Abstract
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.
© 2012 Optical Society of Korea
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