How does a Solatube® Daylighting System work?
Solatube® Daylighting Systems CAPTURE daylight from your rooftop, TRANSFER it down a highly reflective tube, then DELIVER it into the room below – simple but brilliant! Patented technologies ensure that the maximum light possible is transferred into your home. We are so confident that no other tubular daylighting device will give you more light all day long, all year long, we offer you a Highest Performance Guarantee.
1 - Patented Raybender® 3000 Dome
A patented Fresnel lens redirects additional daylight down into the tube – low-angle light that would otherwise have passed straight through the dome and been lost.
2 - Patented LightTracker™ reflector
This unique reflector is inserted into the dome, dramatically increasing the amount of light entering the tube by reflecting low-angle morning, evening, and winter light into the tube.
3 - Spectralight® Infinity reflective tubing
Rigid, super -reflective tubing that transfers the light that has entered via the dome to the room below. Solatube® Daylighting Systems use Spectralight Infinity tube material – at 99.7% reflective, it is the most reflective material used in any tubular daylighting device and is exclusive to Solatube Daylighting Systems. The higher the reflective value of the tube material, the more daylight will reach the room.
4 - Ceiling diffuser
Diffusers are necessary to distribute the daylight evenly throughout the room below. Solatube® diffusers are of quality and robust construction, yet maintain a sleek and contemporary appearance, fitting neatly to the ceiling with no visible fasteners. All are double-glazed to prevent heat loss or gain, and almost all UV transmission is blocked so your soft furnishings will not fade.
- The combined technologies of the Solatube® roof dome can more than double the amount of daylight entering the tube
- The higher the tube reflectivity, the greater the light output. Every time light bounces against the side of the tube a percentage of that light is absorbed into the surface
- Solatube® Daylighting Systems use 99.7% reflective Spectralight® Infinity tube material, so only 0.3% of the light is absorbed at each bounce
- Tube material with a reflective value lower than 99.7% will give a significant reduction in the amount of light delivered. Compare Spectralight Infinity® with the tube materials used by other systems
- Solatube® and the innovative Spectralight Infinity® tube material featured on the BBC's Tomorrow's World programme when the science behind the technology was demonstrated. Solatube went on to win a Tomorrow's World Award for Consumer Innovation
- For more technical information on the features and components of the Solatube® Brighten Up® Series please see our Design Technologies page
