IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v18y2025i8p2097-d1637586.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fiber Optic Daylighting with Concentrating Solar Collectors: A State-of-the-Art Review

Author

Listed:
  • Taher Maatallah

    (Mechanical and Energy Engineering Department, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia)

  • Faisal Wahab

    (Mechanical and Energy Engineering Department, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia)

  • Mussad Alzahrani

    (Mechanical and Energy Engineering Department, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia)

  • Arshad Jamal

    (Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia)

  • Sajid Ali

    (Mechanical and Energy Engineering Department, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

Nowadays, the development of innovative and feasible sustainable solutions able to reduce lighting costs and enhance the building’s energy efficiency is a hot topic and one of the most challenging research avenues. In this context, fiber optic daylight (FOD) systems are a growing technology, where fiber optics can be used as a waveguide to transmit sunlight into the interior of windowless spaces. This review aims to track, analyze, and discuss the application of integrated FOD systems with concentrating solar collectors and provide a clear understanding of FOD system requirements and overall performance. In view of this, a comprehensive analysis of the most recent FOD systems, along with their different applications, has been provided to ensure a complete overview of the current state of FOD systems in terms of actual technological strengths, limitations, cost-effectiveness, and future application performance. Therefore, this paper comprehensively analyzes the structure and performance of FOD systems. It highlights the recent development and nanotechnology applications of FOD systems. Additionally, this article discusses the challenges of building-integrated FOD systems and the benefits of using FOD instead of conventional grid-integrated lighting devices and systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Taher Maatallah & Faisal Wahab & Mussad Alzahrani & Arshad Jamal & Sajid Ali, 2025. "Fiber Optic Daylighting with Concentrating Solar Collectors: A State-of-the-Art Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-27, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:8:p:2097-:d:1637586
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/8/2097/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/8/2097/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Freier, Daria & Ramirez-Iniguez, Roberto & Jafry, Tahseen & Muhammad-Sukki, Firdaus & Gamio, Carlos, 2018. "A review of optical concentrators for portable solar photovoltaic systems for developing countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 957-968.
    2. Muhammad Arkam C. Munaaim & Karam M. Al-Obaidi & Mohd Rodzi Ismail & Abdul Malek Abdul Rahman, 2014. "Empirical Evaluation of the Effect of Heat Gain from Fiber Optic Daylighting System on Tropical Building Interiors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(12), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Taher Maatallah & Mussad Alzahrani & Ahmad Almatar & Faisal Wahab & Sajid Ali, 2025. "Numerical Investigation of Natural Light Transmission Through Fiber Optics," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-29, February.
    4. Waseem Iqbal & Irfan Ullah & Seoyong Shin, 2023. "Optical Developments in Concentrator Photovoltaic Systems—A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-25, July.
    5. Evangelos Bellos & Dimitrios N. Korres & Christos Tzivanidis, 2023. "Investigation of a Compound Parabolic Collector with a Flat Glazing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, February.
    6. Kunhao Liu & Lianglin Zou & Yuanlong Li & Kai Wang & Haiyu Wang & Jifeng Song, 2023. "Measurement and Analysis of Light Leakage in Plastic Optical Fiber Daylighting System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-14, February.
    7. Allen Jong-Woei Whang & Tsai-Hsien Yang & Zhong-Hao Deng & Yi-Yung Chen & Wei-Chieh Tseng & Chun-Han Chou, 2019. "A Review of Daylighting System: For Prototype Systems Performance and Development," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-34, July.
    8. Nardelli, Andrei & Deuschle, Eduardo & de Azevedo, Leticia Dalpaz & Pessoa, João Lorenço Novaes & Ghisi, Enedir, 2017. "Assessment of Light Emitting Diodes technology for general lighting: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 368-379.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jifeng Song & Bizuayehu Bogale Dessie & Longyu Gao, 2023. "Analysis and Comparison of Daylighting Technologies: Light Pipe, Optical Fiber, and Heliostat," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-30, July.
    2. Kunhao Liu & Lianglin Zou & Yuanlong Li & Kai Wang & Haiyu Wang & Jifeng Song, 2023. "Measurement and Analysis of Light Leakage in Plastic Optical Fiber Daylighting System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-14, February.
    3. Nina Sakinah Ahmad Rofaie & Seuk Wai Phoong & Muzalwana Abdul Talib & Ainin Sulaiman, 2023. "Light-emitting diode (LED) research: A bibliometric analysis during 2003–2018," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 173-191, February.
    4. Przemyslaw Zawadzki & Firdaus Muhammad-Sukki & Siti Hawa Abu-Bakar & Nurul Aini Bani & Abdullahi Abubakar Mas’ud & Jorge Alfredo Ardila-Rey & Abu Bakar Munir, 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of a Rotationally Asymmetrical Compound Parabolic Concentrator (RACPC)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-15, June.
    5. Gaffuri, Pierre & Stolyarova, Elena & Llerena, Daniel & Appert, Estelle & Consonni, Marianne & Robin, Stéphane & Consonni, Vincent, 2021. "Potential substitutes for critical materials in white LEDs: Technological challenges and market opportunities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    6. Alamdari, Pedram & Khatamifar, Mehdi & Lin, Wenxian, 2024. "Heat loss analysis review: Parabolic trough and linear Fresnel collectors," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    7. Sreelakshmi, Kavuthimadathil & Ramamurthy, K., 2022. "Review on fibre-optic-based daylight enhancement systems in buildings," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    8. Xuan, Qingdong & Li, Guiqiang & Yang, Honglun & Gao, Cai & Jiang, Bin & Liu, Xiangnong & Ji, Jie & Zhao, Xudong & Pei, Gang, 2021. "Performance evaluation for the dielectric asymmetric compound parabolic concentrator with almost unity angular acceptance efficiency," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    9. Abdullah Alamoudi & Syed Muhammad Saaduddin & Abu Bakar Munir & Firdaus Muhammad-Sukki & Siti Hawa Abu-Bakar & Siti Hajar Mohd Yasin & Ridoan Karim & Nurul Aini Bani & Abdullahi Abubakar Mas’ud & Jorg, 2019. "Using Static Concentrator Technology to Achieve Global Energy Goal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-22, May.
    10. Cameron, William J. & Alzahrani, Mussad M. & Yule, James & Shanks, Katie & Reddy, K.S. & Mallick, Tapas K., 2024. "Effects of partial shading on thermal stress and exergetic efficiency for a high concentrator photovoltaic," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    11. Sadeghian, Omid & Mohammadi-Ivatloo, Behnam & Oshnoei, Arman & Aghaei, Jamshid, 2024. "Unveiling the potential of renewable energy and battery utilization in real-world public lighting systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    12. Zahra Fallahi & Gregor P. Henze, 2019. "Interactive Buildings: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-26, July.
    13. Giulio Mangherini & Valentina Diolaiti & Paolo Bernardoni & Alfredo Andreoli & Donato Vincenzi, 2023. "Review of Façade Photovoltaic Solutions for Less Energy-Hungry Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-35, September.
    14. Faisal Masood & Nursyarizal Bin Mohd Nor & Perumal Nallagownden & Irraivan Elamvazuthi & Rahman Saidur & Mohammad Azad Alam & Javed Akhter & Mohammad Yusuf & Mubbashar Mehmood & Mujahid Ali, 2022. "A Review of Recent Developments and Applications of Compound Parabolic Concentrator-Based Hybrid Solar Photovoltaic/Thermal Collectors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-30, May.
    15. Kyung Sun Lee & Ki Jun Han & Jae Wook Lee, 2016. "Feasibility Study on Parametric Optimization of Daylighting in Building Shading Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-16, November.
    16. Taher Maatallah & Mussad Alzahrani & Ahmad Almatar & Faisal Wahab & Sajid Ali, 2025. "Numerical Investigation of Natural Light Transmission Through Fiber Optics," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-29, February.
    17. de Oliveira, R.P. & Benvenuti, J. & Espinosa, D.C.R., 2021. "A review of the current progress in recycling technologies for gallium and rare earth elements from light-emitting diodes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    18. Pabon, Juan J.G. & Khosravi, Ali & Malekan, M. & Sandoval, Oscar R., 2020. "Modeling and energy analysis of a linear concentrating photovoltaic system cooled by two-phase mechanical pumped loop system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 273-289.
    19. Baloch, Ashfaque Ahmed & Shaikh, Pervez Hameed & Shaikh, Faheemullah & Leghari, Zohaib Hussain & Mirjat, Nayyar Hussain & Uqaili, Muhammad Aslam, 2018. "Simulation tools application for artificial lighting in buildings," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 3007-3026.
    20. Dimitrios N. Korres & Theodoros Papingiotis & Irene Koronaki & Christos Tzivanidis, 2023. "Thermal and Optical Analyses of a Hybrid Solar Photovoltaic/Thermal (PV/T) Collector with Asymmetric Reflector: Numerical Modeling and Validation with Experimental Results," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-22, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:8:p:2097-:d:1637586. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.