Daylighting can be fluorescent: Development of a fiber solar concentrator and test for its indoor illumination

Many limitations such as the strict dependence on beam irradiation and difficulties for wiring remain in conventional remote daylighting devices. This paper provides a brief discussion on the working theory and limitations for those conventional devices and presents a new concept developed by the first author for remote indoor daylighting. Based on the developed concept, a new device was designed and fabricated accordingly, which is an optical fiber solar concentrator consisting of a PMMA plate and 150 pieces of three-color 1 m long Φ2 mm fluorescent fibers. This new device is mounted on a university building roof and the concentrated light is transported to a remote dark room through 10 m long Φ2 mm clear optical fibers. Outdoor testing and evaluations for remote indoor daylighting and power production have been conducted. A 6-month monitored data from 24th May 2008 to 23rd Nov 2008 has been presented and the results reveal this new device a pleasant potential in remote indoor daylighting for large amount application in building integration.