Design and 3D Manufacturing of an Improved Heliostatic Illuminator

Abstract

Increasing daylighting levels contributes to improving the energy efficiency of buildings and consequently to the fight against climate change. This work presents a new illuminator based on a previous single-axis polar heliostat. This heliostat allows redirecting sunlight to a specific space to be illuminated at any time of the day. The system presented is simple but compact in size. It has been manufactured by 3D printing with recyclable PETG plastics. Three-dimensional printing has allowed reduction of the mass of the system to less than 5 kg, which means high stability and manageability. Moreover, the system has been provided with an assembly structure that facilitates its correct installation by a single operator. The result is a heliostatic illuminator with an average pointing error of 10 mrad, an acceptable error for urban applications. Finally, a low-cost and high-replicability device has been achieved, which makes it an easily reproducible illuminator and favors its extensive installation.