Iranian Researchers Produce Smart Solar Skylight for Tall Buildings

“Today, one of the problems in building construction is the lack of enough land, which forces the builders and contactors to increase the number of floors of apartment blocks and basically make the buildings more tall," Masoud Feizi, the managing director of the Iranian knowledge-based firm that successfully produced ‘smart solar skylight’ said in an interview with ANA. 

According to the researcher, the problem exists in big cities where tall buildings are emerging as a solution to tackle growing population.

 “The higher the height of the building and the shorter the distance between the building blocks is, the more the lack of light in the lower floors is,” he added.

“Considering the problem, municipalities usually oblige the contractors to create light wells in buildings to direct light and fresh air into dark spaces in the building, but the main problem is that in multi-storey buildings , light wells and skylights cannot provide adequate light to the residents of those floors at the bottom because the lower floors are far from the rooftop.Therefore, we designed smart light wells that are modeled on sunflowers,” he added.

Feizi went on to say that his company has offered two models of smart light wells.

“This system is designed and built in two models, the first model is installed on the skylight and inside the box, which receives sunlight with the help of a mirror-shaped panel and directs it to the lower floors in the building,” he detailed.

“The second variant of this system is called sunflower or mirror reflector. In this system, a movable mirror panel is installed on the Northern side of the skylight and a fixed mirror panel is placed on top of the skylight. The moving mirror panel system tracks the sunlight during the day and directs it to the fixed panel, the sunlight is directed through the fixed panel to the space inside the light well and the floors at the bottom.”

He said that the company's team consisted of experts in the fields of mechanical engineering, electricity, electronics, and artificial intelligence designed and locally manufactured this system via utilizing numerous mechanical systems and mechanisms, engines, gearboxes, electronic board, sensors, and central processors. 

“Foreign equivalents of this product, such as solar tubes for light transmission that are utilized in some American and European countries, cannot be used in tall buildings because they need the creation of a new channel space in the building. They are useful for villas and buildings that are not tall and have limited number of floors,” Feizi explained more.

“One of the features of this product is its manufacturing and localization in accordance with the local architecture in Iran's big cities. This product is localized in a way that it can be installed and operated according to the existing conditions of today's buildings (the existence of skylight void or light well) and there is no need for other spaces in the buildings.”

“Another advantage of this system is the reduction in electricity consumption in apartment units. Usually, the people in these apartment blocks need to turn on the lights and consume energy during the day, However, this system can greatly reduce electricity consumption during the day," he added. 

 “As the knowledge of this product is localized, its cost is much lower than the foreign-made imported equivalents, besides, changes can be made in its system based on local necessities.”

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