SmartLight redirects sunlight into building interiors

Originally published on November 9th, 2013

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have developed a technology that could brighten up rooms with natural light and could be applied to any building without the need for renovations.

The technology, known as SmartLight, is designed to direct sunlight into light-blocked, dark rooms located within buildings. It relies on a narrow grid of electrofluidic cells, which are a few millimeters wide and are filled with fluid that has optical properties with the same or better quality than glass. The electrofluidic cells are also self-powered by embedded photovoltaics.

Once the grid is positioned near the top of a window, they can redirect sunlight onto the ceiling to provide ambient lighting, and direct sunlight toward localized lighting. The technology can store energy that can be used to supply electrical lighting back to the building when natural light levels are low.

The SmartLight system can be controlled by a smartphone app, which allows users to set their lighting preferences on their phone.

A research paper on the technology was recently published at the CasaClima International energy forum in Italy.

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