Can Fiber Optics Carry Sunlight Heat Without Loss?

[Junkyardnut]

[Enthalpy]

A first general difficulty with fibers is to inject the light in, because fibers are small and accept light from a limited angle.

 

If you consider visible light and the near infrared, which contain all the heat of Sunlight, and a distance of 10m, you will find fibers that lose no significant power. In a first check, you can split fibres into families: plastic (always wide), multimode silica (=wide), monomode silica (=very narrow).

[swansont]

No, they can't. All fibers have loss, though some are better than others at specific wavelengths.

[Enthalpy]

I wouldn't be too pessimistic about losses - but it all depends on the distance!

 

While normal glass is opaque after very few decimeters, PMMA (like Plexiglass and other brands) is very transparent over several meters. I observed it over nearly 10 meters at visible light: objects would still be seen with all colours.

 

Do I remember that silica lacks the colour centers that absorb light in glass?

 

So if the goal is to spread Sunlight from a roof to rooms one or two floors below, it could work (mirrors at a shaft being a strong economic competitor). From Florida to Alaska, no hope, agreed.

[swansont]

The OP title asks "without loss". The answer to that is "no".

[vilyanur chandra]

I guess some day it would be possible. But for now it is impossible to carry sunlight heat on fiber glass tube.

[CarbonCopy]

It can't be done with 100% efficiency, but, the efficiency is getting better. In fact, the show Ecopolis on the Science Channel ( called Discovery Science where I live ), did an episode on this, where some guy had developed the technology by which sunlight could be transferred to the interior of a room with really good efficiency. Also, check this article if found : http://www.ecogeek.org/solar-power/246.

I think the tech for this is there, it is just a matter of cost.

Edited March 31, 2013 by CarbonCopy