Distribution of Emerged Energy for Daylight Illuminate on Prismatic Elements

Abstract

Prismatic elements are typical devices of natural light illumination system for redirecting and collecting daylight. Based on the principles of optics, this paper presents a simple mathematical matrix ray-tracing methodology through which a detailed intensity distribution of parallel light beam incident onto a right angled prism from different incident angles can be calculated precisely. We also present the distribution of the secondary emerged intensity from a prism illuminated by the emerged light of an adjacent prism. The direction, concentration, and distribution of intensity of the emerged light from the parallel light incident onto a surface of the right-angle prism, as well as daylight illuminate on a prismatic collector, are precisely calculated. The detailed calculation of the emerged light re-incident onto the adjacent prism or emerged out of the prismatic element presented that most of daylight are directly emerged out and are confined in some directions at earlier morning and afternoon, and the emerged light re-incident into the adjacent prism at noon around. This detailed calculation model of parallel light beam incident to a prismatic element can be applied to the hybrid natural light illumination system, as well as to the prism-relative solar illumination system for the improvement of efficiency.