Exploring the environmental performance of liquid glass coating using Sol-Gel technology and responsive Venetian blinds in the tropics

Abstract

The dynamic nature of tropical skies presents challenges for the built environment due to the momentous fluctuations and instability in solar irradiance and illuminance levels that cause limitations in responding to the needs of the indoor environment. The study aims to investigate the performance of daylighting strategies using liquid glass coating and responsive Venetian blinds in an office building in the tropics. The objective of this study is to systematically examine the impacts of proposed strategies on indoor environmental conditions. The study was experimentally investigated by utilising field measurements in full-scale cellular offices in a real environment and simulation using Radiance. The results indicated that responsive Venetian blinds provided steady daylight levels between 375 lx and 588 lx in the centre of the room, while a further integration with liquid glass coating provided a glare control with a maximum of 33.71% (Imperceptible) using Daylight Glare Probability. The indoor air temperature was reduced by 3.42 °C with liquid glass coating and 2.85 °C with responsive Venetian blinds. The outputs of assessing the performance of static and responsive strategies demonstrated new findings that are significant to developing these strategies in the tropics. • Static and responsive daylighting strategies were experimentally investigated. • The tested strategies provided effective solutions to control daylight levels. • The proposed daylighting systems improved thermal conditions. • The integrated daylighting system presented a responsive environmental strategy.