MAKE: Blog: Fiber light pipe @ Maker Faire

Fiber light pipe @ Maker Faire

What's a maker to do when they're living area lacks proper exposure to our nearest star? Channel sunlight from the roof via parabolic dish, fiber optic cabling, and textured distribution panel. Kate Green explains -

The problem is this: the living room in my San Francisco doesn't get much sunlight due to one window being completely blocked by the neighboring building, and the other window being mostly occluded. At sometime near noon, a shaft of light beams through the partially occluded window, only to vanish 20 minutes later.

My plan is to mount the reflector on the roof of the apartment so that it can track sun all day. It will focus light into about 40 feet of fiber--which actually consists of 8 bundled fibers-- that I will pipe into my living room the same way I do with the cable coax. Once the bundle is in the living room, I'll separate the smaller fiber lines and individually connect them to the acrylic panes, which will mounted on the living room wall. The panes will have scratches on the surface so light scatters out. Hopefully this will brighten the living room during the day!

Find yourself in a similarly dim predicament? Check out Katie's blog, Light Pipe Dreams and come see the prototype @ Maker Faire!

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Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset May 3rd and 4th at the San Mateo Fairgrounds, CA (Upcoming.org). It's for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things. Buy tickets now and save, discount ticket sales end on April 25th, 2008.

If you're in the Bay Area, or plan to attend Maker Faire add "makerfaire" to your Twitter, we'll be giving away tickets and will have updates before and during Maker Faire!

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Comments

Oldest comments listed first.

Posted by: on April 4, 2008 at 7:51 AM

This has seen some installation work done already

http://www.ornl.gov/sci/solar/

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/246/

And is a very cool idea. The limitation seems to be the amount of raw solar power that can be transmitted in a fiber bundle (think of putting 5 kW of energy through a bunch of thin plastic strands), but I don't think her problem will suffer from that.

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WOW! Thanks to everyone involved with Maker Faire Bay Area: attendees, makers, exhibitors, sponsors, volunteers, and crew...it was AMAZING! Over 400 Makers and 60,000+ attendees! Be sure to check out the photos @ Flickr, and our Maker Faire posts for all the action! The next scheduled Maker Faire is Austin: Oct. 18th & 19th, 2008 - Travis County Expo Center!