Place a large array of fibre optic cable ends on the roof of an office, on a platform designed to track the Sun. Each group of cables is linked to an area of office which is usually dingy or lit only by a bulb (which creates a bad atmosphere - "sick building syndrome" etc). The cable could end in a diffuser, which would be some array of mirrors inside a shade to protect the eyes of the workers. Thus sunlight would permeate even the darkest recesses of a multistorey city building, bringing cheer to the pasty hordes within. Pricy but cool. On cloudy days, well, it's back to electric light.
-- Nadir, Jul 20 2001

(?) Projects: SunWire http://www.swinter....ic_daylighting.html
The lens array/bubble I mentioned. [StarChaser, Jul 20 2001, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Coming soon to an office near you... http://www.ornl.gov...ng/techoverview.htm
Good call, Nadir! [DrCurry, Jan 07 2005]

Hey! That didn't come up when I searched for it, it was just camouflage suits, pubic wigs and a couple of others. Well dang. [mfd] for me, I guess. Tcha.
-- Nadir, Jul 20 2001


[PissOnYourFire] I hate to piss in your Wheaties, but that's just a tubular skylight. No fiber optitcs involved.

As I've had this idea (and detest the thought of any idea lingering in yeasty limbo), I'll toss a half-stale piece of bread at [Nadir].

Maybe now [Nadir] won't look so down.
-- phoenix, Jul 20 2001


I always thought it might be possible to cover the entire surface of a building with fiber optic "windows" so that every office could have a window, in fact every office could have a view since if you reconstruct the fibers in the same arrangement you should be able to make out the shapes made by the light when it hit the surface of the building.
-- futurebird, Jul 20 2001


Back in the good ol' days when they had wooden sailing ships, it was common practice to cut a hole in the deck and slap a prizm in it. that way, sunlight was reflected below decks. I guess this was kind of a precursor to fiber optic lighting.
-- nathandrea, Jul 20 2001


And somebody patented an idea for running fiberoptics or waveguides from a single lightsource (headlights) in an automobile to the taillights and license-plate light, etc, so as to avoid all those so-costly extra lightbulbs.
-- Dog Ed, Jul 21 2001


The lighting for car instrument panels is often done like that; one bulb and a network of clear acrylic lightguides.
-- angel, Jul 21 2001


I've seen a fiber optic skylight before...The only place I can find that mentions it on the web is Sunstarskylights, but their website itself doesn't mention it, just one page that points to it.

The one I saw had a six lens array that followed the sun encased in a clear globe, focusing light on the cable and piping it where you wanted it. <searches again, and ooooos at a fiberoptic starscape ceiling...>

Found a couple of mentions of using them for 'daylighting'...<net.rummage> Bingo. A link appears. So, baked.
-- StarChaser, Jul 21 2001


Somehow 1998 seems a long time ago. Sunpipe.com have a large tube so that's not fiber optics. Somewhere I read that there is a new type of fiber optic that allows light to diffuse out. That could be useful... Wonder what's up in the field.

Seems more like overcooked than baked.

//AQRG1s (All Questions R Good Ones)
-- pashute, Jan 22 2003


Some more background:

This company offers a system for daylighting, including tracking the sun:

http://www.farlight.com/APP_solar.htm

It provides 1100 lumens which is equivalent to a 100 watt bulb. How about a system that uses the sun during the day and a high efficiency light source during the evening? No need to change bulbs except in one central place, and the heat from the bulbs could be used to heat the building or vent to the outside if its already too warm in there.
-- jjm, Mar 08 2003


Please use the "link" button above left to add advertising.
-- DrCurry, Mar 08 2003


That idea existed for years.
-- jeffman, Apr 16 2003


Baked.

But maybe you could salvage it with some Halfbakery Spin:

Billions of fibres linked by fibre-optics to a bug-eye on the roof. That way you can see pigeons landing on the ceiling.
-- FloridaManatee, Apr 16 2003


Image conduit
-- bristolz, Apr 16 2003


Eveything you always wanted to know about fibre (fiber) optic lighting can be found in a Master Thesis at epubl.luth.se/1402-1617/2002/260/LTU-EX-02260-SE.pdf
-- mongoose, Aug 12 2003



random, halfbakery