ADAPTIVE FULL-SPECTRUM SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS CROSS-CUTTING R&D ON ADAPTIVE FULL-SPECTRUM SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS FOR MORE EFFICIENT AND AFFORDABLE USE OF SOLAR ENERGY IN BUILDINGS AND HYBRID PHOTOBIOREACTORS

This RD&D project is a three year team effort to develop a hybrid solar lighting (HSL) system that transports daylight from a paraboloidal dish concentrator to a luminaire via a bundle of small core or a large core polymer fiber optics. The luminaire can be a device to distribute sunlight into a space for the production of algae or it can be a device that is a combination of daylighting and electric lighting for space/task lighting. In this project, the sunlight is collected using a one-meter paraboloidal concentrator dish with two-axis tracking. For the second generation (alpha) system, the secondary mirror is an ellipsoidal mirror that directs the visible light into a bundle of small-core fibers. The IR spectrum is filtered out to minimize unnecessary heating at the fiber entrance region. This report describes the following investigations of various aspects of the system: (1) Performance specifications were developed for the tracking subsystem and collector optics, (2) Thermal management experiments for the fiber optic bundle entrance region, and (3) Bioreactor testing, cost-modeling, and redesign. Much of the planned work has been slowed due to significant procurement delays of the primary mirror. However, taken as a whole, they do confirm progress towards the technical feasibility and commercial viability of this technology. Due to this procurement delay, a no-cost extension of the project completion date has been requested and approved