Skylights with integrated photovoltaics and refractive light-steering
AssigneeArizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University
InventorsTyler Blundo, Christiana Honsberg, Stephen Goodnick, Richard King, Nicholas Irvin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A skylight for a building includes a solar panel arranged within the skylight, the solar panel comprising one or more photovoltaic cells to collect direct radiation from rays of sunlight for conversion to electrical power, and an optical element to receive the direct radiation and refract it to the solar panel, and to receive the direct radiation and diffuse radiation scattered from the rays of sunlight and refract the direct radiation and the diffuse radiation through the skylight, bypassing the solar panel, to provide daylighting in the building.
Claims20
A skylight for a building, comprising:
- a solar panel arranged within the skylight, the solar panel comprising one or more photovoltaic cells to collect direct radiation from rays of sunlight entering the skylight for conversion to electrical power and reflect diffuse radiation to provide daylighting in the building;
- and
- a holographic optical element comprising multiple holographic planar concentrator modules arranged within the skylight between the rays of sunlight entering the skylight and the solar panel, wherein the holographic planar concentrator modules are configurable to diffract incident light passing the holographic optical element, wherein an amount of daylight passing through the skylight and an amount of electrical power produced by the skylight from the daylight is determined by a concentration ratio of the holographic planar concentrator modules and an acceptance angle of the solar panel;
- and
- wherein the solar panel is configured to:
- (i) intercept the direct radiation and refract and/or reflect the direct radiation intercepted to the solar panel, and
- (ii) receive the direct radiation and diffuse radiation scattered from the rays of sunlight and refract and/or reflect the direct and/or diffuse radiation through the skylight to provide daylighting in the building.
A method comprising:
- installing a skylight into a roof or a wall of a building;
- wherein the skylight includes:
- a solar panel arranged within the skylight, the solar panel comprising one or more photovoltaic cells to collect direct radiation from rays of sunlight entering the skylight for conversion to electrical power and reflect diffuse radiation to provide daylighting in the building;
- and
- a holographic optical element comprising multiple holographic planar concentrator modules arranged within the skylight between the rays of sunlight entering the skylight and the solar panel, wherein the holographic planar concentrator modules are configurable to diffract incident light passing the holographic optical element, wherein an amount of daylight passing through the skylight and an amount of electrical power produced by the skylight from the daylight is determined by a concentration ratio of the holographic planar concentrator modules and an acceptance angle of the solar panel;
- and
- wherein the solar panel, once installed:
- (i) intercepts the direct radiation and refract and/or reflect it to the solar panel, and the direct radiation intercepted to the solar panel,
- (ii) receives the direct radiation and diffuse radiation scattered from the rays of sunlight and refract and/or reflect the direct and/or diffuse radiation through the skylight to provide daylighting in the building, and
- (iii) outputs electricity generated via a photovoltaic process of the solar panel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.