Remote Skylights are optical systems capable of providing natural light to unlit locations. An arrangement of parabolic reflectors and optical fiber cables , transport natural sunlight to areas that would otherwise be dark or artificially bed.
Remote skylights are composed of a solar collection dish, a “heliotube” and a distribution dish. [1] The collection and distribution dishes are both parabolic reflectors . The collection is connected to a heliostat , a mechanism which tracks the transit of the sun across the sky, so as to maximize the intensity of light falling upon it. The heliotube is a fiber light tube , a bundle of optical fibers that channel the collected sunlight from the collection dish to the distribution dish. Unlike a typical skylight , the heliotube
Remote Skylights were invented by RAAD studio [2] in order to provide natural illumination to the proposed Lowline underground park.
Benefits
Remote Skylights provide two key advantages over artificial illumination:
- The transported light contains the necessary frequencies for photosynthesis . (Though it is reported that UV rays are filtered out.)
- No power is required to sustain the illumination. This means that (after construction) no harmful greenhouse gases are produced.
See also
- Light tube
References
- Jump up^ “Remote Skylights” . The Lowline . Retrieved 2012-10-12 .
- Jump up^ O’Rourke, Meghan (September 2012). “The Lowline: A Proposed Underground Park in Manhattan” . The New Yorker . Retrieved 2012-10-12 .
