Solar Lighting System Research Articles

Sustainable technical design and economic–environmental analysis of SMART solar street lighting system in Giza City, Egypt

Sustainable technical design and economic–environmental analysis of SMART solar street lighting system in Giza City, Egypt

Enhanced photodegradation of toxic volatile organic pollutants using Ni-doped graphitic carbon nitride under natural solar light

In this study, nickel-doped graphitic carbon nitride (Ni-gC3N4) was synthesized via facile thermal condensation and explored as a visible-light responsive photocatalyst for degrading volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Remarkably, Ni-gC3N4 with 2.5 wt% of Ni loading was capable of removing 98.6% of VOCs within 120 min under solar light. Moreover, the pseudo-first-order kinetic rate for Ni-gC3N4 was found to be approximately twice as high as that of an undoped sample. The Ni doping promoted visible light harvesting and charge separation efficiency, and endowed photoexcited electrons (e-) with an enhanced reduction capacity, as demonstrated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, the photoluminescence (PL), the photocurrent (PC) and UV–Vis optical characterization. In addition, recycling test results showed that Ni-gC3N4 exhibited excellent stability and recyclability. The influencing factors such as solution pH, the initial concentration of VOCs, and co-existing inorganic anions were investigated in detail. Results from radical scavenger experiments revealed that O2−, OH and h+ were involved in the photocatalytic degradation process by using Ni-gC3N4/solar-light system. This study can contribute to the development of high-performance catalysts for removing toxic organic pollutants from wastewaters.

A Brief Review of Solar Indoor Lighting System Integrated with Optofluidic Technologies

Indoor lighting system incorporating daylighting effectively provides potential energy savings as well as meaningful spatial and temporal variation in illuminance beneficial to human well‐being and performance. Integration of the tunable liquid prisms driven by optofluidic technologies further improves the solar indoor lighting systems to achieve better illumination performance and higher solar energy utilization efficiency. Herein, an overview of the state‐of‐the‐art investigations over different aspects of the solar indoor lighting system enhanced by optofluidic liquid prisms, including 1) theoretical background, design, fabrication, and operation of liquid prisms; 2) advances in solar collectors and solar trackers; and 3) major tools for indoor lighting simulation and ray‐tracing simulation, is provided. These studies form a solid foundation for the future solar indoor lighting systems integrated with optofluidic technologies. The prospective study focuses on laboratory and on‐site testing of the integrated system.

Characteristics of The Type 5076100 Lithium-ion Battery for Integration System of Stand-alone Solar Street Lighting

There is still little rearch that pays attention to the problem of integrating battery packs into stand-alone solar street lighting systems. In this paper, we will conduct a study of the characteristics of the 5076100 type Lithium-ion battery for integration systems of standalone solar street lighting systems. The hope of this study can be useful to provide a basic understanding of the integration of battery packs into the stand-alone solar street lighting systems and serve as a reference for selecting battery pack modules. 12-cell lithium-ion type 5076100 will be tested for its characteristics in terms of open circuit voltage (Voc ) and maximum capacity. Next, we integrated the battery pack into 6 model, namely 1S12P, 2S6P, 3S4P, 4S3P, 6S2P, 12S1P. We get the results that the 3S4P model is a battery pack model that is suitable for stand-alone solar street lighting systems. Battery performance is able to provide energy reserves of more than 20 hours for a 7 watt LED load at full charge.

Impact of a Solar Lighting Intervention on Social Determinants of Health in Rural Uganda: A Mixed Methods, Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Clinical trials to reduce household air pollution have largely focused on cookstoves and have been in part limited by suboptimal adoption of cleaner cooking technologies. Less is known about the adoption and perceptions of clean lighting interventions. Methods: As part of a randomized controlled trial of indoor solar lighting systems (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03351504), we conducted a mixed methods study to identify contextual factors determining uptake and perception of the solar lighting intervention. Sensors were incorporated into the intervention solar lighting system to measure uptake and use over time. Health-related quality of life was measured with the EQ-5D-5L. Qualitative interviews were conducted with all trial participants. Findings: Uptake of the intervention solar lighting system was high with daily use averaging 8·23 ± 5·30 hours per day. In mixed effects regression models, the intervention solar lighting system increased the EQ5D index by 0·083 [0·024 - 0·141], p = 0·006. Qualitative data suggest that solar lighting was associated with numerous benefits to study participants, including improved household finances, improved educational performance of children, increased household safety, improved family and community cohesion, and improved perceived household health. Interpretation: Uptake of the solar lighting intervention was high and led to improved health-related quality of life. The solar lighting intervention was a transformative household energy technology which improve multiple domains of the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH). Trials focused only on traditional health outcomes may underestimate the overall value of clean household energy interventions to the end user. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03351504 Funding Statement: US National Institutes of Health, Harvard School of Public Health, American Thoracic Society, Massachusetts General Hospital Declaration of Interests: We declare no competing interests. Ethics Approval Statement: This study was approved by the Mbarara University of Science and Technology (Protocol #02/11-16) and the Partners Human Research Committee (Protocol 2017P000306/PHS), the Ugandan National Council of Science and Technology (Protocol #PS 42) and the Ugandan President’s office.

Environmental and Economic Impacts of Lighting Highways Using Photo-Voltaic Panels

The renewable energy sources in power generation globally increases rapidly over time. This paper presents a novel technique of street lighting by using off-grid solar energy system. The electrical power is generated from solar panels at the day time and stored in batteries and consequently, discharged in the street lamps at night. The charging, discharging and their rates rate are controlled obviously by charger controller. Highway road is selected in this study. Several aspects are optimized in this study. Number of columns, columns types, lamp arms, columns distance and the backup storage limits are studied. The sizing of the individual solar stations in terms of economic and environmental feasibility are optimized. New power saving technique will apply advanced methods to reduce the storage capacity and power consumption to enhance the economic feasibility of the suggested system. In addition, the life time of storage batteries is increased. The most appropriate technique is selected in terms of economic and environmental feasibility by comparing all the different cases suggested in this study. Finally, the best case for solar street lighting project is compared to the normal or conventional system to show the economic and environmental potentiality of using renewable energy, especially solar energy. Experimental solar energy street lighting system with power saving is implemented in this study.

Efficiency and Operation Studies on Renewable Energy Systems as Future Energy Resources

The growth of the renewable energy sector in India has been substantial, including for the production of electricity from renewable sources. Renewable energy is energy produced from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal energy which are renewable (naturally replenished). Even with decentralized systems, the growth of solar lighting systems for private homes was 300%, solar lanterns by 99% and solar photovoltaic water pumps by 196%. This article presents renewable energies. In addition, solar energy, wind energy and biomass are described.

Solar optical fiber daylighting system with an IR filter: Experimental and modeling studies

Solar daylighting system based on low cost thermoplastic optical fiber cables is one of essential and practicable option to save energy associated with electric lighting as well as enhance the visual comfort and human health by using natural solar lighting. In this present study a low-cost solar light system consisting of thermoplastic optical fibers, parabolic mirrored surface and sunlight collector with glass filter to block infrared (IR) radiation, was developed to bring natural sunlight into buildings. The effect of the IR filtration mechanism on the temperature of the thermoplastic optical fiber and the output illuminance, has been examined. The experimental results obviously show that the IR filter would protect the thermoplastic optical fiber from the overheat damage without affecting the output illuminance, which could extend the life time of the thermoplastic polymer optical fiber. Furthermore, an intelligent model based on deep learning neural network (DNN) algorithm was used to predict the temperature at the inlet surface of the thermoplastic optical fiber bundles.

Modeling and investigating the detailed characteristics of solar lighting/heating system based on spectrum split of nanofluids

Solar lighting technologies can lead sunlight into indoor actively, which has been proved that has great potential to reduce electric lighting consumption and create a healthy visual environment. In this paper, a mathematics model was developed to explore performance characteristics and economic applicability of solar lighting/heating system that combine ordinary solar lighting system with nanofluids to spectroscopically utilize sunlight. The results show that the luminous efficiency of output visible light can reach at 242 lm/W, which is 1.62–2.42 times higher than that of current LED light. Moreover, it can be found that the energy-saving capacity of this system is remarkable when used in most areas of China. As for Harbin, its annual total solar radiation ranges 4190 MJ/m2 to 5020 MJ/m2, the system's annual output energy (per square meter of collection area) is 188.15 kW•h for daylighting and 248.2 kW•h for domestic hot water. Besides, the integrated using of infrared radiation can improve the economy of solar lighting technologies by calculating the comprehensive price of unit output energy.

Assessment of the Use of NaClO as an Alternative to H2O2 in the Oxidant-Titanium Ore-Simulated Solar Light System for Thiabendazole Degradation

The use of the magnetic fraction (MF) of a low-grade titanium ore (TO) and two oxidants (H2O2 and NaClO), testing each one separately, were compared in photo-Fenton like systems to degrade thiabendazole (TBZ) as a model micropollutant. As far as the author’s knowledge goes, this work presents for the first time the assessment of NaClO as an alternative to H2O2 in heterogeneous systems, where the Fenton-type photocatalyst is a natural mineral; TO has a Mexican origin and its magnetic fraction is mainly composed of Ilmenite (47.8% w/w FeTiO3). The experiments were carried out at bench scale in a solar simulator, using a batch raceway pond reactor. Oxidant and MF concentrations were optimized by a composite experimental design, which allowed to achieve 97% TBZ degradation at 15 and 30 min for NaClO and H2O2 systems, respectively, when the initial concentration of TBZ was 37 µM. Pointing out that both pseudo-first order rate constants ( $$k^{\prime}$$ ), $$k_{NaClO}^{^{\prime}}$$ = 0.226 min−1 and $$k_{{H_{2} O_{2} }}^{^{\prime}}$$ = 0.065 min−1, are in the order of homogeneous photo-Fenton applied to degrade TBZ; however, the time to achieve the same level of TBZ degradation is halved when NaClO is used instead of H2O2, thus the capacity of treatment plants can be increased. Furthermore, better results of mineralization (54%), DQO (76%), DBO5 (44%) and acute toxicity (74%) removal were observed when NaClO was used as an oxidant compared to H2O2, whose values were 42, 67, 38 and 58% for the parameters aforementioned. These positive results demonstrate the feasibility of the use of NaClO as an alternative oxidant to H2O2 in the heterogeneous photo Fenton like process.

Techno-economic evaluation of an optical fiber based hybrid solar lighting system

Optical fiber solar lighting systems are an appealing approach for illumination applications with the aim of reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from artificial lighting. This study presented the design, construction and assessment of an optical fiber based hybrid solar lighting system for illumination of interior spaces. The proposed system combines the features of optical fiber daylighting technology and photovoltaic power generation technology. Specifically, a secondary light concentrator was designed to improve the uniformity of flux distribution and solve the overheating problem of PMMA fibers. The technical feasibility of the hybrid solar lighting system was validated using the fabricated prototype in a 5 m2 darkroom during a whole day test. Experimental results showed that, an average illuminance of 105 lx at a distance of 2 m from the end of optical fiber bundle was achieved, saving 316.82 kWh and reducing 251.24 kg carbon dioxide emissions every year in the studied case. Finally, cost analysis of the proposed hybrid solar lighting system was carried out and compared with three conventional lighting systems. The total payback period of the hybrid solar lighting system was 3.7 years and further reduced to 1.7 years in mass production. In the studied case, the hybrid solar lighting system was economically competitive after 2 years and 12 years of operation in comparison with a 100 W incandescent bulb lighting system and a 30 W T8 fluorescent lamp lighting system, respectively.

Investigating the performance of a novel solar lighting/heating system using spectrum-sensitive nanofluids

Solar lighting is considered as a promising technique, which has huge potential in conserving energy and relaxing the residents. However, current solar lighting systems used a filter to allow only visible light to enter buildings, releasing all the other energy contained in the long wave of the solar into the surrounding air. Such practice leaded to low efficiency of solar energy utilization and high costs. In this paper, a solar lighting/heating system was developed which used a hollow lens filled with ATO nanofluid to separate the long wave and short wave of solar energy. A series of tests were conducted to explore the performance of system. Results indicated that under the test condition of Case 1 (0.025%/0.0001% ATO/Graphite nanofluid, 100 L/h flow rate), the light transmission efficiency was 19.5% which was comparable to that of current solar lighting systems, and the heat absorption efficiency was 25.35%. The heat energy collected by the such a system from June to August (three months) in the city of Harbin was about 466.4 MJ in per square meter of collection area. The volume concentration of nanofluids had great influence on both the light transmission efficiency and the heat absorption efficiency. The flow rate had little influence on the light transmission efficiency, but had great influence on the heat absorption efficiency of the system.

Economic Analysis of Improving the Energy Efficiency of Nanogrid Solar Road Lighting Using Adaptive Lighting Control

This paper presents a road lighting control system that uses a light-dependent resistor sensor cooperating with an Internet protocol camera to the lower energy consumption during unnecessary use of a lighting system. A microcontroller was used as a control circuit to automatically control the brightness of a light-emitting diode (LED) luminaire, increasing or decreasing the brightness depending on traffic density. The proposed lighting control system was integrated into a nanogrid solar road lighting system and analysed through an experimental setup. Furthermore, nanogrid solar road lighting systems in LED solar stand-alone and grid-connected operations, with and without the proposed lighting control, were investigated and compared with a conventional existing road lighting system in terms of economic feasibility, based on the following indicators: discounted payback period, net present value, internal rate of return, and profitability index. The results indicate that the use of the Internet protocol camera with the LED sensor can automatically control the on/off state or illuminance levels of the LED luminaire, thereby lowering the energy consumption of the road lighting system when lighting is not required. The economic assessment results indicate that the nanogrid solar road lighting system in LED solar stand-alone and grid-connected road lighting modes exhibit feasibility for investment; the latter provides more economic feasibility. However, when the proposed lighting control is included, the nanogrid solar road lighting system in both modes have lower initial investment costs and save more energy. Consequently, the economic results are improved. The use of the proposed lighting control is thus economically feasible for road lighting systems.

Investigation and Feasibility Evaluation of Using Nanogrid Technology Integrated Into Road Lighting System

Currently, light-emitting diode (LED) technologies and solar power production are in popular use. This paper proposes the concept of improving conventional road lighting systems using LED technologies and solar energy applications, known as a “nanogrid road lighting system.” The power quality of a nanogrid road lighting system is analyzed in stand-alone and grid-connected operations using an experimental setup. In addition, the IEC 61000-3-2 (2018) Class C standard and power quality control regulations for grid connections are also discussed. The energy storage installed for individual and central systems are analyzed. Moreover, economic comparisons of three kinds of road lighting systems, namely grid-powered high-pressure sodium, LED solar stand-alone, and nanogrid systems, are compared in terms of their individual discounted payback period (DPP), net present value (NPV), and internal rate of return (IRR). The results show that in stand-alone mode, the system can effectively charge its batteries with the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control and discharge power to supply the road lighting system. In the grid connection mode, the electrical energy produced from the solar power system can be supplied to the electrical grid at all ranges of solar irradiance levels with the MPPT control. However, a high total current harmonic distortion (THDi) flows into the electrical grid when solar irradiance levels are low. Solar road lighting systems installed in a central system have a low initial investment cost, resulting in better economic performance (in terms of DPP, IRR, and NPV). For this reason, using nanogrid road lighting systems shows satisfactory feasibility in terms of power quality and economic performance.

Design of Solar Power LED Lighting System using Horizontal Two-Axis Arduino Based Solar Tracking System

The project deals with design of solar power LED lighting system using Horizontal Two-Axis Arduino based Solar Tracking System. The main goal of this project is to design a very precise solar tracker. The project is divided into two parts; hardware and software. Hardware part generally composed of solar panel, two-DC motors with gearbox, LDR sensor module and electronic circuit. Software part represents the thinking behavior of the system, that is how the system acting under several weather conditions. In this work sensing of the sun position carried out in two stages primary and secondary. Primary stage or indirect sensing performed via sun-earth relationship as a coarse adjustment and second stage or direct sensing performed via set of LDR sensors as output tuning to trims the azimuth and altitude angles. If the weather is cloudy or dusty, the tracking system uses primary stage or sun-earth geometrical relationships only to identify the location of the sun; so the system tracks the position of the sun regardless the weather condition. The energy extracted from photovoltaic (PV) or any solar collector depends on solar irradiance. For maximum extraction of energy from the sun, the solar collector panel should always be normal to the incident radiation Solar trackers moves the solar collector to follow the sun path and keeps the orientation of the solar collector at an optimal tilt angle. Solar tracking system improves substantially the energy efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) panel. In this paper, an automatic dual axis solar tracking system is designed and developed using Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) and DC motors on a mechanical structure with gear arrangement. Two axis solar tracking (azimuth angle as well as altitude angle) is implemented through Arduino UNO controller based on Sun Earth Geometry. The results indicated that the automatic solar tracking system is more reliable and efficient than fixed one.

Study of solar irradiation distribution in narrow channel of desiccant rotor

The objective of this paper is to present experimental results on distribution characteristics of solar irradiation absorbed by the narrow channel wall of desiccant rotor. Experiments are performed with the channel made by the silica gel and the poly propylene (PP). Energy absorption rate is measured in conditions of different channel lengths, incident irradiation angles, air temperatures, and humidity. The result of the present measurement for silica gel is equal to that of the previous study [J. Li, Y. Hamamoto, and H. Mori, Transactions of the Japan Society of Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers 32(2), 149–154 (2015)], which is conducted using laser light as a source. It is confirmed the previous prediction model of laser light is suitable for this solar light system. Moreover, the previous model is improved, because the rate of laser for PP is larger than that of solar. These models are applicable to predict desorption rate of the water vapor in a desiccant rotor heated directly by the concentrated solar irradiation. The results show that the absorption rates of solar irradiation and red laser are equal to each other in the silica gel channel. The absorption rates of the laser irradiation are larger than that of the solar irradiation for PP materials. It is clear that the solar irradiation absorption rate cannot be influenced by the ambient humidity and temperature. The prediction model of the absorption efficiency based on the laser for silica gel channel can reproduce well the absorption efficiency of experiment based on solar irradiation. In the case of PP, the difference between the prediction and the measurement is observed.

Feasibility Analysis of Different Energy Storage Systems for Solar Road Lighting Systems

This paper investigates and analyses the feasibility of different energy storage systems for solar road lighting systems. The energy storage systems used in this paper are divided into two cases, namely, homogenous energy storage system [lead-acid (LA) batteries, lithium-ion (LI) batteries, and ultracapacitors (UCs)] and hybrid energy storage systems [lead-acid batteries with ultracapacitors (LA and UC) and lithium-ion batteries with ultracapacitors (LI and UC)]. Various solar power schemes are implemented based on stable and unstable solar irradiance conditions using an experimental setup. The economic analysis of the solar road lighting systems is performed based on the presented energy storage systems using discounted payback period (DPP), net present value (NPV), and internal rate of return (IRR). The installation of energy storage systems with individual and central systems for the solar road lighting system is also discussed. The results show that the LA batteries, LI batteries, and UCs yielded satisfactory active power quality for effective charging in all ranges of solar irradiance. However, the lifetimes of battery devices are degraded during dynamic active power charging. To overcome this shortcoming, hybrid energy storage systems are proposed using batteries and UCs. The use of LA batteries yields the lowest installation cost. However, the LI batteries offer the best economic viability in the long term. The cost of the UCs is too high to be used as an energy storage system for solar road lighting systems. However, the use of appropriate proportions of the UCs with batteries to reduce current and active power fluctuations for charging the batteries is economically viable.

Consumer Purchasing Behaviour towards Eco-Environment Residential Photovoltaic Solar Lighting Systems

The present study focuses on consumer behaviour towards decision-making about residential photovoltaic (PV) technology and motivates them to adopt renewable energy sources in place of conventional resources. The study focuses on the six significant factors of customer attribute related to environmental concern which stimulate the purchase behaviour to adopt residential PV technology. Therefore, the study considers various factors of environmental concerns, retrieved from a previous literature review by the researchers. For obtaining the results, structural equation modelling (SEM) has been utilized to examine the 269 customers’ data, collected by the researchers. The result indicates that the environmental concern factors such as social influence, environmental attitude, environmental knowledge, environmental responsibility and government initiative have significant positive influence on customer intention to adopt residential PV technology. However, the factor awareness of environmental problem shows insignificant influence on intention to adopt. Thus, the outcome of the study will provide some valuable insights to the policymakers, marketers and government for further expansion of solar energy market by using various promotional programmes and strategies, consciousness and sharing responsibility towards saving our environment from detrimental effects of conventional energy resources.

Solar Lighting System for Barangays Abulalas and Carillo Gridge

The Bulacan State University, College of Industrial Technology had an agreement between Barangays Abulalas & Carillo both in the town of Hagonoy, Bualacan, to design, develop and construct a much needed Solar Powered Street Lighting system for the bridge that connects the two barangays. The system is composed of two solar powered lighting units capable of illuminating up to 100watts of illumination within a span of 10-12 hours during night time. The system is stand alone, this means that it does not necessitate the need for auxiliary power such as electric lines and the like. As soon as the installation of the system was finished and operation has initialized, the next phase, which is impact assessment of the project was carried out by the proponents of the project. Under the guidance and supervision of the University Extension Office, the impact assessment shall be conducted by the project leader and the members of the team as well as the local extension coordinator of the college. On the basis of the findings of the study, it was concluded by the researchers that the system is composed with the appropriate components to maximize the peculiarities of the area; the project was deemed by the recipient barangays as highly acceptable, and in terms of the service rendered by the proponents of the project, the recipient barangays rated the service to be very highly acceptable.

Smart Solar-Powered LED Outdoor Lighting System Based on the Energy Storage Level in Batteries

A novel smart solar-powered light emitting diode (LED) outdoor lighting system is designed, built, and tested. A newly designed controller, that continuously monitors the energy status in the battery and, accordingly, controls the level of illumination of the LED light to satisfy the lighting requirements and/or to keep the light “on” the longest time possible, has been developed. The use of such a reliable solar energy-driven lighting system, with maximum time when the light is “on”, will eliminate the sudden-death of light problem present in conventional photovoltaic (PV) outdoor lights and, therefore, will enhance the natural surveillance and feeling of safety in sustainable buildings and cities. Furthermore, the new smart control eliminates the overdischarge of the system battery and, thus, ensures a longer lifetime of the system battery. Experimental measurements on a system using a 30 W LED light showed that the operating hours of the new system reached 29.16 h (1750 min), while the operating hours for a similar conventional system were 20.86 h (1252 min). Thus, the new lighting system was demonstrated, securing more than 40% of operating hours than the conventional systems.