>Deploys Static and Dynamic Computerized Shading Devices to Enhance the Indoor Environmental Quality and Conserve Energy
This computerized, all-in-one building envelope modulates the flow of heat and light into the building to improve indoor environmental quality (IEQ), hazard resilience, and energy conservation and generation. As the demarcation between a building and its external environment, building envelopes, particularly fenestrations, such as. windows), play crucial roles in heating, cooling, and maintaining a comfortable indoor environment in modern buildings. It also facilitates daylight admission indoors, which in turn needs to be reinforced, particularly in protecting against natural hazards, like hurricanes.
In the United States (U.S.), buildings are responsible for approximately 40% of the country’s total energy consumption, primarily through lighting, heating, and cooling . Consequently, improving building envelope technologies can reduce energy usage and costs while improving the indoor environment. Building envelopes can also accommodate energy-generation equipment such as photovoltaic (PV) cells and roof-top wind turbines, highlighting their role in both energy conservation and generation. While conventional building envelopes tackle these functions individually but not collectively, the EDBE system aims to address these challenges in an integrative manner, interacting both statically and dynamically with the outdoor environment while monitoring indoor needs.
Researchers at the University of Florida have developed an environmentally conscious and dynamically adaptive building envelope to simultaneously achieve shading, temperature control, insulation, and produce energy from renewable sources (e.g., solar radiation), optimizing energy conservation and generation. This advanced sensor-controlled envelope maintains equilibrium between the building and the environment by optimizing shading, heat transfer, and light exposure in response to external conditions, through changing its configuration. The envelope also acts as storm shutters, thereby improving the building's resilience and shielding its occupants from natural disasters.
Application
The system reconfigures fenestration systems in response to indoor and outdoor sensor readings to optimize light exposure, reduce heat transfer, provide shading, and enhance storm protection
Advantages
- Statically and dynamically modulates temperature and lighting in real-time, optimizing the building’s energy consumption
- Integrates shading, daylighting, and insulation functions together, eliminating the need for independently designed façade components
- Generates operational energy from photovoltaic cells, achieving energy neutrality and resilience
- Responds to changes in environmental conditions and natural hazards, customizing indoor climatic conditions while enhancing occupant protection.
Technology
Building envelopes contain different components that have traditionally been compartmentalized for different functions. For example, fenestrations control daylight admission and heat transfer while shading devices reduce glare and mitigate excessive solar radiation. Through EDBE, the vital functions of controlling light exposure, reducing heat transfer, and providing shading are considered in concert. Furthermore, the components can be reconfigured in response to environmental changes such as natural hazards; therefore, the vital functions can still be achieved in different climatic conditions.
This computerized system operates even better in concert with the other components of the building envelope, such as sensors, detecting variations in the weather and PV cells that power the entire EDBE’s dynamic functions (i.e. dynamic reconfigurations of the system . In addition to boosting energy conservation, the PV cells enhance the resilience of building by allowing its envelope to function even when the electric grid fails. This unique and integrative building envelope system improves IEQ, while furthering energy conservation, facilitating energy generation and protecting occupants against natural hazards.
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