Horizontal daylighting system for office buildings

Abstract

This work is focused on a sunlight collection device for solar lighting systems aimed at non-residential buildings. The design takes advantage of solar energy that reaches the facade of the building for lighting purposes, thereby reducing building energy consumption by supplementing it with clean, renewable energy. This daylighting system's structure comprises a light collector located outside the vertical facade of the building, a modular light guide that runs along the horizontal false ceiling and light extractor luminaires strategically positioned along the guide. The system is configured specifically to the particular characteristics of each building (façade orientation, latitude and longitude) to optimize the global performance. The present paper describes in detail the anidolic collecting system as a part of the comprehensive daylighting system. However the entire daylighting system has been completely developed and experimentally tested, and its prototype is currently integrated into Lledó S.A company's facilities.