Patent ID: 7639423

Claim:
A direct beam solar lighting system for collecting and distributing sunlight into an interior area of a building comprising: a rotatable solar collector head to track and receive sunlight from and to reflect the received sunlight downward, the solar collector head including: a housing; an upper and lower back reflector and sidewall reflectors on an interior surface of the housing to capture and deflect the received sunlight downward; and an entrance aperture in a front side of the housing approximately opposite the upper and lower back reflectors and facing horizontally to allow sunlight to enter the solar collector head, wherein the solar collector head accommodates vertical solar altitude variations to increase received sunlight throughput at low sun angles and attenuate the received sunlight throughput at high angles to provide illumination throughout the daylight hours; a drive mechanism for rotating the rotatable solar collector head about a vertical axis to track the sun's movement in azimuth; a transition tube having a first end connected with the rotatable solar collector head for receiving and concentrating the downward reflected sunlight, the transition tube having a reflective interior surface; a reflective light pipe connected to a second end of the transition tube for further directing the reflected sunlight through a plenum space into the interior space below; and a retroreflector at the end of the reflective light pipe to disburse said reflected sunlight onto a ceiling and walls of the interior space below to illuminate the space below.