LED Troffer Lighting - What you need to know | Orilis LED Lighting Solutions

A troffer is a recessed rectangular lighting fixture designed to fit into a suspended (dropped) tile ceiling. The Department of Energy estimates that over 360 million troffers are installed in the United States in offices, hospitals, educational facilities, and commercial spaces. Traditionally, troffers have used fluorescent tubes; however these tubes are not as energy efficient as their LED counterparts. Building owners looking for ways to cut operating costs are thus replacing their existing fixtures with higher efficiency LED troffers.

Two options exist for upgrading lighting systems that use fluorescent troffers:

replacing the fluorescent lamps and other fixture components with an LED retrofit kit, or
replacing the entire fixture with new LED troffer fixtures.

Types of Troffer Lights

Prismatic Lensed Fluorescent – This is the original troffer design and is still found in older buildings. It utilizes a flat acrylic lens to diffuse the light from the lamps and reduce glare. If you already have fluorescent troffers installed, you can use an LED retrofit kit to convert your existing troffers to LED. These kits decrease the cost of upgrading to LED lighting. To install, the fluorescent ballast and connectors are removed while the existing sheet metal housing remains. 4-light fluorescent troffers can be retrofitted to take either 4 LED tubes or 2 LED tubes depending on your lighting needs.

Flat Panel LED - Flat Panels are ideally suited for shallow applications where mounting space above the drop ceiling is filled with duct work, piping or other building necessities. One big difference between a flat panel and a traditional troffer would be the depth of the product. While a typical fluorescent troffer will be around 3-4" deep, flat panels are around a ½”-1” deep. These troffers achieve their slim appearance by using integrated LED strips instead of LED tubes. They offer crisp, clean light, with soft, low-glare illumination diffused by a flat acrylic lens. Quick and easy to install, these troffers have few maintenance requirements.

Architectural LED – These volumetric recessed troffers provide soft ambient illumination with a modern appearance. These troffers feature 1 or 2 center mounted LEDs covered by concave lenses, and housed within a sloped fixture frame. These troffers are an exceptional general lighting product that performs well in large spaces with high ceilings. The optimum mix of directional and diffuse reflected light combine for balanced illumination between general lighting (from the light refracted off the curved frame) and task lighting (from the downward facing lens), creating enhanced visual comfort and minimized shadows.

Slim / High Performance Architectural LED – These troffers are the next generation of architectural troffers. They combine clean lines with a unique slim profile design that complements any space. These troffers have been optimized for maximum light output from the high efficiency concave center lens, while the curved geometry has been optimized to add additional diffused light to the space. The fixture's shallow depth allows for easy installation in any standard T-Bar ceiling system. These troffers are your best-in-value ambient lighting solution for office, retail, educational, healthcare and other commercial projects.

Retrofit or Replace?

So, you are ready to upgrade your facility’s troffer lighting to LED! Your next decision is whether to retrofit your existing fluorescent fixtures or to replace them with new LED versions. Both choices offer benefits. Three considerations when making the choice:

What is the condition of the currently installed lighting fixtures?
Do you like the look of your existing fixtures?
Does your current lighting design offer a sufficient amount of light?

Retrofit is a good upgrade solution for buildings seeking to replace energy-consuming T8 fluorescent troffer fixtures with high efficiency LED light sources. LED retrofit kits are an inexpensive way to convert to LED while still gaining all of the benefits LED Lighting has to offer. Just remember to compare the relevant utility rebates in your area for new fixtures vs retrofit, since in many cases new fixtures will earn higher rebates.

On the other hand, the ideal upgrade solution may be to replace your existing fixtures with new LED fixtures. New LED fixtures will be purpose-built for LED, potentially resulting in higher efficiency, and better quality lighting. New fixtures can update the look of your facility while providing energy savings. They can also solve many lighting design problems in facilities that are under lit or over lit in their current lighting configurations.