Passive Intelligent Kinetic External Dynamic Shade Design for Improving Indoor Comfort and Minimizing Energy Consumption

Abstract

In humid subtropical climates with a green environment, windows are the most dominant envelope elements affecting indoor visual and thermal comfort and visual connection to the outdoors. This research aims to optimize a dynamic external shading system for north-facing windows in Sydney, Australia, which acts automatically in eight predefined scenarios in response to indoor comfort conditions. The method of investigation was simulating a multi-objective optimization approach using Non-dominated Sorting Particle Swarm Optimization (NSPSO) to assess visual and thermal comfort along with energy usage and view of the outside. A combination of human and sensor assessments were applied to validate the simulations. A set of sensors and High Quality (HQ) cameras fed the system input to operate the shade. Simulations and field measurements demonstrated that optimized shading scenarios brought average yearly reductions of 71.43%, 72.52%, and 1.78% in Annual Solar Exposure, Spatial Daylight Glare, and LEED Quality View, respectively, without sacrificing Daylight Autonomy. Moreover, yearly improvements of 71.77% in cooling demand were achieved. The downside of the shading system was an increase of 0.80% in heating load and 23.76% in lighting electricity, which could be a trade-off for improved comfort and energy savings. This study investigated the effect of dynamic external shade on visual and thermal comfort together with energy usage and view, which has not been investigated for southern-hemisphere dwellings. A camera-sensor-fed mechanism operated the external shade automatically, providing indoor comfort without manual operation.