Direct beam solar lighting system

US7639423B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• University of Central Florida Research Foundation · US
• Sunflower Corporation · VG

Inventors

• Lawrence F Kinney · Boulder, US
• Jim Walsh · Westfield, US
• William Ross McCluney · Chattanooga, US
• Gerald L. Cler · Windsor, US
• John Hutson · Palo Alto, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 9, 2006
• Grant date: Dec 29, 2009
• Expiry date: Dec 5, 2027

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01S3/7861
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A direct beam solar lighting system for collecting and distributing sunlight into a room. The system includes a rotatable solar collector head to receive sunlight and to reflect the sunlight downward into a transition tube having a reflective interior surface. The light-concentrating transition tube reflects sunlight into a reflective light tube which directs the reflected sunlight through a plenum space into the room. The system includes a drive mechanism for rotating the rotatable solar collector, and a light fixture at end of the light tube to disburse said reflected sunlight onto a ceiling and a wall in the room. In an embodiment the system includes one or more homogenizing reflectors within the solar collector for collecting the sunlight and directing the sunlight more uniformly over the aperture of the transition tube. In an alternative embodiment, the solar collector includes a rotatable tiltable mirror for providing two-axis tracking.