Title of Invention: Reflective light transmitting apparatus with a rotating mechanism around two separate axes

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates generally to a solar lighting reflector apparatus for illuminating the interior of a roofed building.

Background Art

[2] There are several technologies that use mirrors to transfer natural light into buildings:

[3] 1 . Mirror walls: Mirror walls are large reflective surfaces that are installed in a room to reflect natural light deeper into the space. They can be used in conjunction with windows or skylights to enhance the amount of natural light that enters a room.

[4] 2. Light reflectors: Light reflectors are devices that use mirrors to redirect natural light into a building. They can be mounted on the exterior of a building and are designed to follow the sun's path throughout the day, maximizing the amount of natural light that enters a building.

[5] 3. Light shelves: Light shelves are horizontal surfaces installed above windows to reflect and redirect natural light deeper into a room. They are typically made from reflective materials like aluminum or glass.

[6] 4. Parabolic reflectors: Parabolic reflectors are curved mirrors that are designed to focus natural light onto a specific area. They can be used to bring natural light into spaces that are difficult to reach with traditional windows or skylights.

[7] Several attempts have been made to address this issue. For example US Pat. No. 7982956 entitled “Direct beam solar light system", is related to a system that includes a rotatable solar collector to receive sunlight and reflect sunlight downwards in a transmission tube with a reflective inner surface. This system directs the reflected sunlight into the room through the public space. This device rotates in one direction, while the apparatus disclosed in this document rotates around two separate(linked) axes so that it can follow the sun better and improve the performance of the device. On the other hand, the rotating mechanism of the said patent is different from the present document. In the present document, a bolt and nut mechanism is used to change the angle of the solar panel, also, the installation location and the required space are different . Summary of Invention

Technical Problem

[8] Nowadays, due to the residential buildings becoming apartments and the increase of the floors of these buildings, makes it difficult to transmit light to parts of high-rise buildings, and parts such as corridors and lower floors are dark without lighting.

[9] ‘he problem of dim lighting in some of the interior parts of the building seems to be a problem from the point of view of the residents. There are different ways to provide interior lighting during the day, such as low-consumption lamps. For reasons of well-being, mental health, and cost, it does not seem reasonable to use lamps during the day in the interior of the building.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

[10] The goals of the present invention are transferring sunlight to the dim part of the building as northern units or rooms of the building, providing lighting in such places during the day with natural light instead of lamp light, less consumption of electric lighting, not using complex and complicated systems for light transmission. In this invention, only one light-reflecting composite plate is used with the ability to rotate in two axes, which can be placed and installed in a transparent box on the roof of any building.

Brief Description of Drawings

[1 1 ] [Fig.1 illustrates a view of the light transmission apparatus, which is placed inside an enclosure with a transparent body.

[12] Fig.2 illustrates a view of the main parts of the light transmission apparatus in the transparent box.

[13] Fig. 3 shows a detailed view of the main mechanism of dual axial rotation of the apparatus.

[14] Fig. 4 shows the start state of the apparatus rotating around the first rotary axis.

[15] Fig. 5 shows a view of the apparatus rotated around the first rotary axis. [16] Fig. 6 shows the start state of the apparatus rotating around the second rotary axis.

[17] Fig. 7 shows a view of the apparatus rotated around the second rotary axis.

[18] Fig.8 shows a view of the moving mechanism of the first rotary axis.

[19] Fig. 9 shows a view of the moving mechanism of the second rotary axis.

[20] Fig. 10 shows a view of how the apparatus illuminates the interior of a building by a concave mirror.

[21] Fig. 11 shows a view of how the apparatus illuminates the interior of a building by a set of mirror.

[22] Fig. 12 shows a cross section view of the solar panel which shows the layers and components of the panel.

[23] Fig. 13 shows the second embodiment of the invention which rotates around the virtual axes.

[24] Fig. 14 shows the details of the mechanism of rotation in the second embodiment of the invention.

[25] ]

Description of Embodiments

[26] According to Fig.1 , the present patent document is related to a building light transmitting apparatus (10). Its light transmitting panel (16) rotates automatically around two separate axes (13 and 14) to follow the sun. The apparatus disclosed in this document is placed in a transparent box (12). The transparent box (12) protects the apparatus from wind, rain, and other possible problems such as theft or vandalism without reducing the amount of light transmission inside the building.

[27] As shown in Fig. 2&12, the light-reflecting panel (16) includes a component that has the ability to reflect light. In this apparatus, reflective composite panels have been used due to their lightness and non-fragility and their resistance in the sunlight. In one embodiment of the invention, the reflective composite panels is silver aluminum composite but it is not limited to this material. In addition, to reflect the light, a mirror adhesive layer or a sticker layer with high reflective properties is glued on the panel. In addition to the mirror properties, these panels are not fragile and increase the safety of this apparatus. The composite panel (16) disclosed in the present invention, has two layers of aluminum (16a) (at the upper and lower surface which are attached by mirror stickers), an adhesive layer (16b), and a polymer layer (16c).

[28] The panel (16) is connected to the light transmitting apparatus by a supporting plate (18). This connection can be done by screw, rivet, etc. On the other hand, two diagonal support pieces (17) are placed on the support plate (18) with a specific angle related to the plate. The first rotation axis (13) is connected to these two diagonal pieces. The components and layers of the solar panel are shown in Fig. 12.

[29] Rotation around the first axis:

[30] Fig. 4 shows a view of how the apparatus rotates around the first rotation axis. The first axis (13) includes a piece whose end part is a rod (13a) and is connected to the corresponding moving mechanism (20a). The other end of this axis (13) is connected to the diagonal support parts (17) and in this way, it can rotate the panel along with it in 360 degrees.

[31 ] The moving mechanism (20a) of this axis includes a motor (21 a) that has a pulley (24) installed on its output shaft, in other words, the power transmission mechanism used in this apparatus includes a pulley (24), gear (25) and the belt (26) that transfers the rotational movement from the motor shaft (22) to the first rotation axis (13). In this movement mechanism (a20), bearings (23) are used to enable rotational movement and reduce rotational movement friction. The driving mechanism of the rotary axis number one is shown in Fig. 8.

[32] In this mechanism, two bearings are placed in the circular holes of the holding parts (27), and the rotating axis rod (13a) passes through the holding parts (27) and is fixed in place. The gear (25) mounted on this rod rotates the axis 360 degrees by the power transmission mechanism.

[33] The amount of rotation in this mechanism is determined using encoder (28). The encoder (28) is placed in line with the first rotation axis (13) and its output shaft is placed at the head of the rod section of this axis to check the amount of rotation angle. [34] The dashed state in Fig. 4 is an initial state where the apparatus has not yet started rotating, and the state marked with a solid line in Fig. 5 is a view of the apparatus that has rotated around the first axis. As it can be seen, in this rotation, the moving mechanism of moving axis number one (20a) is active and by rotating axis number one, the entire set connected to it, including the holders and the light transmission panel (16), rotates

[35] The apparatus (10) tracks the sun at a certain path during the day, until the sun reaches the place of sunset. The zero point in the apparatus presented in this document is the point where the sun tracking starts and returns the apparatus to at night after sunset. Setting the zero point is done at the beginning of the work by experts who install the apparatus. In this way, in every building, the panel of the apparatus is set to face a point from the east, which is the zero point of the apparatus.

[36] Determining the location of the zero point is done using a metal-sensitive or proximity sensor (29a). This sensor (29a) is located near the movement mechanism of the first rotary axis (20a). On the other hand, a rod (29c) is screwed on the body of the gear wheel (25), which is detected by this sensor once with each rotation, and the zero point is set using it.

[37] Fig. 7 shows the rotation of the apparatus around the second axis. In addition to rotating around the first axis (13), the light transmitting panel in this apparatus can rotate around the other axis (14).

[38] To move around the second rotating axis (14), a separate moving mechanism (20b) is used and linked to the primary moving mechanism (20a) so that in the middle of the first rotating axis (13) the stabilizing base (19) is used. It is installed for the placement of the engine (21 b).

[39] The rotational movement of the second rotation:

[40] A motor holder is installed on the base (19) which can rotate a little, or in other words, it is not completely fixed and has little room for movement and rotation. The moving mechanism of the rotation axis number two is shown in Fig. 9.

[41] The motor output shaft (22) is connected to the rod (30) in this motion mechanism. In one embodiment of this invention, the rod (30) is a cylindrical piece with a threaded hole in the center, in which a threaded rod (31 ) is placed there. By rotating the intermediate rod(30) by the motor, this rod(30) moves on the threaded rod(30). The end of the threaded rod(31 ) is connected to the connecting part (30) and moves it.

[42] The connecting piece is placed between two diagonal pieces. In other words, a mechanism similar to that of conventional bolts and nuts is used here, and the rod (30) is the same as the nut and the threaded rod (31 ) is the same as the screw. The output shaft of the motor (21 b) is connected to the intermediate rod (30) and rotates it on the threaded rod (31 ).

[43] As a result of this rotation (clockwise or counter-clockwise), the rod moves up and down on the thread and so-called opens and closes. This movement is transmitted through the connecting part (32) and with the help of screws to the diagonal support parts (17) and rotates the panel (16) around the second axis (14).

[44] In other words, with the opening and closing of the threaded rod (31 ) inside the nut or the intermediate piece (30), this set increases or decreases in length and applies force to the connecting piece (32) and the set of diagonal pieces (17), rotates the holding plate (18) and the power transmission panel (16) in a hinged motion.

[45] As the rotary motion around the first axis (13), the amount of rotation in this apparatus is determined by an encoder. The encoder shaft is also installed on the second rotation axis to check the rotation rate.

[46] Also, the movement around this axis (14), like the first rotary movement, has a zero point, which is detected by a sensor (29 c). In one embodiment of the invention, the said sensor is a metal-sensitive On the other hand, a piece of metal (c29) is placed on the rod of the second rotation axis (14), which is detected by the sensor with each rotation.

[47] As shown in Fig. 6, the initial state of movement is shown as a dashed line and the state of the apparatus after rotation is shown as solid lines in Fig. 7. which shows the increase in the length of the threaded rod in the said figures. [48] The apparatus is placed in a box(12) or an enclosure with a transparent body. This box (12) protects the apparatus against wind, rain and other possible problems such as theft and vandalism. How to install it is possible in two ways.

[49] The first case is when the skylight of the building is already made, and the apparatus is placed inside an enclosure with a transparent body on the skylight and is locked on it by clamps. In one embodiment of the invention the enclosure has a cubic form and the apparatus is installed on a chassis. The chassis itself is fixed to the beam on the box with the help of bolts and nuts. The second case is that in the last stage of building construction, the apparatus is installed under the skylight. It may be necessary to consider the height of the skylight more than the usual skylights according to the structure of the apparatus.

[50] The apparatus has an control unit. The program of the control unit is written according to the sun tracking formulas, as well as the time (the hour and the day) and position of the building, which are the variables of each building. The position of the building and its and its latitude and longitude are obtained from different methods such as using GPS. After assembling the electronic and mechanical parts, the apparatus is ready for installation. The electronic or control unit of the apparatus is responsible for controlling the two motors and the control system for placing the panel facing the sun. The program of the movement of the sun and the calculation of the angle of the location and the position of the sun are written by the relevant formulas and added to the control unit. Based on the position of each building, the panel will be facing the sun. This positioning is done by GPS. After reading the information of the time, location and the date, the exact position of the sun is calculated by the control system gives the operation command to the motors of apparatus( ). At the output of the motors, there are at least two encoders that determine the angular amount of the command given by the board, and when the desired angle is reached, the control unit commands motors to stop. In the system, high-precision encoders are used to position the panel with high accuracy.

[51] The apparatus introduced in this document rotates around two separate axes and follows the sun. The path of the sun, changes in the two directions, solar altitude which is the angle of the sun above the horizon, measured in degrees. It is zero at sunrise and sunset and can reach a maximum of 90 degrees(directly overhead), and solar azimuth which is the angle of the sun relative to the north. In this system will automatically follow the sun in two directions according to the movement mechanism of the apparatus.

[52] In other embodiment of the invention, the mechanism of movement around the first and second axis is completely similar to the description of the first embodiment, but in the second embodiment, the rotational movement around the first axis (13) is such that the rotational movement from the engine (21 a) to the specific power transmission mechanism that includes pulley(24), the gear (25) and the belt (26) have been moved, and the base moves and thus rotates the assembly around a specified hypothetical axis(13). Bearings (23) have been used to enable rotational movement and reduce the friction of rotational movement. In this embodiment, the moving base is connected to a clamp piece (36) and is connected to a hollow rod through it. The hollow rod is installed inside the transparent housing to protect the apparatus from wind, rain, and other possible problems.

[53] The component and mechanism of the rotational movement around the second axis in this embodiment is similar to the previous one which described before, with the difference that the geometric shape of the components including the holding parts (17) and the interface part (30) has changed as shown in

Fig.13.

[54] The rod (30) is a piece with a threaded hole in the center in which a threaded rod (31 ) is placed. By turning and rotating the intermediate rod by the motor, the rod(30) moves on the threaded rod(31 ). The rod (30) is not necessarily cylindrical and as an exemplary embodiment shown in a cylindrical form in Fig.13&14.

[55] The end of the threaded rod(31 ) is connected to the connecting piece (32) and propel it. The connecting piece (32) is placed between two holding pieces (17). In other words, a mechanism similar to that of common ball screw mechanism is used here, and the rod (30) is the same as the nut and the threaded rod (31 ) is the same as the screw. The output shaft of the motor (21 b) is connected to the intermediate rod (30) and rotates it on the threaded rod (31 ). As a result of this rotation (clockwise or counter-clockwise), the rod goes up and down on the thread. This movement is transferred to the supporting parts (17) through the connecting part (32) and rotates the panel (16) around the second axis(14).

[56] The structure of multi-storied buildings may be in such a way that for each floor (1 ) a window facing the skylight is installed and this window can also have a light absorbing cover (4) for better absorption of sunlight as shown in the Figs.

10&1 1 . The light transmission mechanism to different floors using the light transmission apparatus introduced in the present document is reflective. In one of the embodiments of the invention, the light transmitting apparatus is placed inside a transparent box and on the light transferring channel (2) and at any moment it transmits the most received light into the light absorbing space. The light absorbing channel is

[57] At the end of the skylight channel, there is a reflective mirror assembly, which in one embodiment of this invention, this assembly is a convex mirror(6) with appropriate dimensions, which radiates light in different directions. Therefore the mirror(6) illuminates the interior of the space and each floor through the windows.

[58] In another configuration, the reflector assembly placed at the end of the interior space can be a set of flat mirrors (5). This set of mirrors is in the form of louvers or shutters and the said mirrors rotate by a motor and a power transmission mechanism, and their angle changes according to the time of day and the angle of the sunlight.

Industrial Applicability

[59] The light transmission apparatus disclosed in the present invention can be used in all types of residential and office buildings, especially high-rise buildings (more than 5 floors) to transmit sunlight into the buildings and increase light to the north side of buildings, corridors, stairways, alleys and any place that faces a lack of natural light.