Introduction to Tower Lights
Tower lights are an important type of signal light used in various industries and processes. These lights are distinguished by their columnar structure of several independent lights stacked on the top of each other. They typically are comprised of up to five different colored light segments—red, green, yellow, blue, and white and often times include a sound module. Owing to their stacking orientation, purpose and designs, these lights are also referred to as indicator lights, signal tower lights, warning lights, stack lights, industrial signal lights, and light towers.
Purpose
Nowadays, industrial machines are equipped with intuitive interfaces and advanced diagnostics that inform operators about the status of the machine or event. These features help operators take necessary action at the right time. However, these features have limitations when it comes to their visibility at long distances. Many times, the operators spend time away from their work console for work-related or other reasons. It becomes difficult for them to access the machine and check the status of the current process. This is where the tower lights help. As different light modules are stacked in towers and placed over the machine, they are visible from all directions offering a 360-degree view. These lights provide status information to operators, supervisors, technicians, and other floor personnel. Sometimes, these lights also produce a strobe light signal or a buzzer sound, thereby informing maintenance technicians, forklift operators, or other personnel about the status of the process or machine.
Tower lights are an integral part of Lean Manufacturing and 5S initiatives, where they are commonly referred to as Andon lights. These lights are one of the most common forms of visual management.
Andon Configurations
Andon lights are the powerful visual tools, which are visible from a distance. These lights can be used in various configurations such as:
Colorful Stack of Andon Lights:
These indicator lights are generally comprised of three lighting modules—green, yellow, and red. As with regular tower lights, the green symbolizes a normal working condition, yellow symbolizes a request for help, and red symbolizes production stop. The red light comes with an alarm. Sometimes, these lights are linked to automated systems, so they can detect problems easily.
Andon Display Board:
These boards are placed near workstations and display the summary of several assembly lines. These boards can be utilized in two ways: to indicate when an individual assembly line is ready for shifting, and to indicate that certain stations may have a problem. The first option is applicable to traditional assembly lines where products are advanced manually.
Features
The features common to tower lights include the following:
Lighting Modules:
The tower lights may comprise of one, two, or up to five modules in a single stack. The lighting modules are available in colors such as red, green, yellow, blue, and white (refer to functions of stack lights) with LED lamps or incandescent lamps. Integrated lighting modules are mostly offered in three styles of module illumination:
Flashing: In this module, the light flashes continuously.
Continuous: In this module, the lights stay on continuously. This module is the most common.
Rotary: In this module, the light rotates, thereby seeking the attention of a user. Most often, the light is also accompanied by a buzzer alarm.
Sound Modules:
The tower lights feature integrated alarm buzzers, which are normally in the range of 80db. These buzzers may have monotonal, bi-tonal, or intermittent alarm patterns.
Mounting: The mounting bases are typically available in three configurations—direct mount, wall mount, and pole mount.
Direct mount bases can be easily installed because they need no drilling.
Wall mount bases are secured to the panel using a 4-hole mounting pattern.
Pole mount bases are offered with integrated wiring which assures easy and quick wiring to the terminals, thereby reducing the installation time
Functions
Tower lights are equipped with different colored lenses, which indicate a typical state of the machine or process environment. The following table will help you understand the machine or process functions symbolized by these indicator lightsThese color codes are not restricted to the above-discussed functions. The functions of these lights are decided by the system designer in response to machine/operator requirements. Nowadays, tower lights equipped with buzzers are employed in various industrial environments because they help capture the attention of an operator who is away from the visible area of the tower light. The flash rate can be “Fast” or “Slow”, and may be controlled by a PLC. 4Hz is a typical fast flash rate, whereas 2Hz is a slow flash rate.
Selection and Installation
Selection of the tower light for the facility becomes easy when you have an in-depth understanding of the installation area. In many facilities, these lights are to be installed in areas where there might be heavy traffic due to mobile vehicles such as fork lifts, bridge cranes, and people. In such conditions, the tower light may not perform as expected. Thus, it becomes important to consider several factors such as the choice of area, buzzer alarm, mounting options, and so on before making the selection. Be it a crowded workplace or a sparsely crowded workplace, the following are a few important factors that will help users make the right device selection.
Introduction to Tower Lights
Tower lights are an important type of signal light used in various industries and processes. These lights are distinguished by their columnar structure of several independent lights stacked on the top of each other. They typically are comprised of up to five different colored light segments—red, green, yellow, blue, and white and often times include a sound module. Owing to their stacking orientation, purpose and designs, these lights are also referred to as indicator lights, signal tower lights, warning lights, stack lights, industrial signal lights, and light towers.
Purpose
Nowadays, industrial machines are equipped with intuitive interfaces and advanced diagnostics that inform operators about the status of the machine or event. These features help operators take necessary action at the right time. However, these features have limitations when it comes to their visibility at long distances. Many times, the operators spend time away from their work console for work-related or other reasons. It becomes difficult for them to access the machine and check the status of the current process. This is where the tower lights help. As different light modules are stacked in towers and placed over the machine, they are visible from all directions offering a 360-degree view. These lights provide status information to operators, supervisors, technicians, and other floor personnel. Sometimes, these lights also produce a strobe light signal or a buzzer sound, thereby informing maintenance technicians, forklift operators, or other personnel about the status of the process or machine.
Tower lights are an integral part of Lean Manufacturing and 5S initiatives, where they are commonly referred to as Andon lights. These lights are one of the most common forms of visual management.
Andon Configurations
Andon lights are the powerful visual tools, which are visible from a distance. These lights can be used in various configurations such as:
Colorful Stack of Andon Lights:
These indicator lights are generally comprised of three lighting modules—green, yellow, and red. As with regular tower lights, the green symbolizes a normal working condition, yellow symbolizes a request for help, and red symbolizes production stop. The red light comes with an alarm. Sometimes, these lights are linked to automated systems, so they can detect problems easily.
Andon Display Board:
These boards are placed near workstations and display the summary of several assembly lines. These boards can be utilized in two ways: to indicate when an individual assembly line is ready for shifting, and to indicate that certain stations may have a problem. The first option is applicable to traditional assembly lines where products are advanced manually.
Features
The features common to tower lights include the following:
Lighting Modules:
The tower lights may comprise of one, two, or up to five modules in a single stack. The lighting modules are available in colors such as red, green, yellow, blue, and white (refer to functions of stack lights) with LED lamps or incandescent lamps. Integrated lighting modules are mostly offered in three styles of module illumination:
Flashing: In this module, the light flashes continuously.
Continuous: In this module, the lights stay on continuously. This module is the most common.
Rotary: In this module, the light rotates, thereby seeking the attention of a user. Most often, the light is also accompanied by a buzzer alarm.
Sound Modules:
The tower lights feature integrated alarm buzzers, which are normally in the range of 80db. These buzzers may have monotonal, bi-tonal, or intermittent alarm patterns.
Mounting: The mounting bases are typically available in three configurations—direct mount, wall mount, and pole mount.
Direct mount bases can be easily installed because they need no drilling.
Wall mount bases are secured to the panel using a 4-hole mounting pattern.
Pole mount bases are offered with integrated wiring which assures easy and quick wiring to the terminals, thereby reducing the installation time
Functions
Tower lights are equipped with different colored lenses, which indicate a typical state of the machine or process environment. The following table will help you understand the machine or process functions symbolized by these indicator lightsThese color codes are not restricted to the above-discussed functions. The functions of these lights are decided by the system designer in response to machine/operator requirements. Nowadays, tower lights equipped with buzzers are employed in various industrial environments because they help capture the attention of an operator who is away from the visible area of the tower light. The flash rate can be “Fast” or “Slow”, and may be controlled by a PLC. 4Hz is a typical fast flash rate, whereas 2Hz is a slow flash rate.
Selection and Installation
Selection of the tower light for the facility becomes easy when you have an in-depth understanding of the installation area. In many facilities, these lights are to be installed in areas where there might be heavy traffic due to mobile vehicles such as fork lifts, bridge cranes, and people. In such conditions, the tower light may not perform as expected. Thus, it becomes important to consider several factors such as the choice of area, buzzer alarm, mounting options, and so on before making the selection. Be it a crowded workplace or a sparsely crowded workplace, the following are a few important factors that will help users make the right device selection.
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