Illuminance

Illuminance

A term expressing the density of luminous flux incident on a surface. This word has been proposed by the Colorimetry Committee of the Optical Society of America to replace the term illumination. The definitions are the same. The symbol of illumination is E, and the equation is E = dF/dA, where A is the area of the illuminated surface and F is the luminous flux. See Luminous flux, Photometry

McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Physics. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Illuminance

Commonly called light level, illuminance refers to the light intensity arriving on a surface, measured in foot-candles (fc). It is the standard international unit that is used to measure the amount of light per unit of surface area, also known as lux (lx). Measurements of illuminance are used to select lighting fixtures and to evaluate a lighting design. The photometric data to be considered include the luminous-intensity distribution curve (LIDC), the coefficient of utilization (CU), and the light loss factor (LLF).

Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

illuminance

[ə′lü·mə·nəns]

(optics)

The density of the luminous flux on a surface. Also known as illumination; luminous flux density.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

illuminance

The density of luminous power, also called illumination. One lumen of luminous flux, uniformly incident on 1 square foot of area, produces an illuminance of 1 footcandle; in SI units, one lumen of luminous flux, uniformly incident on 1 square meter of area, produces an illuminance of 1 lux.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Illuminance

 

(at a point of a surface), a unit of light, equal to the ratio of the luminous flux incident upon a small surface element ΔS containing the point being considered to the area of ΔS. Stated differently, illuminance is the surface density of the luminous flux. If the dimensions of the source of light are small in comparison with the distance l of the source from ΔS, then the illuminance E = I cos α/l², where I is the luminous intensity of the source and α is the angle of incidence of the light upon ΔS, that is, the angle between the direction of the luminous flux and a line perpendicular to ΔS. Units of illuminance are the lux and the phot: 1 phot = 10⁴ lux.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.