Cost-Effective Light-Mixing Module for Solar-Lighting System Appended with Auxiliary RGBW Light-Emitting Diodes

A light-mixing module consisting of a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) and a light-mixing tube is proposed herein to realize a uniform and efficient solar-lighting system. In this lighting system, the sunlight collected into a fiber and then guided to an indoor destination is the principal light source, while an auxiliary light source including multiple red, green, blue, and white (RGBW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is controlled by an auto-compensating module. To mix the principal and the auxiliary sources and to realize the uniform illumination, the light-mixing tube was coated with BaSO4 and optimized as a cylindrical tube. The design of the light-mixing tube is described and discussed in this article. According to the simulated results, the uniformity and the optical efficiency of the designed light-mixing tube are 82.9% and 85.7%, respectively, while from the experimental results, the uniformity of 85.9% and the optical efficiency of 83.3% have been obtained. In terms of the common indoor-lighting standards and the specifications of commercial components used in lighting systems, the proposed light-mixing module has demonstrated the high uniformity and acceptable optical efficiency. Additionally, since the main components of the light-mixing module can be designed as plastic optics, a cost-effective light-mixing module and a profitable lighting system can be realized. Thus, the performance and the price of the proposed light-mixing module fit the demands of the illumination market, while the proposed system shows the potential for indoor solar-lighting applications.