Stephan Vidi, Martin Meier, Andreas Beck, Jochen Fricke

Bavarian Center for Applied Energy Research (ZAE Bayern)

Division Thermal Insulation and Heat Transfer Wurzburg, Germany

In this paper we present a daylighting system based on simple glass cylinders. The system separates the direct and diffuse radiation via its geometry, blocking out the former while being highly translucent to the latter.

This enables a room to be illuminated without glare problems and also reduces overheating.

Introduction

A visually appealing office has a positive influence on the well-being of the people working in it. One of the most important factors involved here is daylight. Daylighting elements should aim to reduce glare and have some degree of transparency.

This can be achieved by producing light-redirecting elements which shut out the direct sunlight while leaving the diffuse light unaffected. In this way, glare problems are largely avoided and the room has sufficient lighting.

Conventional light-redirecting elements are based on prismatic foils [1] or plates, special reflectors and profiles or graphic films. These systems are either difficult and expensive to build or are not suitable for being integrated into insulated glazings.

In this paper we present a daylighting system based on simple glass cylinders, which shuts out the direct sunlight while being highly transparent to diffuse sunlight.