There is a lot of talking about solar panels and solar powered electricity production lately. Though this is not the only way to collect energy and use it as lighting. We can also use so called daylighting for interior spaces.
What is the daylighting?
Daylighting is the use of natural sunlight to brighten up house interior. You can achieve daylighting by placing windows on the roof in proper sizes and locations or by special designed solar daylighting devices. And solar daylightind devices are the subject of which I would like to say a few words.
Daylighting devices are in shape of tubes or cables:
Tubular daylighting device
is special device, which is placed on the roof and from there it brings light into interior place of the house. It’s composed out of three basic parts:
Solar collector – head of the device is clear multi-faceted dome, which can catch sunlight from almost all angles.
Solar tube also called solar tunnel – is the body of device. When sunlight is collected it’s channeled through highly-reflective tube to the room to be lit. Tubes usualy have10 inches (25,4 cm) in diameter. The UV rays that could fade subjects in the room (carpets, clothes,..) are removed by device.
Diffuser – creates steady, even light through the lit space, without creating any glare. It is set on the end of the tube on the ceiling.
This is it, device you just mantle and forget about it. It gives you satisfaction without any current expences.
Fiber-optic daylighting device
collects and channels the light through cables. This device is also composed of three parts:
Solar collector – it can be placed on top of the roof or any south-facing sides of the building. Collector is a rectangular panel composed of small lenses, which catch light from many angles.
Fiber-optic cables – cables which can channel sunlight up to two stories deep! It means also underground basement can be lit. UV rays are removed by special filtres placed near the surface of the lenses.
Fixture – creates steady, even light, without glaring. It is fixed on the ceiling at the end of the optic cable.
Interesting, powerful, healthy solution for perfect interior lit.