Optimization of Useful Daylight Illuminance for Vertical Shading Fins Covered by Photovoltaic Panels for a Case Study of an Office Room in the City of Wroclaw, Poland

Abstract

A building’s facade is its main interface with the external environment, as it controls almost all energy flows in the building—losses and gains. In this context, the most recent invention of adaptive façades allows for the introduction of an optimized system for both daylight management and electrical energy production. The authors of the presented paper propose a novel adaptive façade system that is equipped with vertical shading fins of 1 × 4 m that are covered with PV panels. The fins are kinetic and rotate around a vertical axis in order to optimize solar irradiation for producing electricity. The presented adaptive façade is analyzed in two stages. Firstly, the number of vertical shading fins is optimized in the context of useful daylight illuminance (UDI) and daylight glare probability (DGP) using Radiance-cored software. Next, two scenarios of PV installation are verified for fixed and the Sun-tracking solution. The results show that the Sun-tracking system is more efficient than the fixed one, but electricity production is only increased by 3.21%. The reason for this is the fact that—while following the Sun’s azimuth position—fins shade each other and reduce the effective area of the adjacent PV panels. Based on this, the authors conclude that the Sun-tracking system might be justified due to its protective or decorative function and not because of its improved effectiveness in generating electrical energy.