‘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 making complex tasks simple
    February 19, 2018
    Siemens' presence at Intertraffic Amsterdam always involves an array of technologies and systems across a broad range of traffic and transport disciplines and this year will be no exception. As the company points out, it is digitalisation that revolutionises traffic. A good example is the integration of the Internet of Things/Traffic (IoT) in urban infrastructure which is gaining traction and, in the future, it will be the digital presence that counts. Siemens is pioneering the ‘mobility revolution’ with
    Read More
  • Reykjavik traffic light priority system provided by Siemens
    October 12, 2016
    Siemens has been selected to supply its Sitraffic satellite-based prioritisation system for emergency and urban public transport vehicles to Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik. This is a real-time tracking application for managing traffic lights and passenger information. The system ensures that traffic lights automatically turn green for emergency and public transport vehicles at road intersections.
    Read More
  • Improving urban traffic control in Atlanta
    January 27, 2012
    Hugh Colton, Georgia DOT details move to improve urban traffic control in the Atlanta area. With a significant proportion of traffic using freeways and toll-ways, along with a significant investment in roadway infrastructure, urban arterials are often the poor relation when it comes to ITS investment. Hitherto the primary means of Urban Traffic Control (UTC) has been the ubiquitous traffic signal. Many traffic signals still operate in a standalone mode and traffic detection is often broken, leaving the sign
    Read More
  • Autopilot highlights shape of Things
    March 30, 2020
    Driverless vehicles require rich data to operate safely, and a European consortium is harnessing the Internet of Things to help.
    Read More

Highlighted Content