Smart device brings sunlight underground

Smart device brings sunlight underground Today’s Video of the Day from NTU Singapore describes a new “smart” device that harvests sunlight to illuminate underground spaces. 

Experts in Singapore are exploring the possibility of digging underground to create new space for infrastructure, storage, and utilities. This will greatly increase the demand for underground lighting.

The device is designed to focus sunlight into one point like a magnifying glass. 

“Our innovation comprises commercially available off-the-shelf materials, making it potentially very easy to fabricate at scale,” said study lead author Professor Yoo Seongwoo. 

“Due to space constraints in densely populated cities, we have intentionally designed the daylight harvesting system to be lightweight and compact. This would make it convenient for our device to be incorporated into existing infrastructure in the urban environment.”Therefore shown above is the  Smart device brings sunlight underground

The quality of the light produced by the NTU smart device is comparable to that of existing daylight harvesting systems that are much more expensive.

“The luminous efficacy of our low-cost device proves that it is well-suited for low-level lighting applications, like car parks, lifts, and underground walkways in dense cities,” said study first author Dr. Charu Goel.

“It is also easily scalable. Since the light capturing capacity of the ball lens is proportional to its size, we can customise the device to a desired output optical power by replacing it with a bigger or smaller ball.”

Video Credit: NTU Singapore

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer