Daylighting system based on single-axis polar heliostat

Abstract

The fight against climate change makes it necessary, among other measures, to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. One way of doing this is to improve the levels of natural lighting inside buildings. In this sense, this paper analyses the possible use of heliostats as natural illuminators in an educational space. For this purpose, a classroom in the Leonardo da Vinci building of the Rabanales Campus of the University of Cordoba (Spain) and an illuminator system based on a single-axis polar heliostat have been reproduced at a scale of 1:15. These devices have been exposed to the same solar irradiance conditions and the illuminance levels registered inside both devices have been compared. It was found that there is an increase in daylighting levels in the recreated classroom ranging from 70.40% to 242.58% compared to the situation without heliostat illuminators. Therefore, it can be concluded that heliostats can play a fundamental role to improve the efficiency of buildings and, therefore, in the fight against climate change.