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CoeLux: Artificial Sunlight That’s Real Enough to Trick Your Camera and Brain
- cordite 11y agoFor those that work in office buildings and may be far away or do not have immediate access to Windows while working, would this be a good investment for companies to make? The sun availability does seem to affect my daily energy and motivation.
- ogig 11y agoI'm not sure an artificial light source looking like the sun will replace the actual sun in regards daily energy and motivation, among others.
- wlesieutre 11y agoDepends on where you are. The pacific northwest and great lakes regions could use some fake sunlight: http://www.currentresults.com/Weather-Extremes/US/cloudiest-cities.php http://www.currentresults.com/Weather-Extremes/US/cloudiest-...
- NotSammyHagar 11y agoSure, I want that, but that article was a year old. Their website seems like it only mentioned things through 2015. Not for $60,000. I'm in seattle, add me as a reseller for say $1000 and I will sell 10,000 units.
- JoshTriplett 11y ago> The sun availability does seem to affect my daily energy and motivation. One of many possibilities to consider: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder However, for far less than this you can get a lamp that provides a similar effect, if not the same aesthetics.
- infectoid 11y agoThe article is a year old. Does anyone know where the tech is actually at now? I was expecting this to be slightly more common by now.
- marchica 11y agoNow prices have fallen. We have installed about 50 systems till now
- comboy 11y agoHave you explored possibility of making this light rich enough in different wavelengths to also let plants grow under it? Or is it not possible with LEDs?
- PhasmaFelis 11y agoGrow lights already exist, and are several hundred times cheaper.
- sneak 11y agoIs there a list somewhere of the publicly-accessible ones? I would love to go and see it in person.
- o_____________o 11y agoFallen to what?
- PhasmaFelis 11y agoTo $35,000 from ~$67,000. So, yeah, they're still wildly impractical. Hopefully prices will eventually come down by at least an order of magnitude.
- peregrine 11y agoYou can buy them online http://www.energysquad.com/products/coelux-45lc http://www.energysquad.com/products/coelux-45lc
- ogig 11y ago67.000$ for a great looking light source seems too much. You can buy small houses at that price point where I live. With real windows, you know.
- toomuchtodo 11y agoLED bulbs started expensive as well. I just bought one for $1.97 (Cree 60w equiv) at Home Depot this evening. Manufacturing efficiencies take time.
- copperx 11y agoThat's an incredible price for a Cree. Is it a special sale?
- toomuchtodo 11y agoHD was clearing out the first gen version with the larger heatsink at the base. I went back and bought the entire pallet. The newer V2 generation, with the plastic housing that no longer requires the large heat sink is running $3.97/piece. I replace bulbs like Johnny Appleseed. I see an incandescent bulb that matches the soft yellow temp? Out it goes, gets replaced with a Cree bulb.
- evincarofautumn 11y agoIt’s also a 660-pound object installed in a drop ceiling nearly a meter thick. You’d need very high ceilings to start with, and you’d better hope it’s installed well. Not to mention that it consumes up to 300W of power.
- BWStearns 11y agoWow. I was looking at the first couple photos thinking "I get it, that's what a skylight looks like, now show me the damn lightbulb!" Here's to hoping this tech gets commoditized and indoor spaces get a lot more pleasant.
- jamespitts 11y agoArtificial sunlight could be revolutionary if applied with scale in cities. It could enable new, far denser forms of architecture "built for people", mitigating the ill psychological effects of being without natural surroundings. The energy use would be heavy, but it might be worth the cost given the transportation energy savings and higher productivity and happiness of the city population.
- jkxyz 11y agoDon't forget seasonal affective disorder, or just the general influence on affects that cloudy weather has. Imagine waking up to streaming sunlight every morning. I can see that making a huge change in people's lives.
- seivan 11y agoIt would have to produce vitamin-D (or whatever the sunlight produces when it hits your skin) in order to combat that. Source: Me in wintertime Sweden.
- sneak 11y agoConcurrent orally-administered vitamin D would achieve the same effect.
- mful 11y agoDo you have a source for that? My understanding is that (a) utilization of dietary vitamin D is significantly lower than naturally produced D (from sun exposure) and (b) vitamin D is one of several micronutrients produced from sun exposure.
- jrapdx3 11y ago> My understanding is that (a) utilization of dietary vitamin D is significantly lower than naturally produced D (from sun exposure)... The end product of UVB irradiated skin (i.e., sunlight) is vitamin D3. (D3 is "activated" locally in tissues utilizing it.) Ingested D3 supplements effectively add to the body's supply, though the optimum intake is controversial and varies among individuals. One difference between sunlight and supplements is that D3 production via UVB exposure has an upper bound, only so much can be made because there's a limited amount of substrate available in skin cells to convert to vitamin D. The upshot is sunlight is "safer" re: potential toxicity of excessive vitamin D intake. AFAIK vitamin D is unique among nutritional factors in its reliance on UVB exposure. Don't know of any other micronutrients directly related to sunlight, but possible there's something I've overlooked.
- nxzero 11y agoAppears that the light is stationary, which to me seems like it'd be a bit creepy.
- BWStearns 11y agoThe company's website suggests that you can change the position of the sun, presumably there's nothing preventing you from modifying it on a timer or slider.
- markbao 11y agoActually, the light is set at a certain angle and can't be changed [0]. They let you choose between different angles – 60º, 45º, and 30º (mounted on the wall). They say that they are working on allowing for light adjustment in the future [1]. (Not your fault though - their website is pretty sparse on information.) [0] http://www.coelux.com/en/solutions/index http://www.coelux.com/en/solutions/index [1] http://www.hispotion.com/coelux-artificial-lighting-system-thats-real-sunlight-30426 http://www.hispotion.com/coelux-artificial-lighting-system-t...
- bd 11y agoSomebody on reddit made a cheap do-it-yourself version for their basement office for $150 (using LED lights for plants): http://imgur.com/a/r31Gb http://imgur.com/a/r31Gb While definitely not the same, there should be an opportunity for something costing less than $35,000 while still getting closer. For example here is DIY 90,000 lumen flashlight that supposedly cost $250-350: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JVqRy0sWWY&t=3m40s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JVqRy0sWWY&t=3m40s Using 10 of these LED chips: http://www.ebay.com/itm/100W-Warm-White-3000K-LED-Light-High-Power-Component-Chip-100-Watt-8000-LM-USA-/281833108024 http://www.ebay.com/itm/100W-Warm-White-3000K-LED-Light-High...
- ipsum2 11y agoWhile this is is nice, the main breakthrough of CoeLux is the simulation of Rayleigh scattering, not just a bright diffused light.
- bd 11y agoLot of things scatter. There is probably something cheaper than $35,000 per light. Maybe milk could be used? :) http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wyj6iHUndhg/UXpUk6HxfLI/AAAAAAAACuw/2FDyuDgm8U0/s1600/Untitled-2+copy.jpg http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wyj6iHUndhg/UXpUk6HxfLI/AAAAAAAACu... http://thestandardmodel.blogspot.com/2013/04/when-i-was-child-i-often-wonder-why-sky.html http://thestandardmodel.blogspot.com/2013/04/when-i-was-chil... It feels like they charge so much not because there would be some principal engineering / technical obstacle but simply because they can. They have been the first who realized something like this can be done (now that LED lighting progressed so far) and for rich customers this is a feature that's highly desirable, so they are willing to pay so much. They do have a good marketing. Their business model depends on others thinking there is some special magic. I had to see that reddit post to even start questioning that something like this could be replicated.
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- derefr 11y ago
- mintplant 11y agoI can't tell whether some of these pictures are photos or renderings.
- nkassis 11y agoI had the same reaction until I read the article. I think it's the type of objects and the small room that looks a lot like the ones used in rendering demos that gave me that same impression. Just waiting for them to put a glass of water to show transparency or something similar ;p
- sonium 11y agoSadly they write little substantial about the internal construction principle so I'm making an educated guess: Based on the pictures one can see that relatively hard shadows are created as expected by a point-like light source (like a far away sun). Also in the movie it can be seen that the 'sun' moves with the camera when the camera moves. The hard shadows would be created if all light emitting the 'window' are almost parallel, which would require some kind of optics. So I'm guessing that the 'skylight' is made of a slightly curved backside supporting a large number of white LEDs. Each LED then would have a small lense so that all light is emitted within a very narrow angle. The slight curvature of the backside would then lead to the apparent movement of the light-source if the camera moves. (Because one would look into the opening angle of a different portion of the LEDs) The blue color itself is a layer of nano-particles leading imitating Rayleigh scattering of the atmosphere.
- danieltillett 11y agoThis is because it is all in the patents [1]. 1. http://patents.justia.com/inventor/paolo-di-trapani http://patents.justia.com/inventor/paolo-di-trapani
- digi_owl 11y agoIf they can make a model i can hang on the wall (i really don't have the root space to mount this), i'm game.
- danieltillett 11y agoThese are the patents for those interested in the tech behind this [1 − 3]. 1. http://www.google.com/patents/US8469550 http://www.google.com/patents/US8469550 2. https://www.google.com/patents/US20140133125 https://www.google.com/patents/US20140133125 3. http://patents.justia.com/patent/20150330607 http://patents.justia.com/patent/20150330607
- rajacombinator 11y agoCool but creepy. How about just build non-gulag style buildings with exposure to actual sunlight?
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- blazespin 11y agoMultiple stories? Shaded building? Cloudy days? Basement offices?
- superuser2 11y agoPlaces that are cloudy and have very short days?
- mentos 11y agoI'm looking up at my square white ceiling wondering what it would be like if the entire surface was this CoeLux panel. Imagine a vibrant blue sky with a beautiful sun tracking its way across your ceiling all day. I think it could be breathtaking. This is the type of 'simple' invention that you could never really anticipate but changes the future profoundly.
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- tommoor 11y agoUnfortunately the sun is in a fixed position in their product, but yes... this would he awesome :)
- mappu 11y agoVR headsets will accomplish this for many people. Well, maybe in one more generation once the resolution becomes higher.. and adding hand tracking.. and a UV lamp on a servo..
- ethanbond 11y agoAnd all you've gotta do is lie in bed with a VR headset on! Let's hope you don't have a significant other that you're supposed to be spending time with. Come on, this isn't a solution.
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- imh 11y agoNote that the video is from 2014 and the article from about a year ago. That said, I want this so badly.
- mrexroad 11y agoI'm photophobic and am guaranteed a migraine when in direct sunlight or high contrast lighting environments. Diffused, evenly lit indoor environments are my safe harbor without dark/polarized/full-cover sunglasses. Please don't take that from those of us that'd love outdoor lighting, but physically cannot tolerate it.
- Fluid_Mechanics 11y agoI know it would be a tremendous waste of energy, but could you imagine spacecraft having a relaxation room like this?
- Animats 11y agoComing soon to the office of a CEO near you. It's nice, but it's not $30,000 nice. Still, the cost of LEDs per lumen continues to drop. LED auto headlights are now below $100. There's a market for this in hospitals, to keep patients in intensive care units in sync with the outside world. Fake windows with lighting tied to the day/night cycle have been used. Here's someone looking for funding for a startup to do a really good virtual window.[1] [1] http://windways.org/personal_page/virtual_windows/ http://windways.org/personal_page/virtual_windows/
- foota 11y agoNew possibilities for fusion plants: cheaper sunlight generation per lumen.
- dharma1 11y agoBet the spectrum looks quite different to that of the sun. LEDs are narrow spectrum with peaks and dips, even when combined
- nnq 11y agoNow that's the kind of thing that would make Vault 101 more cheery! The survivors of the nuclear apocalipse would surely revere the inventor of this thing as a god. ...and obligatory musical reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txPqV0lZaSE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txPqV0lZaSE
- kristiandupont 11y agoNot nearly the same, but Daniel Rybakken does lots of cool experiments with artificial sunlight that might interest you as well: http://danielrybakken.com/daylight_comes_sideways.html http://danielrybakken.com/daylight_comes_sideways.html http://danielrybakken.com/daylight_entrance,_stockholm.html http://danielrybakken.com/daylight_entrance,_stockholm.html
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- kirk21 11y agoIn this video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ4TJ4-kkDw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ4TJ4-kkDw ) they talk about the usage for underground buildings. It could be for underground buildings what the lift is for high buildings (eg make it practical). This was on Product Hunt a while ago: https://www.producthunt.com/tech/coelux https://www.producthunt.com/tech/coelux
- dovdov 11y agoUmbrella Corporation preorders. :)
- rbanffy 11y agoIt's be fun to have a tunable one that could simulate other atmospheres as well. There are days retiring to Saturn seems a good option ;-) With the added benefit you could use a low-power light for those distances.
- steejk 11y agoHere's a video of an actual one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD6VKLoS59g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD6VKLoS59g It does look very realistic, but makes me wonder whether having an uneven light distribution is desirable or whether it's something that's needed to trick the body.
- glitcher 11y agoIs that Jason Bateman in two of the photos?