Evaluation of Inrush Current in LED Luminaires Applied to Urban Lighting Based on Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Methods: A Case Study

In recent years, a progressive renovation of public lighting has been taking place in cities, from metal halide lamps to LED luminaires. This renovation has been carried out on a large scale by replacing some luminaires with others without taking into account other elements of the circuit. Due to the high number of electronic components, LED luminaires generate inrush currents that can exceed several times the nominal current value at ignition process. This electrical phenomenon is a basic problem to be solved when planning a street lighting renovation with LED luminaires, because it is essential to have a prior estimation of the inrush current generated by the luminaires for a correct sizing of the circuit protection elements. Currently, it is difficult to predict the value of the inrush current, for this reason, the main objective is to establish an innovative methodology based on advanced multi-criteria decision-making methods (entropy and CRITIC) to predict anomalous behaviors (inrush current peaks) in LED luminaire installations and their appropriate selection in the design phase or before are mounted in the circuit to avoid negative consequences on the components and to dimension them correctly, producing cost savings in the replacement of circuit elements such as circuit breakers and switches.