Hello
A question I would really like an answer to, whether it would work according to the laws of physics, as my knowledge of physics is far too poor:
Let's imagine you have a box that is 100 meters long and 1 meter high, all walls except for one short side are made of a non-transparent material, i.e. completely without light admission. In the entire ceiling of the box, there is a large or several mirrors angled down towards the floor in the box. On the entire floor of the box, there are pots with flowers.
The box is outdoors, and at the short side that is open, a mirror of suitable size, type, and function is placed. The mirror is positioned to reflect the sun's rays into the mirror(s) in the ceiling of the box, which then reflects the light down over the floor of the box, thus giving the flowers sunlight equivalent to the sunlight outside the box.
Would this very simplified "box solution" work in practice with the right type of mirrors, correct placements, etc? If not, what makes it not work? What could be done to make it possible to grow, for example, flowers in places where there is minimal sunlight, except on one short side? Where can more information be found about this type of question?
Very grateful for an answer!
A question I would really like an answer to, whether it would work according to the laws of physics, as my knowledge of physics is far too poor:
Let's imagine you have a box that is 100 meters long and 1 meter high, all walls except for one short side are made of a non-transparent material, i.e. completely without light admission. In the entire ceiling of the box, there is a large or several mirrors angled down towards the floor in the box. On the entire floor of the box, there are pots with flowers.
The box is outdoors, and at the short side that is open, a mirror of suitable size, type, and function is placed. The mirror is positioned to reflect the sun's rays into the mirror(s) in the ceiling of the box, which then reflects the light down over the floor of the box, thus giving the flowers sunlight equivalent to the sunlight outside the box.
Would this very simplified "box solution" work in practice with the right type of mirrors, correct placements, etc? If not, what makes it not work? What could be done to make it possible to grow, for example, flowers in places where there is minimal sunlight, except on one short side? Where can more information be found about this type of question?
Very grateful for an answer!
That depends on what you mean by "work".
If you let light in through an opening of 1 sqm, and then want to spread it over 100 sqm inside the box, you'll only get one-hundredth of the light that would have reached the plants if they had direct sunlight instead.
In practice, you will experience significant losses in the mirror system. So it will be considerably less than 1% of the possible illumination.
Besides this, creating a "non-trivial" mirror inside the box may be necessary if all the incoming light is to be evenly distributed over the surface.
There is a product which I can't recall the name of right now, that resembles what you want to do.
It's a type of "daylight lamp." You install a part on the roof with some form of mirror system that collects daylight, which is then reflected into either a tube with an internal mirror surface or fiber optics (a bundle of thin light conduits). Indoors, the light is sent into a mirror fixture.
This provides a strong illumination of dark rooms during the day.
If you let light in through an opening of 1 sqm, and then want to spread it over 100 sqm inside the box, you'll only get one-hundredth of the light that would have reached the plants if they had direct sunlight instead.
In practice, you will experience significant losses in the mirror system. So it will be considerably less than 1% of the possible illumination.
Besides this, creating a "non-trivial" mirror inside the box may be necessary if all the incoming light is to be evenly distributed over the surface.
There is a product which I can't recall the name of right now, that resembles what you want to do.
It's a type of "daylight lamp." You install a part on the roof with some form of mirror system that collects daylight, which is then reflected into either a tube with an internal mirror surface or fiber optics (a bundle of thin light conduits). Indoors, the light is sent into a mirror fixture.
This provides a strong illumination of dark rooms during the day.
Thank you for the quick response! I accept the reasoning, it sounds completely reasonable.
If you figure out what "dagsljuslampan" is called, who sells it, or what keywords to search for on Google to find it, please feel free to get back to me.
If you figure out what "dagsljuslampan" is called, who sells it, or what keywords to search for on Google to find it, please feel free to get back to me.
I remember seeing a video where they made a hole in the ceiling and put down a plastic bottle filled with water. It then became like a lamp inside the house. You can have several of those in your tunnel.
There was something else in the water too so that algae wouldn't form.
There was something else in the water too so that algae wouldn't form.
I read on another forum that approximately 1600 lux is needed for something to grow.
Outside, it is about 100000 lux on a clear day, and inside a window, it becomes about 30000 lux.
I don't know if you can calculate it like this, but it should take about 5M2 of light to illuminate 100M2 to 1500 lux, in clear weather.
Outside, it is about 100000 lux on a clear day, and inside a window, it becomes about 30000 lux.
I don't know if you can calculate it like this, but it should take about 5M2 of light to illuminate 100M2 to 1500 lux, in clear weather.
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