Modeling of Light Pipes for the Optimal Disposition in Buildings

Cristina Baglivo, Marina Bonomolo and Paolo Maria Congedo
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Cristina Baglivo: Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Innovazione, Università of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Marina Bonomolo: Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze Ed. 9, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Paolo Maria Congedo: Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Innovazione, Università of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 22, 1-28

Abstract: A light pipe is an excellent solution to transport and distribute daylight into environments without or with little lighting, guaranteeing comfort inside the rooms. As stated in the literature, the evaluation of the performances of light pipes presents numerous complexities, making the work very difficult for technicians and designers. This study is aimed to present a methodology that is able to identify the potential of light pipes using indices such as daylight autonomy (DA), continuous daylight autonomy (DAc), and useful daylight illuminance (UDI). This paper presents an analysis of daylight obtained by several configurations of simple models of light pipes installed into a 5 × 5 m plant area room. All simulations are carried out in a DAYSIM environment, which allows calculating the annual availability of daylight based on a RADIANCE raytracer backward. Several daylight conditions were analyzed for different light pipe configurations, considering different pipe lengths and a variable number of light pipes. The light pipes are tested also in the horizontal position, for different orientations. The results of all the combinations were compared with the performances of a window with dimensions equal to 1/8 of the internal surface, which was in accordance with the minimum value to be guaranteed by the Italian Regulation (D.M. 5 July 1975 n. 190) for different orientations. The results indicated a difference in daylight distribution, showing a strong correlation between the percentage levels of DA and DAc with the length and number of pipes, during different periods of the year. The simulated model is strongly influenced by the aspect ratio (R = diameter/length). The results show that the illuminance levels decrease drastically, increasing the length.

Keywords: light pipes; DAYSIM; daylight autonomy; daylight index; optimization; daylighting comfort (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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