A Hybrid
Lighting Scheme of combining Natural Sunlight and LED Illumination
PHYS7371/PHYS7372 Project in Green
Technology (2011‐2012)
Department of Physics, HKBU
Supervisor: Dr. J.P. Li, Claude
Group members:
Wang Hongrui, Zhong Ming, Fu Yong Qiang, and Lou Jiaqi
Description:
In this project, a conceptual idea of
combining sunlight and light-emitting diode (LED) illumination powered by
renewable solar energy for indoor lighting will be investigated. One of the
critical designs in the whole system could be an optical switching mechanism that
can shift the optical paths between natural sunlight illumination and solar
energy collection. When the switch is turned off, it is expected the sunlight
could be concentrated by optical diffractive concentrator and then be absorbed
by solar photovoltaic devices which could provide the electricity to power the
LEDs; when the switch is turned on, a dichroic beam-splitter is expected to be
used to split the visible and non-visible sunlight rays concentrated from the
concentrator for indoor illumination and solar cell optical-electric energy
conversion, respectively. Both simulation and experiments will be carried out
to compare the efficiency of the proposed idea with traditional lighting
systems.
Through this project, the students are
expected to learn basic knowledge of the following technologies or devices:
1.
Solar concentrator
2.
Optical beam-splitter and
dichroic beam-splitter
3.
Optical photovoltaic devices
4.
Optical light guide or pipe
5.
LED/OLED
The project students are also expected to
train some initial skills in both optical design and opto-mechanical design.
References:
1.
Robert O. Naess, Optics for
Technology Students (Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 2000).
