Glass windows Forum: Spacesettlers
Thread: Glass windows
# 8890 byian.woollard@... on Sept. 15, 2006, 4:23 p.m.
Member since 2021-10-03
On 15/09/06, Xenophile wrote:
> Fiber optics can bring in natural sunlight (complete with UV filtering
> and such) without the big honkin' windows. In Israel they've shoved 8
> watts down a single submillimetre fiber.
> Even if we assume 5 watts per millimetre (insulative layer? safety
> factor? makes the math easier for me?), that's 3125 watts coming out
> of each 2.5 cm * 2.5 cm (about a square inch) of fiber. You can have
> all the natural sunlight you need, without the big honkin' windows.
True, but if you do that you're also losing some cooling capacity. One
subtle point about the windows is that they allow for some heat
rejection. As in, most of the sight lines out the windows don't
intersect the sun; so the reflected light goes back out into space and
your heat rejection issues are eased.
--
-Ian Woollard
"Victory can be perceived but not created."
For your own security, the Department of Homeland Security is watching you.