IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v229y2018icp335-351.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optical aspects and energy performance of switchable ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) foil cushions

Author

Listed:
  • Flor, Jan-Frederik
  • Liu, Dingming
  • Sun, Yanyi
  • Beccarelli, Paolo
  • Chilton, John
  • Wu, Yupeng

Abstract

A pneumatic multilayer foil construction with a kinetic shading mechanism has the potential to be an effective response to dynamic climatic factors, such as solar radiation, and therefore moderate the energy consumption of buildings. A parametric study was carried out on a switchable ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) foil cushion with the purpose of investigating the optical performance of an adaptive building envelope and its impact on building energy performance regarding heating, cooling and lighting. Ray-tracing techniques were used to investigate the effects of surface curvature, frit layout and frit properties, on the optical performance of the cushion in open and closed mode. A range of incidence angles for solar radiation were simulated. The results of the simulation showed an angle dependent optical behaviour for both modes. The influence of the dynamic shading mechanism on building energy performance was further evaluated by integrating the optical data obtained for the ETFE foil cushions in a comprehensive energy simulation of a generic atrium building using EnergyPlus. Results suggested that switchable ETFE foil cushions have a higher potential to reduce cooling and heating loads in different climatic regions, compared to conventional glazing solutions (i.e. uncoated double-glazing and reflective double-glazing), while providing good conditions of natural daylighting. Annual energy savings of up to 44.9% were predicted for the switchable ETFE foil cushion in comparison to reflective double glazing. As such, this study provides additional insight into the optical behaviour of multilayer foil constructions and the factors of design and environment that potentially have a major impact on buildings energy performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Flor, Jan-Frederik & Liu, Dingming & Sun, Yanyi & Beccarelli, Paolo & Chilton, John & Wu, Yupeng, 2018. "Optical aspects and energy performance of switchable ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) foil cushions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 335-351.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:229:y:2018:i:c:p:335-351
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.07.046
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261918310754
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.07.046?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sun, Yanyi & Liang, Runqi & Wu, Yupeng & Wilson, Robin & Rutherford, Peter, 2017. "Development of a comprehensive method to analyse glazing systems with Parallel Slat Transparent Insulation material (PS-TIM)," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 951-963.
    2. Zhang, Tiantian & Tan, Yufei & Yang, Hongxing & Zhang, Xuedan, 2016. "The application of air layers in building envelopes: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 707-734.
    3. Peng, Jinqing & Lu, Lin & Yang, Hongxing & Han, Jun, 2013. "Investigation on the annual thermal performance of a photovoltaic wall mounted on a multi-layer façade," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 646-656.
    4. Konstantoglou, Maria & Tsangrassoulis, Aris, 2016. "Dynamic operation of daylighting and shading systems: A literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 268-283.
    5. Lei, Jiawei & Yang, Jinglei & Yang, En-Hua, 2016. "Energy performance of building envelopes integrated with phase change materials for cooling load reduction in tropical Singapore," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 207-217.
    6. Sun, Yanyi & Wu, Yupeng & Wilson, Robin, 2018. "A review of thermal and optical characterisation of complex window systems and their building performance prediction," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 729-747.
    7. Pacheco, R. & Ordóñez, J. & Martínez, G., 2012. "Energy efficient design of building: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 3559-3573.
    8. Singh, Ramkishore & Lazarus, I.J. & Kishore, V.V.N., 2016. "Uncertainty and sensitivity analyses of energy and visual performances of office building with external venetian blind shading in hot-dry climate," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 155-170.
    9. Karen Connelly & Yupeng Wu & Xiaoyu Ma & Yu Lei, 2017. "Transmittance and Reflectance Studies of Thermotropic Material for a Novel Building Integrated Concentrating Photovoltaic (BICPV) ‘Smart Window’ System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-13, November.
    10. Peng, Jinqing & Curcija, Dragan C. & Lu, Lin & Selkowitz, Stephen E. & Yang, Hongxing & Zhang, Weilong, 2016. "Numerical investigation of the energy saving potential of a semi-transparent photovoltaic double-skin facade in a cool-summer Mediterranean climate," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 345-356.
    11. Wang, Meng & Peng, Jinqing & Li, Nianping & Lu, Lin & Ma, Tao & Yang, Hongxing, 2016. "Assessment of energy performance of semi-transparent PV insulating glass units using a validated simulation model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 538-548.
    12. Connelly, Karen & Wu, Yupeng & Chen, Jun & Lei, Yu, 2016. "Design and development of a reflective membrane for a novel Building Integrated Concentrating Photovoltaic (BICPV) ‘Smart Window’ system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 331-339.
    13. Berger, Julien & Mendes, Nathan, 2017. "An innovative method for the design of high energy performance building envelopes," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 266-277.
    14. Chen, Xi & Yang, Hongxing, 2017. "A multi-stage optimization of passively designed high-rise residential buildings in multiple building operation scenarios," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 541-557.
    15. Loonen, R.C.G.M. & Trčka, M. & Cóstola, D. & Hensen, J.L.M., 2013. "Climate adaptive building shells: State-of-the-art and future challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 483-493.
    16. Lin, Yu-Hao & Tsai, Kang-Ting & Lin, Min-Der & Yang, Ming-Der, 2016. "Design optimization of office building envelope configurations for energy conservation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 336-346.
    17. Wang, Meng & Peng, Jinqing & Li, Nianping & Yang, Hongxing & Wang, Chunlei & Li, Xue & Lu, Tao, 2017. "Comparison of energy performance between PV double skin facades and PV insulating glass units," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 148-160.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sun, Yanyi & Liu, Xin & Ming, Yang & Liu, Xiao & Mahon, Daniel & Wilson, Robin & Liu, Hao & Eames, Philip & Wu, Yupeng, 2021. "Energy and daylight performance of a smart window: Window integrated with thermotropic parallel slat-transparent insulation material," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    2. Li, Qingxiang & Zanelli, Alessandra, 2021. "A review on fabrication and applications of textile envelope integrated flexible photovoltaic systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    3. Yorgos Spanodimitriou & Giovanni Ciampi & Luigi Tufano & Michelangelo Scorpio, 2023. "Flexible and Lightweight Solutions for Energy Improvement in Construction: A Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-50, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sun, Yanyi & Wilson, Robin & Wu, Yupeng, 2018. "A Review of Transparent Insulation Material (TIM) for building energy saving and daylight comfort," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 713-729.
    2. Luo, Yongqiang & Zhang, Ling & Wang, Xiliang & Xie, Lei & Liu, Zhongbing & Wu, Jing & Zhang, Yelin & He, Xihua, 2017. "A comparative study on thermal performance evaluation of a new double skin façade system integrated with photovoltaic blinds," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 281-293.
    3. Vassiliades, C. & Agathokleous, R. & Barone, G. & Forzano, C. & Giuzio, G.F. & Palombo, A. & Buonomano, A. & Kalogirou, S., 2022. "Building integration of active solar energy systems: A review of geometrical and architectural characteristics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    4. Huang, Junchao & Chen, Xi & Yang, Hongxing & Zhang, Weilong, 2018. "Numerical investigation of a novel vacuum photovoltaic curtain wall and integrated optimization of photovoltaic envelope systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 1048-1060.
    5. Tiantian Zhang & Meng Wang & Hongxing Yang, 2018. "A Review of the Energy Performance and Life-Cycle Assessment of Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-34, November.
    6. Daniel Efurosibina Attoye & Kheira Anissa Tabet Aoul & Ahmed Hassan, 2017. "A Review on Building Integrated Photovoltaic Façade Customization Potentials," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-24, December.
    7. Li, Yilin & Darkwa, Jo & Kokogiannakis, Georgios & Su, Weiguang, 2019. "Phase change material blind system for double skin façade integration: System development and thermal performance evaluation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 1-1.
    8. Sun, Yanyi & Shanks, Katie & Baig, Hasan & Zhang, Wei & Hao, Xia & Li, Yongxue & He, Bo & Wilson, Robin & Liu, Hao & Sundaram, Senthilarasu & Zhang, Jingquan & Xie, Lingzhi & Mallick, Tapas & Wu, Yupe, 2018. "Integrated semi-transparent cadmium telluride photovoltaic glazing into windows: Energy and daylight performance for different architecture designs," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 972-984.
    9. Luo, Yongqiang & Zhang, Ling & Bozlar, Michael & Liu, Zhongbing & Guo, Hongshan & Meggers, Forrest, 2019. "Active building envelope systems toward renewable and sustainable energy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 470-491.
    10. Wang, Chuyao & Ji, Jie & Uddin, Md Muin & Yu, Bendong & Song, Zhiying, 2021. "The study of a double-skin ventilated window integrated with CdTe cells in a rural building," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(PA).
    11. Zhang, Tiantian & Yang, Hongxing, 2019. "Heat transfer pattern judgment and thermal performance enhancement of insulation air layers in building envelopes," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C), pages 834-845.
    12. Qiu, Changyu & Yang, Hongxing, 2022. "Dynamic coupling of a heat transfer model and whole building simulation for a novel cadmium telluride-based vacuum photovoltaic glazing," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    13. Wang, Meng & Peng, Jinqing & Luo, Yimo & Shen, Zhicheng & Yang, Hongxing, 2021. "Comparison of different simplistic prediction models for forecasting PV power output: Assessment with experimental measurements," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    14. Luo, Yongqiang & Zhang, Ling & Liu, Zhongbing & Wang, Yingzi & Meng, Fangfang & Wu, Jing, 2016. "Thermal performance evaluation of an active building integrated photovoltaic thermoelectric wall system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 25-39.
    15. Huang, Junchao & Yu, Jinghua & Yang, Hongxing, 2018. "Effects of key factors on the heat insulation performance of a hollow block ventilated wall," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 409-423.
    16. Raul C. Ene & Silviana Brata & Iosif Boros & Remus Chendes & Daniel Dan, 2022. "Theoretical Study on the Effect of Parallel Air Chambers Embedded in Rockwool Panels on the Energy Consumption of a Low-Energy High School," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-25, June.
    17. Cheng, Yuanda & Gao, Min & Jia, Jie & Sun, Yanyi & Fan, Yi & Yu, Min, 2019. "An optimal and comparison study on daylight and overall energy performance of double-glazed photovoltaics windows in cold region of China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 356-366.
    18. Cheng, Yuanda & Gao, Min & Dong, Jiankai & Jia, Jie & Zhao, Xudong & Li, Guiqiang, 2018. "Investigation on the daylight and overall energy performance of semi-transparent photovoltaic facades in cold climatic regions of China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 517-526.
    19. Peng, Jinqing & Curcija, Dragan C. & Thanachareonkit, Anothai & Lee, Eleanor S. & Goudey, Howdy & Selkowitz, Stephen E., 2019. "Study on the overall energy performance of a novel c-Si based semitransparent solar photovoltaic window," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C), pages 854-872.
    20. Wang, Chuyao & Ji, Jie & Yu, Bendong & Zhang, Chengyan & Ke, Wei & Wang, Jun, 2022. "Comprehensive investigation on the luminous and energy-saving performance of the double-skin ventilated window integrated with CdTe cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PB).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:229:y:2018:i:c:p:335-351. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.