LEUKOS

The Journal of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America

ISSN: 1550-2724 (Print) 1550-2716 (Online) Journal homepage: http://tandfonline.com/loi/ulks20

An Experimental and Analytical Study of

Transmission of Daylight through Circular Light
Pipes

S. Samuhatananon, S. Chirarattananon & P. Chirarattananon

To cite this article: S. Samuhatananon, S. Chirarattananon & P. Chirarattananon (2011) An

Experimental and Analytical Study of Transmission of Daylight through Circular Light Pipes,
LEUKOS, 7:4, 203-219, DOI: 10.1080/15502724.2011.10732147

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15502724.2011.10732147

Published online: 16 Sep 2013.

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L E U K O S V O L 0 7 N O 4 A P R I L 2 0 1 1 P A G E S 2 0 3 – 2 1 9

An Experimental and Analytical Study of

Transmission of Daylight through Circular Light
Pipes
S. Samuhatananona, S. Chirarattananona,b*, and P. Chirarattananonc

Abstract—This paper presents results of modeling, experiments, and

simulation of transmission of beam and diffuse daylight through
straight circular light pipes with and without bends. Analytic method is
used in the development of an algorithm for tracing light rays that
enter, are reflected from interior pipe surfaces, and eventually transmit
from a pipe. Each bend section is modeled as a torus. For short straight
pipes, the transmitted collimated rays at the exit ports form interesting
geometrical patterns. Results from calculation of transmission of beam
and diffuse daylight through straight pipes with and without bends
match well with results from experiments. The paper also compares
results from calculation of transmitted daylight illuminance when
measured luminance of 145 standard sky zones are used to form
entering rays, and when generated luminance of the same sky zones
are used. The method presented is theoretical but lends itself to
practical application.

Keywords——Light pipe, tubular pipe, daylight, sunlight, raytracing,

light transmission, specular reflection..

1 INTRODUCTION

D aylight is voluminous and highly available near the equator. For tropical
region, utilizing daylight from the sky is commonly achieved by allowing
daylight from the sky to pass through windows on northern or southern facades
with the aid of simple overhangs to shade out radiation from the sun. However,
in such mode of daylighting, daylight is highly attenuated along the distance

a
The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology
Thonburi. P.O.Box 126 Toongkru, Bangkok, 10140 Thailand; bScience and Technology Postgrad-
uate Education and Research Development Office, Ministry of Education, Thailand; cSt John
College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Corresponding author: Surapong@jgsee.kmutt.ac.th

© 2011 The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America

doi:

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away from windows so daylight illuminance is sufficient only for spaces near
windows. The use of larger windows is not effective and could result in
introduction of excessive heat that contributes to the cooling load of a building.
Light pipes have the potential to bring daylight for illuminating the deep interior
space of a building, but there is a need for better understanding of the
mechanism of transmission of daylight through them.
Light pipes are hollow light guidance systems that are used to transfer natural
daylight from both the sun and the sky from the exterior of a building into its
interior spaces. A report of International Commission on Lighting (CIE 2006)
examines tubular daylight guidance systems and distinguishes roof mounted
systems from façade mounted systems. The report also provides design guid-
ance for application of light pipes. The closed form of the transmission function
of Zastrow and Wittwer (1986) has been considered an early theoretically derived
work on straight circular light pipes where the function is related to the average
number of reflections of light rays from a pipe surface. Swift and Smith (1995)
improve upon the transmission function of Zastrow and Wittwer by considering
only integral number of reflections, which is more realistic. Dutton and Shao
(2008) reportedly use a simulation program to model transmission of light rays
through approximate circular pipes. Kocifaj etal (2008) present a theoretical
method for calculating direct illuminance on a work plane that results from
entry of sunlight and daylight from sky into the pipe, each part being reflected a
number of times and then exits alternately through transparent and diffuse exit
port to reach the work plane. The method is called HOLIGILM. Even though it is
a theoretical method, it is too complex and numerical method is used to obtain
results. Kocifaj (2009) presents resulting illuminance on a work plane in a
sample room from application of HOLIGILM for transmission of beam sunlight
and daylight from sky. Kocifaj etal (2010) extends the HOLIGILM method to the
case where two straight pipes are connected with a flat interface. Darula etal
(2010) applies the extended HOLIGILM method to obtain illuminance values and
patterns at the exit port and at the work plane in a sample room.
This paper presents an analytical method that utilizes forward raytracing
principle to the development of a procedure for computation of transmission of
collimated light rays and randomly emitted (diffuse) light through circular mirror
light pipes (CMLP) with and without bends. Section 2 of this paper reviews
theoretically derived light transmission models from literatures. Section 3
describes the method of Kocifaj etal (2008) and presents the development of the
procedure of forward raytracing for computation of transmission of light rays
through light pipes. Section 4 presents comparative results from calculation and
from outdoor physical experiment on transmission of collimated sun rays and
daylight from the sky through light pipes. Section 5 presents further results from
calculation and from simulating transmission of sunlight and daylight from the
sky. Section 6 concludes the paper.

2 THEORETICALLY DERIVED TRANSMISSION FUNCTIONS

FOR STRAIGHT PIPE
Consider a light ray entering a straight circular light pipe in Fig. 1.
a) A perspective view
b) A plan view
A light ray enters the entry port of the pipe at position Po. The ray travels in
the direction represented by the unit vector Vo. The ray reaches point P1 on the

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Fig. 1. The geometry of a ray

entering a model of circular
light pipe.

pipe surface and the reflected ray represented by vector V1 reaches the pipe
surface at another point P2. The length of the projection of vector V1onto the x-y
plane is d.

2.1 TRANSMISSION FUNCTION OF ZASTROW AND WITTWER

Zastrow and Wittwer (1986) define the average length of projection of the
reflection vectors on the x-y plane as deff. If the length of the pipe is L and the
incident angle of the light ray with respect to the pipe is ␪, then the approximate
number of reflections of the ray from the surface is

L Ltan␪
⫽
d eff d eff
tan␪
The authors derive deff from a consideration of the average length of the projected
vector as

␲D ␲r
d eff ⫽ ⫽
4 2
where D is the diameter of the light pipe and r is the radius of the pipe. If the
reflectance of the surface of the pipe is ␳, then the transmission function T, the
ratio of the radiative power of the transmitted ray to that of the entering ray, is
obtained as
Ltan␪
T⫽␳ d eff

This relationship was shown by (Swift and Smith 1995) to be only valid for pipes
with high aspect ratios (larger value of the ratio of pipe length to pipe diameter),
small incident angles, and high surface reflectance.

2.2 TRANSMISSION FUNCTION OF SWIFT AND SMITH

Swift and Smith (1995) consider the transmission function of (Zastrow and
Wittwer 1986) to be an approximation and develop an exact analytical expres-
sion to be used instead. The expression is:

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冕冑
1

T⫽
4
␲
s2
1⫺s 2
␳ int 冋
ptan␪
s 册 冉 1 ⫺ 共1 ⫺ ␳兲 ⫺int冉 冋 册冊冊
ptan␪
s
ds
s⫽0

where p ⫽ L/D, is the aspect ratio or the length to diameter ratio, and where
int[x] denotes the integer part of x. This function T represents the average
transmission for light rays that are collimated in one direction.

3 RAYTRACING FOR STRIGHT PIPES AND PIPES WITH

BENDS
The raytracing method is based on tracing of specular reflection of individual
rays.

3.1 APPLICATION OF RAYTRACING TO RECTANGULAR PIPES

Raytracing has been applied successfully to the study of façade-mounted
rectangular pipes by Hien and Chirarattananon (2008). Dutton and Shao (2008),
use long thin rectangular sections to form approximate circular shaped pipes
and simulate light pipe transmission by the use of Photopia, a computer
program. When the authors simulate the transmission of collimated rays, the
results from Photopia calculation match very well with those calculated from the
transmission function of Swift and Smith (1995).

3.2 BACKWARD RAYTRACING METHOD FOR CIRCULAR LIGHT PIPES

Kocifaj etal (2008) develop a method called HOLIGILM for calculation of illumi-
nance on an incremental area at the exit port of a circular light pipe by
considering backward tracing of a light ray through the entry dome or port to a
sky zone. For the same incremental area, rays from all directions are traced until
light fluxes from all zones of the sky and light flux from the sun (if present) are
accounted. Light fluxes from all sky zones and sun contribute to the illuminance
of the incremental area. Light flux passing through the incremental area at the
exit port constitutes exitance from the area and is then used to calculate
luminance and intensity from the exit port, and eventually the illuminance on an
area on the work plane in a given room. Kocifaj (2009) presents numerical
results from the method and notes that for relatively long pipes, ‘distorted image
of the sun is spread over a circular region in the work plane’. The author also
reports the use of the method for calculation of transmission of beam sunlight
and daylight under clear and cloudy sky using two standard CIE sky luminance
distributions, (CIE 2003). Both transparent and diffuse optical components are
used alternately at the exit port.
Kocifaj etal (2010) extends the HOLIGILM method to the case where two
straight circular pipes are connected at an angle at a flat interface, where the
shape of the interface becomes elliptical. Darula etal (2010) illustrates results
from the use of the extended method. Here, the authors also note the existence
of a circular region on the work plane due to transmission of light from the sun.
The authors also note that their method is fast, but the speed and precision of
calculation depends on the fineness of a ‘grid’ used.
The reports of Darula etal (2010) and of Kocifaj (2009) show that there is a
circular band on the work plane in the sample room from transmission of beam

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sunlight through a pipe, be it a single straight pipe or two straight pipes

connected to form a single pipe.

3.3 RAYTRACING METHOD USED HERE FOR CIRCULAR LIGHT PIPES

In this method, each individual ray is traced along its path of travel from a
daylight source, where it is specularly reflected when it encounters a surface. At
the point of conjunction with a surface, a part of radiative power in the ray may
be absorbed, and the other part is specularly reflected. In general, a sufficiently
large number of rays are required in order to capture the transmission charac-
teristics that result from rays that enter from different positions into pipes of
different configurations and surface properties. The following description illus-
trates the basis of the method. In this method, a bend connected to a straight
cylindrical pipe section is modeled mathematically as a section of torus. For the
present work, the glazing elements at the entry and exit ports of a pipe are
omitted in order to elucidate the mechanism of transmission of light rays
through the pipe and to distinguish its features from the effects of transmission
by the port elements.
Consider Fig. 1 a). An imaginary surface is assumed to cover the entry port of
the pipe and lies in the plane formed by the x, y coordinates. The normal vector
of the surface at the conjunctive point P1 is denoted n. Fig. 1 b) illustrates the
geometrical relationship of the vectors. The conjunctive point P1 lies along the
line parallel to vector Vo and can be obtained from

P 1 ⫽ Po ⫹ toVo (1)
where to is a scalar quantity and the point P1 lies on the cylindrical surface, so
its x and y coordinates follows the governing equation for cylindrical surface
given in Table 1. The radius of the pipe is r and that of the torus is R. Vector V1
is the reflection vector of the incident vector Vo.

TABLE 1.
Quantity Surface Function Surface Normal
Functional description of
Cylindrical 2 2 2 x y surfaces and normal vectors
Section S: x ⫹y ⫺r n⫽⫺ i⫺ j for cylindricla and torus
r r

冉 冊 冉 冊
surfaces
R R
⫺x 1 ⫺ i⫺y 1⫺ j ⫺ zk
公x ⫹y 公x ⫹y1
2 2 2 2
n⫽

冋冉 公 冊
Torus
S: x ⫹y ⫹z ⫹R ⫺2R公x ⫹y ⫺r
2 2 2 2 2 2 2

册
2
Section R 2 2 2 2
1⫺ 2 2
(x ⫹y )⫹z
x ⫹y

Figure 2 illustrates the geometry of a torus section that is attached to a

straight cylindrical section. In the figure, R is the radius of the torus. The center
of the coordinate of the torus section is now located at the center of the radius of
the torus section.
In the figure, the point of entry to the surface of the torus section Pc, the entry
vector Vt, the conjunctive point Pt, the normal vector nt, and the reflection vector
Vr follows rule of specular reflection and complies with the surface function of a
torus. similar to those for the straight cylindrical section in Fig. 1. In Figures 1
and 2 the components of the reflection vectors and the scalar quantity to
constitute four unknown variables in each case. The surface function and
application of the rule of specular reflection gives four equations that can be
used to solve for the values of the four variables in each case.

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Fig. 2. Geometry of a torus

section that is attached be-
tween two straight circular
sections.

Conceptually, the method in this paper is similar to the backward raytracing

method of Kocifaj etal (2008) and its extension. However, the step of obtaining
values of daylight from the sky and sun in this paper is decoupled from the step
of calculation of transmission of rays through a pipe. As seen in Section 4 and 5,
measured data of sky luminance in standard sky zones could be used as input
into a pipe instead of values calculated from luminance models. For the present
work, a bend is also modeled as a torus section which is distinctively different
from that of Kocifaj etal (2008). The method in this paper traces a ray up to the
exit port and not beyond.

UNIFORM ENTRY AND EMISSION OF RAYS

One common option in the calculation of entry of light rays into the entry
aperture of a circular pipe is to assume that the rays enter uniformly over the
aperture. This means that each ray enters into an equally divided small area on
the aperture. The following procedure illustrates a method of dividing a circular
area into equal small areas. Consider the circular area and the small concentric
rings in Fig. 3 a).
a) Division of concentric ring.
b) The centers of 900 equal subareas.
The innermost ring has a radius of r1. The area of this circle is 2␲r12. The next
circle has a radius r2 ⫽ 2r1. The subsequent circles have radii of r3 ⫽ 3r1,…, rn ⫽ n
r1. This means that the successive rings have the following areas,

r 2: 2␲r 12 关2 2 ⫺ 1兴 ⫽ 3共2␲r 12 兲,

r n: 2␲r 12 关共n兲 2 ⫺ 共n ⫺ 1兲 2 兴 ⫽ 共2n ⫺ 1兲共2␲r 12 兲.

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Fig. 3. Division of a circu-

lar area into 900 equal
subareas.

To obtain equal small incremental areas, the area of the ring between the circles
of radius r1 and r2 is divided into 3 equal areas. The angle ␥2 in Fig. 3 then equals
2␲/3. For the ring between the circles of radii ri-1 and ri, the size of the
corresponding angle ␥i equals 2␲/(2i-1). The number of the small equal areas
sums to n2. Fig. 3 b) illustrates the points of entry of each ray into the entry port
of a pipe.

RANDOM RAYS
The elevation angle ␪ and the azimuth angle ␾ of a unit vector that represents a
ray randomly emitted from a diffuse surface are obtained from Tregenza (1993),
as

sin␪ ⫽ 冑R 1 , and

␾ ⫽ 2␲R 2 ,
where R1 and R2 are random numbers each with a value between 0 and 1.

4 COMPUTATIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Results from computation and from physical experiment of light transmission
through straight pipes and pipes with bends are first examined. In the compu-
tation to be described, the rays are emitted uniformly into the entry aperture of
circular light pipes in accordance with the method of Section 3.3. This is in
contrast to that in (Chiraratananon etal 2009) that uses randomly distributed
rays. The authors are convinced that for limited number of rays, the method
used here produces more consistent results.
A set of light pipes were fabricated from polyvinyl chloride (pvc) pipes com-
monly used in domestic plumbing. The diameters of the pipes are 150 mm. Bend
sections from pvc pipes are used as torus bends for the light pipes. The inner
surfaces of all pipe sections were lined manually with Daylighting Film of 3 M
Inc., USA. The film has a reflectance greater than 0.99 as given in the specifi-
cation. The surfaces of the finished pipes, especially the bend sections, are not
expected to be as reflective as that of the original film. Figure 4 shows photo-
graphs of a straight pipe and pipes with two 450 bends.

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Fig. 4. Straight pipes and

pipes with bends used in the
experiments.

a) Straight pipe
b) Pipes with bends

4.1 GEOMETRICAL PATTERNS OF TRANSMITTED COLLIMATED LIGHT

Kocifaj (2009) and Darula etal (2010) report that when beam sunlight are
simulated ‘analytically’ to transmit simultaneously through a straight pipe, the
collimated rays from the sun at exit are spatially confined to a circular band on
the work plane. Darula etal (2010) illustrate distinct nonuniform patterns due to
daylight from the sky at the exit port of a light pipe.
Forty thousand (40,000) rays collimated in one direction and uniformly distrib-
uted were simulated using the method of Section 3.3 to transmit into a straight
pipe of aspect ratio of 2, and another one of aspect ratio of 5 at different incident
angles. It was found that there were definite geometrical distributions of the rays
at the exit ports. The geometrical patterns, although commonly known in
Physics, were not expected by the authors. A set of experiments were conducted
in clearer days in September 2010 (which was in the rainy season and the sky
were mainly partly cloudy and cloudy) to verify the results from simulation.
Figure 5 shows the resulting geometrical patterns obtained from simulation and
photographs of sun rays at the exit ports of a straight light pipe of aspect ratio 2
from experiments. Figure 6 shows similar patterns from a pipe of aspect ratio 5.
The images in the photographs appear as the negatives of the plots from
simulation.
Fig. 5. Graphs and photo-
graphs of spatial distributions
at exit port of collimated rays
for a pipe of aspect ratio 2.

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Fig. 6. Graphs and photo-

graphs of spatial distribu-
tions at exit port from col-
limated rays for a pipe of
aspect ratio 5.

a) Incident angle 15° b) Incident angle 45°

a) Incident angle 15° b) Incident angle 45°
At higher incident angles and for pipes with higher aspect ratios, the distri-
butions become more uniform as is evident in Fig. 6 b). For rays that are emitted
in random directions, the pattern at the exit port also shows random distribu-
tion, as shown in Fig. 7. The results from the cases reported here add to growing
number of observations that there are specific patterns of images at the exit port
of light pipes when rays from the sun enter a pipe.
Fig. 7. Spatial distribution at
exit aperture from random
rays through straight pipe of
aspect ratio 5.

4.2 EXPERIMENTAL AND COMPUTATIONAL RESULTS OF DAYLIGHT

TRANSMISSION
A series of experiments were conducted in the latter part of 2010 and early 2011
to obtain transmitted illuminance of direct sunlight and diffuse daylight from the
sky for light pipes of specular surfaces. Some selected experimental results are
reported here with computational results.

ARRANGEMENT OF EXPERIMENTS
In order to obtain separate experimental transmitted illuminance for sunlight
and for daylight from the sky, two identical straight pipes of aspect ratio 10 were
used. A shading ball was attached to a sun tracking device. The ball was used to
shade sunlight from the entry port of one pipe. The sun tracker and the shading
ball are visible in Fig. 4 a). The second pipe was exposed to global illuminance
from the sun and sky. The difference between the measured values of transmit-
ted global illuminance and transmitted diffuse illuminance from the sky is the
transmitted beam illuminance. Fig. 4 b) shows an identical arrangement for a
pair of light pipes with bends.

COMPUTATION
Measured sunlight illuminance was used in the calculation of transmission of
sunlight using the method described in Section 3.3. For calculation of transmis-

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sion of diffuse daylight, the ASRC-CIE sky luminance model was used, (Perez
etal 1990). This model uses four CIE sky models, clear, intermediate, overcast,
and a high turbidity clear sky model. Perez’s clearness index and brightness
index are used to identify sky condition and to weigh contribution from each of
the four CIE sky models. In utilizing this model, the values of measured beam
irradiance and diffuse irradiance are used to calculate the value of clearness
index and brightness index of Perez (1990). Next, the values of relative lumi-
nance of 145 standard sky zones, each geometrically subtended a given solid
angle, (Perez etal 1993), in the sky hemisphere are calculated from the ASRC-
CIE model. The model references zenith luminance. The method described in
Section 3.3 is then used to calculate transmission of 900 rays from each of the
145 standard sky zones of the sky hemisphere. The resulting transmitted
illuminance at the exit port from each point is summed to give total transmitted
illuminance of light from the sky. The values of beam sunlight illuminance and
irradiance, diffuse and global illuminance and irradiance, and zenith luminance
are measured from equipment in a station located near the experimental site.

THE DAYLIGHT MEASUREMENT STATION

A daylight measurement station has been set up on top of a 7-storey building in
a seaside campus of the university in Bangkok. Beam normal illuminance and
irradiance are measured directly by a suntracker. The tracker also holds two
shading balls to shade out sunlight and sun irradiance from an illuminance
sensor and an irradiance sensor to give values of diffuse sky illuminance and
diffuse irradiance. Global illuminance and global irradiance as well as total
illuminance and total irradiance in each cardinal direction are measured by
individual sensors. There is also a zenith luminance sensor. All data are first
logged in one-minute interval and averaged and archived as 5-minute data.
Figure 8 shows some equipment from the station.
a) The sun tracker.
b) Sensors for measurement of total illuminance and total irradiance.
Fig. 8. Daylight and solar radi-
ation measurement equip-
ment at the station.

RESULTS FOR STRAIGHT PIPES

Figure 9 b) shows plots of calculated and measured transmitted daylight
illuminance for straight pipes. The thicker lines represent measured values and
the thinner lines calculated values. The two lines at the top are plots of
transmitted global illuminance, and the two lines at the bottom are plots of beam
illuminance, while the middle lines are for diffuse illuminance. Figure 9 a) shows
measured values of global, beam and diffuse daylight illuminance obtained from

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Fig. 9. Daylight illuminance

from the station and transmit-
ted daylight illuminance
through straight pipes. Note
Evgⴝglobal illuminance,
Evbⴝbeam illuminance,
Evdⴝdiffuse illuminance,
Meaⴝmeasurement, and
Calⴝcalculation.

the station. The figure also shows plot of sky ratio, the ratio of diffuse to global
illuminance. Since measured transmitted beam illuminance values are obtained
as the difference between the transmitted total illuminance and transmitted
diffuse illuminance values, the error of measured transmitted beam measure-
ments can be as high as the sum of errors from the other two. Table 2 shows
some statistical values of the results. The calculated mean transmitted beam
illuminance values are higher than the measured mean values while the
opposite is true for the diffuse illuminance. The RMSD (root meansquare
difference) values vary from 10 percent to 26 percent of the corresponding mean
values. The largest difference occurs in the case of diffuse illuminance. The sky
was mostly partly cloudy to cloudy throughout the duration of the experiment,
as is evident from an examination of the graph of the sky ratio and the pattern
of the beam illuminance.
a) Daylight illuminance measured at the station.
b) Transmitted daylight illuminance.
TABLE 2.
Global Beam Diffuse
Statistics of measured and Quantity
illuminance illuminance illuminance
calculated values of daylight
illuminance through straight Mean, measured 33.58 21.94 11.64
pipes Mean, calculated 32.50 19.48 13.15
MBD 1.07 2.46 ⫺1.52
RMSD 3.29 3.51 3.05
% of measured mean 10 16 26

RESULTS FOR PIPES WITH BENDS

Figure 10 b) shows plots of calculated and measured daylight illuminance for
pipes with bends of Fig. 4 b). The thicker lines represent measured values and
the thinner lines calculated values. Similar to those in Fig. 9, the two lines at the
top are plots of transmitted global illuminance, and the two lines at the bottom
are plots of beam illuminance, while the middle lines are for diffuse illuminance.
Figure 10 a) shows plots of measured values of global, beam and diffuse daylight
illuminance obtained from the station. The figure also shows plot of sky ratio.
The day the experiment on pipes with bends was conducted was cloudy, as the
values of sky ratio are largely above 0.7 from late morning. Table 3 shows some
statistical values of the results. The RMSD values for this case are mostly higher
than those for straight pipes. The largest difference occurs in the case of beam
illuminance. The values of beam illuminance in this case are low because the sky

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TABLE 3.
Global Beam Diffuse
Quantity Statistics of measured and
illuminance illuminance illuminance
calculated values of daylight
Mean, measured 45.89 13.28 29.32 illuminance through pipes
Mean, calculated 49.37 17.86 31.34 with bends
MBD ⫺1.65 ⫺2.94 2.02
RMSD 5.95 5.32 5.53
% of measured mean 13 40 19

was largely cloudy. Thus the value of RMSD from beam illuminance is higher
than that for straight pipes.
a) Daylight illuminance measured at the station.
b) Transmitted daylight illuminance.

5 COMPUTATION AND SIMULATION OF TRANSMISSION OF

DAYLIGHT THROUGH LIGHT PIPES
This section will first present computation of transmission of collimated light
rays through straight pipes and pipes with bends.

5.1 TRANSMISSION OF LIGHT RAYS THROUGH STRAIGHT PIPES

Transmission function for straight pipes of 5 aspects ratios and with 5 incident
angles of collimated rays, calculated from three different methods, with surface
reflectance of 0.967, are shown in Fig. 11. Figure 11 a) shows graphs from the
function of Zastrow and Wittwer, and Fig. 11 b) shows graphs from the method
of Swift and Smith. Fig. 11 c) shows graphs obtained from the raytracing method
of Section 3.3 using 900 uniformly distributed rays.
It is clear from the graphs that those computed from raytracing and those from
the method of Swift and Smith seem very similar and differ from those of Zastrow
and Wittwer, especially for those from pipes of small aspect ratios and high
incident angles of collimated rays.
a) Zastrow and Wittwer. b) Swift and Smith.
c) Forward raytracing.
An important observation needed to be mentioned is that the angle of
incidence for all collimated rays remains the same at the point of exit as those at
the point of entry. This would mean that the illuminance of transmitted light is
the direct product of transmission function and the illuminance at entry.

Fig. 10. Daylight illuminance

from the station and trans-
mitted daylight illuminance
through pipes with bends.

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Fig. 11. Graphs of trans-

mission function for colli-
mated rays through
straight pipes calculated
from three methods.

5.2 TRANSMISSION OF LIGHT RAYS THROUGH PIPES WITH TORUS

BENDS
Figure 12 shows light pipes with bends in two configurations. Each pipe
comprises two straight sections connected with one torus section. The angle of
bend in the pipe in Fig. 12 a) is 45o while that in Fig. 12 b) is 90o. The torus
sections in both figures have equal radii of R⫽2r, where r is the radius of the
pipe. Each straight end sections on each pipe have a length of L, which assumes
values given in Table 4, 5, and 6. The center of each pipe, a line along the middle
of the cross section, in the figure is aligned in a plane formed by axes x and z.
Transmission of collimated rays and random rays will be considered for pipes
whose centers, or the x-coordinate, are oriented in four directions. Nine hundred
(900) collimated rays are assumed to enter each pipe from the south.
a) 45° bend b) 90° bend
Fig. 12. Two straight light pipe
section connected with a to-
rus bend.

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Table 4 shows values of transmission factors for short pipes with surface
reflectance of 0.95. The pipe with 90o bends has lower transmission factors
overall. As is expected, the pipes that face north have slightly higher
transmission factors than those that face south for both types of pipes as
more reflections are expected for south facing pipes. It is surmised that
because of the symmetrical configurations, similar transmission factors for
pipes that face east and west would be obtained. The values in the table seem
to confirm the expectation.
Table 5 shows transmission factors for similar configurations, except here the
surface reflectance is 0.995. Overall, transmission functions in this table are
much higher than the corresponding values in Table 4, both for collimated rays
and for random rays.
Table 6 shows transmission factors for configurations similar to the two cases
earlier. but the pipes are longer. Here, the value of each entry in the table is
expected to be smaller than the corresponding value in Table 5. For collimated
rays, this is mostly observed to be true. For random rays, there is a clearer
consistency. It is observed that values of transmission factors of random rays are
higher when the incident angle of collimated rays is larger than 45o, and this is
true especially for pipes with 45o bend.
For collimated rays, surface reflectance, pipe configuration, and pipe
orientation heavily affects transmission. For random rays, pipe surface reflec-
tance and pipe configuration have certain effects, but pipe orientation have
minimal effect.

5.3 SIMULATION OF TRANSMISSION OF DAYLIGHT THROUGH A PIPE

WITH TWO TORI BENDS
In this section, results of calculations of transmission of measured daylight and
transmission of generated daylight from ASRC-CIE luminance distribution
model through a pipe with two 90o bends are compared. The results include
transmission of rays from sunlight.

MEASURED AND CALCULATED LUMINANCE OF 145 STANDARD SKY

ZONES
An hourly record of measured luminance of 145 standard sky zones, (Perez
1993), of 11 hours per day of 4 reference days are used in the first case. The
measurements were made by a sky scanner Model ML-300LR of EKO Instru-
ments Co.Ltd. of Japan. The four reference days are 20th March, 21st June, 23rd
September, and 21st December of the year 2000. In the second case, hourly
records of measured global, beam normal, and diffuse horizontal irradience are

TABLE 4.
Incident angle
Transmission functions for Pipe Direction of axis x Random rays
pipes with L ⴝ 4r and surface 15 30 45 60 75
reflectance 0.95 North 0.885 0.740 0.477 0.278 0.072 0.479
East 0.860 0.705 0.504 0.274 0.073 0.495
90° bend
South 0.855 0.674 0.530 0.270 0.074 0.482
West 0.860 0.705 0.504 0.274 0.073 0.490
North 0.878 0.774 0.480 0.328 0.085 0.505
East 0.869 0.720 0.525 0.309 0.086 0.517
45° bend
South 0.876 0.661 0.568 0.286 0.087 0.521
West 0.869 0.720 0.525 0.309 0.086 0.510

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TABLE 5.
Incident angle
Pipe Direction of axis x Random rays Transmission functions for
15 30 45 60 75 pipes with L ⴝ 4r and surface
North 0.964 0.873 0.661 0.475 0.225 0.557 reflectance 0.995
East 0.942 0.847 0.690 0.470 0.227 0.569
90° bend
South 0.932 0.824 0.716 0.467 0.229 0.563
West 0.942 0.847 0.690 0.470 0.227 0.572
North 0.953 0.889 0.641 0.513 0.229 0.667
East 0.940 0.845 0.689 0.489 0.231 0.676
45° bend
South 0.939 0.794 0.735 0.459 0.233 0.674
West 0.940 0.845 0.689 0.489 0.231 0.665

TABLE 6.
Incident angle
Pipe Direction of axis x Random rays Transmission functions for
15 30 45 60 75 pipes with L ⴝ 20r and
North 0.918 0.805 0.611 0.389 0.153 0.528 surface reflectance 0.995
East 0.924 0.800 0.611 0.390 0.152 0.513
90° bend
South 0.931 0.794 0.611 0.390 0.153 0.518
West 0.924 0.800 0.611 0.390 0.152 0.524
North 0.894 0.787 0.630 0.406 0.163 0.551
East 0.917 0.796 0.624 0.411 0.160 0.593
45° bend
South 0.937 0.803 0.617 0.415 0.163 0.573
West 0.917 0.796 0.624 0.411 0.160 0.598

used to generate luminance of the same 145 standard sky zones as those in the
first case using ASRC-CIE model, (Perez etal 1990). For the calculation case, the
same values of measured zenith luminance from the sky scanner are used as
references. The lattitude and longitude used in the calculation are identical to
those at the measurement location. The mean value of a total of
(4)(11)(145)⫽6,380 measured sky luminance values is 7.553 kCd.m-2, while that
from calculation is obtained as 6.518 kCd.m-2. The mean bias difference, MBD,
and the root meansquare value difference, RMSD, of the luminance values are
obtained as 1.035 and 5.274 kCd.m-2 respectively. These differences are not
small due to the fact that a relatively small number of samples are used.

TRANSMISSION OF LIGHT RAYS FROM THE 145 STANSARD SKY ZONES

The configuration of the pipe used in this calculation is shown in Fig. 13. The
radius of each torus bend is 2r, and the length of each of the straight pipe
sections is 10r. In calculation of entry and transmission of light flux from the sky
through the pipe, 900 rays were used for each of the 145 standard sky zones.
Eventhough the values of sky luminance from calculation and from measure-
ment differ significantly, as shown by the sizes of the MBD and RMSD between
the two sets, the calculate values of transmitted illuminance show close corre-
spondence with MBD and RSMD of 0.072 and 1.304, which are 0.8 percent and
16 percent respectively of the mean of transmitted illuminance value.
a) Graphs of transmitted skylight. b) Graphs of transmitted sunlight.
Figure 14 a) shows plots of transmitted illuminance of light from the sky from
the two cases for the 4 reference days. The graphs exhibit clear correspondence
of results from the two cases.

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Fig. 13. Configuration of a

light pipe with two 90 degrees
torus bends.

Fig. 14. Graphs of trans-

mitted light rays from the
sky and from the sun for
the 4 reference days.

TRANSMISSION OF SUNLIGHT
Figure 14 b) shows graph of transmitted illuminance of rays from the sun for the
4 reference days. In this case, measured illuminance values from the suntracker
were used in the calculation.

CONCLUSION
An analytic solution of tracing individual rays in straight cylindrical pipes and in
pipes with multiple bends has been presented and validated with experimental
results. The method is versatile and can be applied to any light pipe configura-
tion and any combination of entrant ray types. However, a large number of rays
are required to obtain consistent results. Computational results presented in
this paper confirm points made. The method presented can be used not only in
designing of light pipes, but can eventually be used to aid in the economic
decision on the size, configuration, and the choice of surface materials to be

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used. Even though highly reflective films are available, the use of these films may
or may not be comparatively more economical than the use of less reflective
materials.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The research work reported in this paper was funded by the National Research
University project of the Commission for Higher Education of the Ministry of
Education.

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