen near Stuttgart in Southern Germany.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Siemens brings intelligence back to equipment in the field
    June 15, 2016
    While many companies are moving toward the delivery of ITS solutions through the cloud, Siemens' RuggedCom division wants to make sure that intelligence doesn't disappear completely from hardware deployed in the field. The Siemens RuggedCom RX 1400 router has a built-in compute platform that can run applications when connectivity is lost, allowing critical ITS services to continue operating in the field even when equipment is cut off from the internet or the traffic management center.
    Read More
  • Aptiv: we need overhaul of AV nervous system
    August 20, 2019
    Autonomous vehicles are changing a lot of things: Aptiv’s Christian Schäfer suggests that we need to look again at traditional approaches to vehicle architecture to find viable options for the future
    Read More
  • Weathering the elements: how weather affects the network
    July 29, 2013
    Weather-related problems can render cost-cutting counter productive, according to CommScope’s Philip Sorrells. When severe weather conditions make headlines every winter, motorists and travellers seem willing to accept the impact on the trains and roads and yet take for granted that the communications networks will continue uninterrupted. They often appear far more upset that the information system does not give them an update on road conditions, train services or bus arrival times than they are about the a
    Read More
  • Cellular communications drive the way forward for tolling
    January 18, 2012
    For more than 20 years prior to joining the ITS industry, Mike Payne of Idris, part of Federal Signal Technologies, worked for Vodafone - the world's biggest mobile operator. Here, he considers how the road tolling sector can grow and learn from the cellular industry. The global cellphone has been one of the most successful collaborative technology projects in the last 30 years. Mobile phone technology developed throughout the 20th century with the first public service in the early 70s. This was followed by
    Read More

Highlighted Content