Customer Success Story: Arundel Castle

Market ServedHospitality & leisure

Location:West Sussex, UK

Segment:Hospitality & leisure

Challenge:An effective emergency lighting system was needed so that visitors can exit safely in the event of a mains failure. However, this was required to be accomplished without affecting the overall ambience of the historic building.

Solution:Decisions were made to use the static inverters to power the emergency lighting system, as they enabled a wide variety of existing tungsten light fi ttings to function as emergency lighting during a mains power failure.

Results:The consultants were delighted with the performance and reliability of the static inverter units, as well as with the level of support from Eaton’s Cooper Lighting and Safety business.

Eaton delivers effective, yet unobtrusive,emergency lighting system for an 11th century castle. Background

Situated in magnificent grounds overlooking the River Arun in West Sussex, this picturesque castle was built at the end of the 11th century and is now the family home of the Duke & Duchess of Norfolk.

Challenges

Since the castle is open to the general public, it is essential for there to be an effective emergency lighting system so that visitors can exit the building safely in the event of a mains failure. However, this requirement had to be accomplished without affecting the overall ambience of the building.

Solution

With aesthetics such an important consideration, the castle’s building services consultant, Wilson & Partners, made the decision to use static inverters to power the emergency lighting system.

“Rather than installing lots of self-contained emergency luminaires, which would have been out of keeping, we opted for the static inverters as they enabled a wide variety of existing tungsten light fittings to function as emergency lighting during a mains power failure,” said a spokesman.

Menvier static inverter units from Eaton’s Cooper Lighting and Safety business were duly selected. Providing instantaneous switchover on mains failure, the static inverters convert DC power from built-in standby batteries to 230V AC 50Hz single-phase power.

Initially, two static inverters - a 2kVA unit with vented nickel cadmium batteries and a 4kVA

unit with sealed lead acid batteries – were installed in the main switch room at Arundel Castle to power the chandeliers and wall lights in the Baron’s Hall and the Picture Gallery.

These static inverters performed so well that the same approach was adopted for the Drawing Room, with two compact 500VA units subsequently being installed to provide emergency lighting. Subsequently, the 500VA compact static inverter was also specified for the Library, which is one of the most impressive rooms in the castle.

All installation work was carried out by the Hove branch of EDF Energy Contracting.

Results

The consultants were delighted with the performance and reliability of the static inverter units – and with the level of support they received from Eaton’s Cooper Lighting and Safety business.

Eaton’s static inverters meet the emergency lighting needs of this 11th century castle

EatonCooper Lighting and Safety LtdWheatley Hall RoadDoncasterSouth YorkshireDN2 4NBEaton.eu

© 2015 EatonAll Rights ReservedJuly 2015

Note: Features and specifications listed in this document are subject to change without notice and represent the maximum capa-bilities of the software and products with all options installed. Although every attempt has been made to ensure the accuracy of information contained within, Eaton makes no representation about the completeness, correctness or accuracy and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. Features and functionality may vary depending on selected options.