# US 2018/0323331 A1 · Solar concentrator and illumination apparatus > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2018/0323331 A1 - Document ID: US20180323331A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 15/588,816 - Filed: 2017-05-08 - Published: 2018-11-08 - Earliest claimed: 2017-05-08 - Assignees: Morgan Solar Inc. - Applicants: Morgan Solar Inc. - Inventors: John Paul MORGAN; Brett BARNES; Stefan MYRSKOG; Stephen CAELERS; Samuel KIM; Trevor VAUGHAN; Brandon LEHOUX - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20180323331A1 ## CPC - H02S 20/32: specially adapted for solar tracking - F21S 9/037: {the solar unit and the lighting unit being located within or on the same housing} - F21V 5/007: {Array of lenses or refractors for a cluster of light sources, e.g. for arrangement of multiple light sources in one plane (combination of two or more refractors F21V5/008)} - F21V 33/006: {General building constructions or finishing work for buildings, e.g. roofs, gutters, stairs or floors; Garden equipment; Sunshades or parasols} - H02S 20/23: specially adapted for roof structures - H02S 40/22: Light-reflecting or light-concentrating means (directly associated with the PV cell or integrated with the PV cell H10F77/42) - H10F 19/80: Encapsulations or containers for integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, having photovoltaic cells - H10F 77/1248: {having three or more elements, e.g. GaAlAs, InGaAs or InGaAsP} - H10F 77/484: {Refractive light-concentrating means, e.g. lenses} - H10F 77/488: {Reflecting light-concentrating means, e.g. parabolic mirrors or concentrators using total internal reflection} - H10W 90/00: Package configurations - F21Y 2105/10: comprising a two-dimensional [2D] array of point-like light-generating elements - F21Y 2105/16: square or rectangular, e.g. for light panels - Y02B 10/10: Photovoltaic [PV] - Y02E 10/52: PV systems with concentrators - Y02E 10/544: Solar cells from Group III-V materials - H02S: GENERATION OF ELECTRIC POWER BY CONVERSION OF INFRARED RADIATION, VISIBLE LIGHT OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT, e.g. USING PHOTOVOLTAIC [PV] MODULES (obtaining electrical energy from radioactive sources G21H1/12; light sensitive inorganic semiconductor devices H10F; light sensitive organic semiconductor devices H10K30/00; thermoelectric devices H10N10/00; pyroelectric devices H10N15/00) - F21S: NON-PORTABLE LIGHTING DEVICES; SYSTEMS THEREOF; VEHICLE LIGHTING DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR VEHICLE EXTERIORS - F21V: FUNCTIONAL FEATURES OR DETAILS OF LIGHTING DEVICES OR SYSTEMS THEREOF; STRUCTURAL COMBINATIONS OF LIGHTING DEVICES WITH OTHER ARTICLES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - H10F: INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION - H10W: GENERIC PACKAGES, INTERCONNECTIONS, CONNECTORS OR OTHER CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10 - F21Y: INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES F21K, F21L, F21S and F21V, RELATING TO THE FORM OR THE KIND OF THE LIGHT SOURCES OR OF THE COLOUR OF THE LIGHT EMITTED - Y02B: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO BUILDINGS, e.g. HOUSING, HOUSE APPLIANCES OR RELATED END-USER APPLICATIONS - Y02E: REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION ## Abstract Device for harvesting direct sunlight, transmitting diffuse sunlight and for scattering light from a light source to provide illumination, including: a receiving layer including at least one solar energy collector and at least one light source; at least one optical component disposed on a first side of the receiving layer, the optical component including at least one plano-convex refracting element; a second optical component disposed on a second side of the receiving layer, the second optical component comprising at least one optical element; wherein the at least one plano-convex element is positioned to receive direct light and refract it towards the at least one optical element of the second optical component, and wherein the optical element is positioned to reflect light towards the solar energy collector; wherein the at least one optical element is positioned to refract and emit indirect light impinging thereon towards the exterior of the apparatus. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A solar concentration and illumination apparatus comprising: a receiving layer comprising at least one solar energy collector and at least one light source; at least one first transparent optical component disposed on a first side of the receiving layer, the at least one first transparent optical component comprising at least one plano-convex refracting element; at least one second transparent optical component disposed on a second side of the receiving layer, the at least one second transparent optical component comprising at least one optical element; wherein: the at least one plano-convex element is positioned to receive light travelling parallel to an optical axis and refract it towards the at least one optical element of the at least one second transparent optical component, the at least one optical element of the at least one second transparent optical component is positioned to reflect light towards the at least one solar energy collector; and the at least one optical element of the at least one second transparent optical component is positioned to refract and emit diffuse light impinging thereon towards the exterior of the solar concentrator and illumination apparatus. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 1 wherein the receiving layer comprises a rigid transparent sheet where the at least one light source is attached to a first side of the rigid transparent sheet, and wherein the at least one solar energy collector is attached to a second side of the rigid transparent sheet. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the receiving layer comprises a first transparent sheet and a second transparent sheet parallel to the first transparent sheet; and the at least one solar energy collector and the at least one light source are disposed between the first transparent sheet and the second transparent sheet. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 3, wherein: the at least one light source is attached to the first transparent sheet, and the at least one solar energy collector is attached to the second transparent sheet. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the at least one plano-convex element is positioned to receive direct light and refract it towards the at least one optical element of the at least one second transparent optical component; the at least one optical element of the at least one second transparent optical component is positioned to reflect light towards the at least one solar energy collector; and the at least one optical element of the at least one second transparent optical component is positioned to receive light from the at least one light source, and to refract and emit light to the exterior of the solar concentration and illumination apparatus. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the at least one optical element of the second transparent optical component comprises a first curved surface and a second curved surface; and the first curved surface is positioned to receive light from the plano-convex element and reflect the light towards the second curved surface which in turn is positioned to receive light from the first curved surface and reflect the light towards the at least one solar energy collector. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first curved surface and the second curved surface are positioned to reflect light by total internal reflection. ### Claim 8 (depends on 6) The solar illumination and concentration apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first curved surface is positioned to reflect light to the second curved surface by a single reflection. ### Claim 9 (depends on 6) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 6, wherein the second curved surface is positioned to reflect light to the solar energy collector by a single reflection. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the at least one first transparent optical components and each of the at least one second transparent optical components include at least one planar surface. ### Claim 11 (depends on 3) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 3, wherein: the first transparent sheet comprises a first planar surface and a second planar surface, and the second transparent sheet comprises a third planar surface and a fourth planar surface; the light source is attached to one of the second planar surface and the third planar surface, and the solar energy collector is attached to the other of the second planar surface and the third planar surface; and the first transparent optical component is attached to the first planar surface, and the second transparent optical component is attached to the fourth planar surface. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 11, wherein the solar energy collector is attached to the second planar surface, and the light source is attached to the third planar surface. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the at least one first transparent optical component is an array of first transparent optical components; the at least one second transparent optical component is an array of second transparent optical components; the at least one light source is an array of light sources; and the at least one solar energy collector is an array of solar energy collectors. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 13, wherein each first transparent optical component is aligned with one of the second transparent optical components and with one of the solar energy collectors along the optical axis. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 13, wherein each of the light sources is aligned with: one of the first transparent optical components, one of the second transparent optical components, and one of the solar energy collectors along the optical axis. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 13, wherein: the receiving layer comprises a rigid transparent sheet; the array of light sources is attached to a first side of the rigid transparent sheet; and the array of solar energy collectors is attached to a second side of the rigid transparent sheet. ### Claim 17 (depends on 13) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 13, wherein: the receiving layer comprises a first transparent sheet and a second transparent sheet parallel to the first transparent sheet; and the array of solar energy collectors and the array of light sources are disposed between the first transparent sheet and the second transparent sheet. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 17, wherein: the array of light sources is attached to the first transparent sheet, and the array of solar energy collectors is attached to the second transparent sheet. ### Claim 19 (depends on 1) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the at least one plano-convex element is positioned to: receive light travelling parallel to the optical axis, and refract it towards the at least one optical element of the at least one second transparent optical component; the at least one optical element is positioned to reflect light towards the at least one solar energy collector; and the at least one plano-convex element of the first transparent component is positioned to: receive light from the at least one light source, and refract and emit light to the exterior of the solar concentration and illumination apparatus. ### Claim 20 (depends on 1) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one solar energy collector is a photovoltaic cell. ### Claim 21 (depends on 1) The solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an elastomeric layer between the at least one first optical component and the receiving layer. ### Claim 22 (depends on 1) The solar concentration and illumination device of claim 1, further comprising an elastomeric layer between the at least one second optical component and the receiving layer. ### Claim 23 (depends on 1) A solar concentration and illumination system comprising at least one solar concentration and illumination apparatus of claim 1 mounted on a dual-axis tracking system