Build a Modular Block That Harnesses Light

[Ppzek]

Hi everyone, I am working on a school project and have a question for you all. :)

I want to build a modular block that receives, transmites and emites light.

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/8446/untitled1st6.png

My main idea is installing a solarpanel/lux receiver just above a room window that, using mirrors/lenses conducts the light to the modular blocks and as soon the 1st ones receive the light they light up and transmite the light to the next row and the next and the next...lighting the entire room.

Sorry for my english :)

Edit: Is this possible? (heres the question :)

 

[NoTime]

Something like this?
http://www.livescience.com/technology/050324_solar_lighting.html

 

[Ppzek]

Interesting article! The concept mentioned is almost the same my group tought about - "lets just pipe the sunlight into the building"

Anyway i have another question, instead of "traping" the sunbeam into a receiver and then into the optic fiber, i ask if its possible to capture the "Lux" volume and by reflecting it, create a light space made by the captured lux inside the room and THEN transmitting this same lux value using optic fiber to the next modular light emissor.

im beeing clear?

thx

 

[NoTime]

Sounds like you want to build a light battery.
Charge a device up with light, as light, then let it shine out later.
Sorry, not possible to do this directly for more than very very small fractions of a second.

 

[Ppzek]

Two bad i see...well after browsing a little more, i found another interesting tech, after receiving the solarbeam a set of mirrors concentrate the heat of the solarbeams into an hydrogen engine, the gaz inside the tank expands and contracts and the pistons of an engine start to move producing electricity.

Do you think is viable to adapt a system like this to the roof of new building/houses?

How safe is this hydrogen engine?

 

[NoTime]

No idea of what you found.
Put up a pointer to it.

 

[Ppzek]

ups :)

Heres the article:

http://www.livescience.com/technology/041115_solar_dish.html

 

[NoTime]

Try looking up stirling engine.
While hydrogen is the most efficient working fluid it's not required.

 

[Ppzek]

Beeing the deadline for this project the next Saturday, i had to make a dicision, so ill be using optic fiber to power the light, i can't trow out the benefits of real sun light spectrum toward us humans. Thank you for your feedback and all post pictures of the final product asap. :)

Once again, thank you very much.

 

[NoTime]

Best on yor project :)

 

[Ppzek]

hello again, after some discussion we tought that would be reasonable to introduce a low power alternative lighting system to overcome the lack of real sunlight during the night. Our main problem is, we don't have a clue about some led terminology to start with so, we are asking what is the most efficient way to light a room with leds and how much energy they spend.

Any advice would be nice.

Thank you

 

[NoTime]

Search for manufactures data sheets on leds.
Different leds have different efficiencies.
You need to understand some of the basic DC electrical formulas like P=EI and E=IR

 

[Ppzek]

Ok, we did the following:

Considering a four floors building that has eight T3 apartments, and imagening that each division uses 2 x 60w light bulbs + 2 extra for the living room. Knowing that the equivalent to each 60w light bulb is one 36led/2.5w lamp can i make this calcule?

5w x 9 divisions= 45w/division

45w x 24hours= 1080w/day for each apartment in a 24h use cenario.

1080w x 8 = 8640w/day for the entire building.

Each photovoltaic cell produces between 170 and 185W and has +- 1.6mx0.8m so, to power the 8640 worst case cenario energy use we need 50 panels that cover a area up to 64m2.

Is this correct?

 

[NoTime]

If your 45w for each apartment is correct then
Assuming the sun shines for 8 hours (don't know how reasonable that is)
One 180w solar panel can produce 1440w per day.
Or more than the 1080w to run the LEDs for a day.
If you are using fiber optic feed to light an apartment for the 8 sunlit hours then the battery backup total power is 720w for the 16 dark hours.
With the direct fiber feed, you could use one panel for every 2 apartments.

Now you have to figure out how many days are not going to be sunny enough, in your location, to produce the rated output.
And how will you make up the shortfall?
Will one panel per apartment work for 300 days of the year?
No idea.

Since a 180w solar panel cost around $1000 US, you are going to want to keep these to a minimum.
Batteries arn't cheep either.
Most systems I've seen assume some generator or grid backup for extended dark periods.

 

[Ppzek]

Thank you for your reply no time, unfortunaly all this research had to remain hidden because of the limitations of the entry panels sanyo requested, they are very rigid and my explanation had to go under 100 characters, 500x500, <100k files... Anyway i made a diagram explaning all that i could and the final object rendering, hope you enjoy it :) and thank you one more time.

http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/2425/solux2qd1.jpg

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/6070/solux3md0.jpg