Today daylight is inspiring a whole new approach to sustainable architecture & design.
Solatube
- Solatube Dome is made of injection molded high impact acrylic/polycarbonate with UV inhibitors.
- The patented LightTracker® & Ray bender 3000® technology harnesses maximum daylight during the early morning & late evening hours to deliver uniform light throughout the day.
- The Spectralight Infinity tubing in Solatube has a spectral reflectivity of 99.7%. The highest in its class.
- The proprietary Cool Tube technology in Solatube prevents I/R infiltration and ensures no additional Heat Load on the building.
- The engineered prismatic diffuser in Solatube has a number of micro-prisms which diffuse the light over a wide area underneath.
- Different Diffuser options available for different applications.
- No. of Solatube DS required are much lesser for the same room size as compared to competitors.
- Overall project cost lesser.
Others
- Others' dome is made of thermoformed Polycarbonate.
- Unable to maintain uniform light during early morning & late evening hours.
- Do not have effective I/R blocking capability, thereby adding to the Heat Load on the building.
- No different diffuser options available for specific application. One size fits all !
- Other known brands of Tubular Daylighting Systems do not have any technologically advanced systems to enhance the light harnessing, transferring & delivery functions.
- No. of units required are higher to achieve the same Lux level in the same room size as compared with Solatube DS.
- Project cost higher.
Along with Light Transfer Efficiency, the tubing in a TDD system plays an important role in the quality of light output as it relates to Color. Color Temperature Maintenance (CTM) is a measure of how well a system can deliver reflected light without a color shitt.
Solatube Internationals Spectralight infinity Tubing is "spectrally-neutral," meaning that its Spectral Reflectance is consistently high for all wavelengths of visible light. In other words, the tubing retlects all the visible wavelengths of light equally well and does not change the color of the light it reflects. This allows 'a to deliver the brightest, purest daylight without major color shifts over the course of the day or changes in season
Tubing materials have different performance ohareoterisfics. and some transport light more efficiently than omens, Spectrelight Infinity Tubing, found in Sotalube Dailigtiting systems. is made of the most reflective material in me world. and ranks at the tap for delivering the ml-m'Inum amount a light over the longest distances.
This is critical since even small dflferences in reflectance values can significantly impact light output. That's because every time a ray of light is reflected, a small amount of that light is lost. The difference of just a few percentage points in Specular Reflectivity makes a huge difference in overall performance. As a result, Solatube lntemationals Spectralight Infinity Tubing is designed to:
- Deliver up to 99.7% specular reflectivity of visible light for maximum daylight transfer
- Allow for long tube runs. which can include 90° bends, to deliver consistent daylight to lower floors ,
- Provide the purest, most consistent spectral reflectance for visible wavelengths of light possible so colors . are truer, brighter
Contrary to Total Fletiectance. Specular Reflectance is a key factor in determining an optical tube's efficiency in transferring light, and manufacturers should provide Specular Reflectance data to demonstrate the true efficiency of their TDD systems.
To translate light output into practical applications, Sclatube lntemational uses a Design Calculator to evaluate a space by factoring geographic location, time of day and time of year daylight measurements based on the room characteristics, occupancy, and specific Sclatube Daylighting System product configuration, including tube length and significant angles. This will develop a custom light study designed to meet specific lighting criteria.
- SOLATUBE products carry a manufacturers Worldwide warranty for 10 years.
- Others offer a warranty ranging from 5-20 years.
- Solatube is a reputed corporation in existence since 28 years.
- Solatube is the worldwide market leader with presence in over 110 countries.
- Do the competing brands have a past record to honour the warranty condition ??