Necplus LED light developed in no time

“We want to surprise the market with an explosion-safe LED work lamp that meets the most stringent requirements. A work lamp with a high light output that works on both direct current and alternating current. A portable lamp that is extremely robust but still lightweight. Can Artidor develop such a lamp for us and produce it for us under the Nec+ label? And can it be done quickly?”

In shipyards, in the aircraft industry and anywhere else where work is done with adhesives, paints and volatile substances, there is a need for portable explosion-safe work lighting. The Dutch company Nec+ decided to respond to this and formulated the wish list above. Marc Moolenaar, director of Artidor, loves the challenging problems that companies bring to him. “We strive to develop and produce explosion-safe products that measure up against the top end of the market. We welcome clients such as Nec+ with open arms because they stimulate us to get the best out of ourselves.”

Unprecedented fast development

‘Good’ and ‘fast’ it not usually an obvious combination in the business world. Even so, Artidor was able to complete the whole process of development, design, prototyping, testing and certification in just over a year. That is exceptionally fast when you consider that product development usually takes nine to twelve months and certification takes another six to nine months.
Moolenaar: “From the first day, we approached the details carefully. We thought about the explosion safety concept in depth, accurately defined the requirements and starting building and testing prototypes at an early stage. Something that certainly contributed was the professional partnership with Notified Body Kiwa ExVision, which went exceptionally well. We are proud that we completed the process so quickly. The smooth process was also profitable for Nec+. During development, the costs come before the benefits. The earlier a marketable product is ready, the better.”

Can take a bump

There is no limit to the trust that Nec+ places in the quality of the lamp. “If the sales manager wants to demonstrate the robustness of the lamp in front of clients, he lifts it over his head and forcefully throws it to the ground,” says Moolenaar, laughing. That the lamp can take a ‘bump’ is actually something of an understatement. The housing is made of impact-resistant polyethylene, has a polycarbonate window and is antistatic. Extremely strong but relatively light, that is the advantage of this lamp. “Comparable lamps with a metal or aluminum housing are easily twice as heavy,” says Moolenaar.
It was designed so the earth wire could be omitted and a two-pole power cable is enough. That gives end users more freedom. The same applies to the connection voltage. “Direct current or alternating current. 24, 42 or 48 Volts. The lamp does not demand much of the environment and is very versatile,” assures Moolenaar.

The lamp in more detail

No less than 81 LEDs provide light output of 1750 lumens, which practically means a sea of neutral white light with high intensity.
A lockable bracket is attached at the back of the housing to be able to put the lamp safely on a stand. The lamp comes with a standard ten meter H07RN-F connection cable, but if the usage conditions require a longer one, other types of cables are possible. The Nec+ explosion-safe work lamp is suitable for environments with temperatures up to 50° Celsius and is both ATEX and IECEx certified for use in zone 1 and zone 21.

Cordless is trending

Electricity continues to be a blessing, but we increasingly see cords and plugs as undesirable. Cordless is the trend. In anticipation of this, Artidor started developing an identical LED work lamp at the request of Nec+ that works on batteries – with the same light output and at least eight hours of running time. “In industry, you are faced with distances and hard to reach places, which quickly becomes a major nuisance with extension cord reels. This made developing a cordless lamp the obvious next step. It is still a challenge to choose the composition of the battery pack and the electronics to keep the lamp an acceptable weight. A wireless lamp that cannot be lifted defeats the purpose, we understand that all too well. But we will succeed,” Moolenaar concludes.