Partitioned optimal design of semi-transparent PV curtain wall: Strike a balance among occupants’ comfort, energy conservation, and power generation

Semi-transparent photovoltaic (STPV) curtain walls play a crucial role in building decarbonization. Nonetheless, Previous studies mainly concentrated on improving the electrical, daylighting and thermal performance of STPV curtain walls separately, ignoring the interdependencies among these performance factors. Therefore, finding the optimal balance among different functions of STPV curtain walls is a pressing issue for its widespread application. This study aims to achieve a balance among occupants’ comfort, building energy conservation, and PV power generation through the partitioned optimal design of the STPV curtain walls. To achieve this goal, the STPV curtain wall was divided into daylight, view, and spandrel sections, and the height and PV coverage ratio of the daylight section were taken as optimization variables. Then, a joint simulation was conducted using Radiance and EnergyPlus software to investigate the daylight, electrical, and energy performance of partitioned STPV curtain walls in different configurations. Finally, the optimal design of the partitioned STPV curtain wall was determined considering different performances using the TOPSIS multi-criteria decision-making method combined with the entropy weight method. The results showed that the optimal design of the partitioned STPV curtain wall in Beijing improves the sUDI300–3000lx/60 % and DGPs<0.3 by 25.0 % and 39.1 %, and achieves net-zero energy curtain wall. The optimal case in Changsha improves sUDI300–3000lx/60 % by 10.1 %, increases imperceptible glare by 29.1 %, and reduces the electricity taken from the utility grid by 67.1 %. The partitioned optimal design approach proposed in this study can effectively improve the comprehensive performance of STPV curtain walls and promote their widespread implementation.