School Eye-Protection Lighting Retrofit in Practice: Wanbaohe Town Central Kindergarten Project Review

Project Background and Requirements

Wanbaohe Town Central Kindergarten is a municipal Class I kindergarten. The building's exterior walls feature colorful coatings and arched window designs, and the entrance is adorned with a golden large-character signboard. As a kindergarten undertaking the demonstration function of preschool education in the region, its requirements for classroom lighting environment go beyond merely being "bright enough" — it focuses more on children's visual health, classroom visual comfort, and the long-term stability of the lighting system. The traditional luminaires used before the renovation had problems such as uneven illuminance, dim blackboard areas, and noticeable glare. In some classrooms, after natural light attenuated in the afternoon, the visual burden on children during reading and drawing activities increased significantly.

Based on on-site surveys and communication with the kindergarten, the following core requirements were defined for this project:

• The illuminance and uniformity requirements stipulated by relevant national standards must be met separately for classroom desk surfaces and blackboard surfaces, avoiding frequent visual focus adjustment by children due to brightness differences;
• Luminaires must effectively control glare, reduce the situation where children directly see the light source when looking up, and simultaneously avoid the potential impact of flicker on the visual system;
• The installation method must adapt to the existing classroom ceiling structure, without damaging the original building appearance and interior layout, and must be easy to maintain later;
• The lighting system must accommodate various activity scenarios such as daily teaching, drawing, and reading, have a stable and reliable service life, and reduce the kindergarten's long-term operation and maintenance costs.

The kindergarten also requested that the renovation process should minimize disruption to normal teaching order, and hoped to confirm the lighting effect in a verifiable manner before proceeding with batch implementation. These requirements collectively form the basic basis for this project from scheme design to delivery acceptance.

Lighting Scheme Design

In response to the spatial characteristics of the classrooms at Wanbaohe Town Central Kindergarten, the HUMUBAO lighting technical team focused on solving two issues during the scheme design phase: first, ensuring uniform illuminance on desk surfaces and blackboard surfaces, avoiding dark zones or glare caused by improper luminaire layout; second, accommodating the comfort needs of children's visual development stage by controlling luminaire surface brightness and color temperature to reduce irritation to children's eyes from direct light.

Based on the actual classroom dimensions and desk arrangement, the scheme adopts a layout combining linear LED classroom luminaires and dedicated blackboard luminaires. Classroom luminaires are mounted on the ceiling via pendant rods and evenly distributed longitudinally along the desks to ensure sufficient and uniform desk surface illuminance; blackboard luminaires are independently installed above and in front of the blackboard, using asymmetric light distribution to concentrate light onto the blackboard surface, avoiding shadows cast by teachers during writing. The overall color temperature is selected in the neutral-to-warm range, and the color rendering index meets the basic requirements for color restoration in teaching scenarios.

• Classroom luminaires: linear LED luminaires, pendant rod mounting, longitudinally uniform layout
• Blackboard luminaires: dedicated asymmetric light distribution luminaires, independently controlling blackboard area lighting
• Lighting environment targets: uniform illuminance on desk surfaces and blackboard surfaces, no visible flicker, moderate surface brightness

After the scheme design was completed, we provided the kindergarten with luminaire layout diagrams and lighting environment simulation data, enabling the purchaser to intuitively understand the post-renovation lighting effect before construction. This step also provided a clear technical basis for subsequent prototyping and confirmation.

Sampling and Confirmation

After the design scheme was approved, we did not proceed directly to mass production. Instead, we first produced a set of physical samples for Wanbaohe Town Central Kindergarten. A typical classroom was selected as the sample room, and linear LED classroom lights and dedicated blackboard lights were installed according to the final design drawings, with the luminaires suspended by pendant rods to match the ceiling structure of the classroom. The purpose of the sample room was clear: to let the kindergarten intuitively experience the lighting environment in a real teaching setting, rather than making judgments based solely on drawings or specification sheets.

After the sample installation was completed, we invited the kindergarten's person in charge, teacher representatives, and logistics management personnel to jointly conduct the acceptance inspection on site. The following items were key points confirmed on site:

• Illuminance uniformity on desk surfaces and the blackboard surface, and whether there were obvious dark areas or glare
• Whether the appearance of the luminaires was coordinated with the overall classroom decoration style, and whether the pendant rod length and installation positions were reasonable
• Whether the beam angle of the blackboard lights precisely covered the writing area, avoiding direct exposure to the teacher's line of sight
• Whether the switch control method was convenient for daily teaching management

In response to the detailed comments raised by the kindergarten, we made minor adjustments based on the sample, such as optimizing the suspension height and angle of some luminaires to ensure more concentrated light in the blackboard area. After confirmation, the kindergarten signed and approved the sample acceptance form, and the sample room subsequently served as the physical reference standard for mass production. This step effectively reduced communication costs and rework risks in subsequent batch deliveries, and also gave the buyer sufficient visual and experiential basis before making decisions.

Production and Quality Control

After the scheme was confirmed, the order entered production scheduling. For the use scenario of kindergarten classrooms, key materials for this batch of classroom lights and blackboard lights were uniformly locked before production: light sources, driver power supplies, and diffuser plates were all purchased according to the specifications of the confirmed samples to avoid color temperature or brightness deviations between batches. The dimensions and surface treatment of lamp body structural parts were checked at the incoming material stage to ensure that the pendant rod mounting holes matched the drawings.

During production, we set up three inspection checkpoints by process:

• Before assembly: verify batch consistency of light sources and drivers, and check diffuser plates for scratches and color differences;
• During assembly: test the lighting status of each luminaire one by one to confirm no flicker and no dark areas; for blackboard lights, focus on checking whether the asymmetric light distribution direction is correct;
• After assembly: conduct proportional sampling inspection of whole-lamp power and color temperature, and carry out matching counts of installation accessories such as pendant rods and screws.

For the most core light quality indicators of classroom lighting, this batch of products was confirmed according to the following items before leaving the factory:

In the packaging process, boxes are divided by classroom as a unit, with the lamp body and pendant accessories secured separately to reduce the risk of collision during transportation. Each box is accompanied by a corresponding installation location list, facilitating quick on-site distribution by classroom and by area, and saving verification time for subsequent delivery and installation.

Delivery and evaluation

After the luminaires arrived on site, HUMUBAO, together with the kindergarten and the construction contractor, completed the goods acceptance inspection and installation guidance. Considering the kindergarten's teaching order, installation work was carried out in batches during non-teaching hours to avoid affecting daily activities. After installation was completed, we conducted a room-by-room lighting inspection of the classrooms, confirming that the linear LED classroom lights and blackboard lights all lit up normally with no visible flicker, the pendants were securely installed, and the light output direction of the luminaires was accurately aligned with the blackboard area.

During the delivery stage, an on-site lighting environment review was also completed, focusing on verifying the illuminance uniformity on desk surfaces and blackboard surfaces, glare control, and light-dark transition performance. From the actual view of the renovated classrooms, the ceiling luminaires are arranged neatly, the dedicated blackboard luminaires provide directional lighting for the writing area, and the overall indoor lighting environment is bright and uniform; existing facilities such as desks, chairs, bookcases and fans were all unaffected by the installation.

• Room-by-room lighting and function inspection, confirming no dead lamps and no visible flicker
• Review the illuminance and uniformity on classroom desks and blackboard surfaces to reduce light-dark contrast
• Check the fixing of suspension rods and the neatness of wiring to ensure safety in use
• Deliver documentation on daily use and maintenance precautions to the kindergarten

In the acceptance feedback, the kindergarten noted that after the renovation the classroom lighting is softer and more uniform than before, the clarity of writing on the blackboard area has improved, and children's visual comfort during indoor activities has been significantly enhanced. As a "Municipal Level 1 Kindergarten," Wanbaohe Town Central Kindergarten has high requirements for the standardization of its teaching environment. This lighting renovation has provided stable light environment support for its daily teaching and also offers a reference implementation path for similar kindergarten projects in the future.