The Indoor Sunshine Lighting System

 

The advantages in harnessing the light of the sun for indoor lighting are immediately obvious as not only will this result in reduced electricity consumption – hence a marked reduction in bills – but such natural full spectrum lighting also brings further benefits such as improved mood and greater alertness.

The problem with utilising natural light in indoor environments (such as large offices) has been how to both capture and then successfully transmit the sunlight to a lighting grid with reasonable (and practical) efficiency, but it would appear that the American company Sunlight Direct have now achieved exactly this with their intriguing Hybrid Solar Lighting (HSL) system.

The HSL system works by capturing the sun’s rays via a sunlight collector – a 48” mirror - that is roof mounted and that automatically tracks the sun (to within 0.1 of a degree) from the moment it rises to the moment it sets. This natural light is then channelled down lengths of fibre optic cable to special hybrid lamps that provide the full spectrum sunlight to internal areas, such as an office space (minus UV and IR wavelengths – so, thankfully, wearing sun-cream and shades in the office will not be a requirement). Furthermore, filters will even allow the owner to adapt the light from the standard 5400K Colour Correlated Temperature to either 3500K or 3000K CCT if required.

To compensate for the levels of sunlight being captured a microprocessor monitors the degree of natural light being channelled to the lighting units via a daylight harvesting sensor and will compensate by either increasing or reducing the amount of electricity fed to backup standard electric lighting units so as to maintain a regulated, standardised level of illumination. Therefore, should a cloud obscure the sun, the unit will compensate by supplementing the natural light with artificial light so as to avoid what would otherwise be a virtual blackout.

 

 

You can view an extremely informative video concerning the HSL device in the clip below (courtosy of the Discovery Channel).

[etv]

 

The creators say that tests have shown that users of this HSL system can expect to see a 60% reduction in lighting costs following installation of the product however there is one major limitation – the system can only transfer light to distances of between 30-50ft from the sunlight harvesting dish (a limit imposed by the fibre optic cable).

The company envisages being able to deliver a full HSL system as a commercial product by 2007 and are looking to produce a home lighting version by 2008. Prices of the lighting systems are obviously highly dependant of the areas requiring illumination though, at present, the system is far from cheap ($10,000 dollars being cited as a ball park figure).

A wealth of further information can be gained from the official website.

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