A note on the optic characteristics of daylighting system via PMMA fibers (original) (raw)
Related papers
Analysis of plastic optical fiber based daylight system suitable for building applications
In the scenario of world energy crisis, building energy efficiency has become a mainstream research focus; since buildings take up a large share of the world energy consumption. Lighting plays an integral part in the building’s operationality through providing indoor visual comfort; and the much-needed daylight harnessing in building structures can be achieved through various strategies. This paper aims to evaluate the amount of plastic optical fiber (POF) required for achieving optimum indoor illumination through light transport and study the advantage of two dimensional solar tracking and light concentration on indoor daylight enhancement through POF as a trade-off for the amount of POF required in a static system. Illumination attained inside a representative closed chamber due to light transported by POF via various mechanisms was experimentally compared with outdoor direct illumination and the amount of POF required for achieving comfortable indoor illumination was calculated for a proposed system involving tracking and light concentration. A microcontroller based dual-axis solar tracker was designed for tracking sunlight on the POF collector node every 10 seconds and opaque internally reflective plastic containers acted like sample rooms in a building. Calculations for the representative day normalized for the flooring area in an office building showed a promising payback period of around 5 years through partial replacement of electric lighting. Additionally, reduction in heat conduction through window glazing further reduces the cooling costs.
Development of Optical Fiber-based Daylighting System with Uniform Illumination
2012
Daylighting has a very effective role in reducing power consumption and improving indoor environments in office buildings. Previously, it was not under consideration as a major source of renewable energy due to poor reliability in the design. Optical fiber as a transmission medium in the daylighting system demands uniform distribution of light to solve cost, heat, and efficiency issues. Therefore, this study focuses on the uniform distribution of sunlight through the fiber bundle and to the interior of the building. To this end, two efficient approaches for the fiber-based daylighting system are presented. The first approach consists of a parabolic mirror, and the second approach contains a Fresnel lens. Sunlight is captured, guided, and distributed through the concentrator, optical fibers, and lenses, respectively. At the capturing stage, uniform illumination solves the heat problem, which has critical importance in making the system cost-effective by introducing plastic optical fibers. The efficiency of the system is increased by collimated light, which helps to insert maximum light into the optical fibers. Furthermore, we find that the hybrid system of combining sunlight and light emitting diode light gives better illumination levels than that of traditional lighting systems. Simulation and experimental results have shown that the efficiency of the system is better than previous fiber-based daylighting systems.
Development of optical fiber-based daylighting system with collimated illumination
2012 17th Opto-Electronics and Communications Conference, 2012
Fiber-optic daylighting systems have been shown to be a promising and effective way to transmit sunlight in the interior space whilst reducing electric lighting energy consumption. To increase efficiency in terms of providing uniform illumination in the interior, the current need is to illuminate optical fiber-bundle with uniform light flux. To this end, we propose a method for achieving collimated light, which illuminates the fiber-bundle uniformly. Light is collected through a parabolic concentrator and focused toward a collimating lens, which distributes the light over each optical fiber. An optics diffusing structure is utilized at the end side of the fiber bundle to spread light in the interior. The results clearly reveal that the efficiency in terms of uniform illumination, which also reduces the heat problem for optical fibers, is improved. Furthermore, a comparison study is conducted between current and previous approaches. As a result, the proposed daylighting system turns out convenient in terms of energy saving and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Optic Fibericity - The New Era Lighting
2014
Bringing sunlight inside buildings to decrease the electricity needed for lighting, to provide natural light, and to decrease the energy needed for cooling has been a major technology research interest referred to as daylighting. Fiber optic daylighting (FOD) systems are an evolving technology that may provide a solution for daylighting technology. These systems use fiber optics combined with solar light collectors to transmit daylight to spaces historically difficult to daylight, using sidelighting or toplighting strategies. This research aims to show the energy conservation capability and efficiency of FOD as compared to Artificial Lighting. Calculations will highlight efficiency and performance for the design concepts. These calculations are intended to show how much energy conservation can be achieved with better illumination from FOD as compared to lighting generated by solar power (PVC) system, for the same sun intensity captured by the sun collectors of the two systems and th...
Potential of fibre optic daylighting systems in tropical Malaysia
Indoor and Built Environment, 2014
Fibre optic daylighting systems are a developing technology that offers solutions to daylighting designers. However, these systems are rarely used in the tropics because of the variable illumination provided by the sky, which changes with latitude, time of day, and seasons. This study examines the illumination levels obtained using a fibre optic daylighting system under various tropical climate conditions in Malaysia. A Parans SP3 fibre optic daylighting system with 10-m cable was used on a full-scale test bed model in Universiti Sains Malaysia as an empirical approach. The following results were obtained: (i) on sunny days with intermediate blue sky, the system worked at 79% and reached a maximum of 725 lx, an average of 457 lx, and a minimum of 98 lx; (ii) on moderately sunny days with intermediate mean sky, the system worked at 48.5% and reached a maximum 685 lx, an average of 439 lx, and a minimum of 80 lx; (iii) under overcast skies, the system worked at 37.5% and reached a maximum of 538 lx, an average of 305 lx, and a minimum of 41 lx. These findings provide benchmarking directions for the application of fibre optic daylighting systems in Malaysia.
Synthesis and Optical Properties Analysis of a New Polymeric Optical Fiber for Side Lighting
2007
A new plastic optical fibre (POF) for lighting having good optical properties (transmission and diffusion) was developed. The plastic optical fibre was prepared using butylmethacrylate and acrylate monomers by bulk radical polymerisation. The possibility of increasing scattering loss which does not depend on the wavelength in an optical fibre for lighting application was described. A heterogeneous structure which increases the scattering light is generated during the reactive processing by the introduction of particles in the system. The strong contribution of the light scattering induced by the PMMA particles was described. The techniques used to determine the optical properties were light scattering and transmission. The present study illustrates the control of optical properties by the chemical composition of the POF.
A review study on the application of the fibre optic daylighting system in Malaysian buildings
International Journal of Sustainable Building Technology and Urban Development, 2014
As a developing country, Malaysia requires innovation to keep abreast of the rapid growth of technology to meet the highly demanding energy consumption. The application of daylighting systems especially by fibre optics is very limited, due to the absence of relevant knowledge and the lack of understanding of the system requirements and potentials, particularly the technology of illuminating enclosed spaces which are totally surrounded by internal walls (opaque). Thus, the aim of this literature review is to shed light on this new approach and to help the building technologists activate its application in building interiors. This paper presents and summarises the important technical issues that enhance the adoption of this technique for the Malaysian built environment.
IJERT-Fiber Optic Daylighting System
International Journal of Engineering Research and Technology (IJERT), 2015
https://www.ijert.org/fiber-optic-daylighting-system https://www.ijert.org/research/fiber-optic-daylighting-system-IJERTV4IS030738.pdf In today’s rapidly developing world, the need for energy has risen exponentially. The majority of this energy is used for industrial & commercial use. Energy used for lighting makes up for a sizeable portion of the global energy consumption. Industries, business spaces, commercial buildings etc. all makes use of artificial lighting even during daytime, while abundant sunlight is available. This is one of the major reasons for high levels of energy consumption in these sectors. The solution for this problem is provided by fiber optic solar lighting system. The sunlight is collected and focused by making use of solar collectors on the roof top of a building and then transmitted into the building through optical fibers to interiors of the building. While Solar energy has been used for production of energy, the conversion efficiency of solar pv comes to around 17- 20%. This implies that almost 75-80 of the solar energy is still being wasted. So instead converting the solar energy to electrical energy, which is then used for lighting, the insolation can be directly used for day lighting purposes if the necessary technology can be developed.
Journal of Renewable Energy, 2018
Daylighting methods have evolved along with the impetus to reduce the total nonrenewable utility energy consumed by lighting. In general, daylighting systems are an efficient method of delivering light for indoor applications. However, there is little research looking specifically at indoor agriculture applications. Today, optical fibers are commonly used in various applications including imaging, lighting, and sensing. Our study simulated and tested the efficiency of an optical fiber daylighting system in an indoor environment. We tested the illumination performance of optical fibers and specifically looked at light intensity, light uniformity, and the spectrum of 20 mm and 3 mm optical fibers at five distances by offsetting a spectrometer. The scenarios were first modeled and tested using lighting simulation software. Similar settings were then empirically implemented and measured. The results showed that a difference in diameter had an effect on light intensity and light uniformi...
International Journal of Photoenergy
In this paper, we propose to use glass optical fibers with a rectangular cross-section for the application in a concentrator photovoltaic and daylighting system (CPVD) due to the unique characteristics of rectangular fibers with the capability to provide a uniform rectangular beam shape and a top-hat profile at the output. A mathematical model of rectangular optical fibers has been formulated in this study for different incident angles, and the results are compared with those of round optical fibers. Furthermore, the performance of the bundle of RGOFs is compared with that of the bundle of round optical fibers via simulation by using the ray-tracing method. The mathematical modelling and numerical simulation have demonstrated that the RGOF has advantages in terms of the improvement in relative transmission and reduction in energy leakage for the transmission through the optical fiber. The simulation result also shows that a higher flux of sunlight can be transmitted via the bundle o...