Daylight performance assessment of atrium skylight with integrated semi-transparent photovoltaic for different climate zones in China

Abstract

The utilization of atriums in large space public buildings has significantly improved the internal lighting performance, but due to the harsh external environment, the application of large-scale skylights also brings higher heating or cooling energy consumption. Skylight Integrated Photovoltaic (SIPV) technology can not only use solar energy efficiently, but also has a significant shading effect, avoiding direct impact on the indoor light and thermal environment. At present, quite limited researches have studied the uncomfortable light environment of atrium caused by the application of semi-transparent photovoltaics in skylights. Therefore, it is very important to propose effective solutions to improve the daylight performance of these spaces or those with similar daylight climates.In this work, the indoor light environment has been systematically investigated through simulation employing DAYSIM tool. Both static and dynamic simulation analysis were carried out over the selected skylight glass to determine its appropriate area ratio of photovoltaic materials for representative Chinese cities. The optimal area ratio parameter range of thin film (TF) and crystalline silicon (C-Si) photovoltaic materials resulted in range of: 50–60% for both TF and C-Si in Xi'an represented area; 60–70% for TF, and 50–70% for C-Si in Beijing represented area; 50–60% for TF, and 60-70% for C-Si in Shanghai represented area; 50–60% for TF, and 50-70% for C-Si in Guangzhou represented area; 40–60% for TF, and 40-60% for C-Si in Harbin represented area; 30–50% for both TF and C-Si in Chongqing represented area. The optimal area ratio based design strategies of SIPV under various climatic conditions were then summarized.