Study on the application of PV modules to curved light shelves

Abstract

There is a growing concern about the skyrocketing amount of energy required for lighting in buildings. Therefore, research is being conducted on light shelves, which are natural daylighting systems. Recent studies have attempted to integrate photovoltaic (PV) modules into light shelves; however, installing the modules on reflectors degrades the daylighting performance. Therefore, this study applied PV modules on curved light shelves to improve both the daylighting performance and concentration efficiency and proved their effectiveness using a full-scale testbed. The main findings are listed as follows. 1) This study proposes a method to apply PV modules to the bottom of light shelves to improve the performance of curved light shelves. 2) The daylighting performance of curved light shelves is superior to that of flat light shelves; however, high curvature angles degrade the daylighting performance. 3) Installing PV modules on the top of flat light shelves saves energy by concentrating light; however, this approach reduces the area for reflectors and hinders the daylighting performance. 4) Installing PV modules on the bottom of curved light shelves saves energy by 6.1%–25.3% compared with conventional light shelves and creates a comfortable light environment.