Thermoenergetic and luminous performance of a office building with the use of electrochromic glasses

ABSTRACT

This work aims to analyze the thermoenergetic and luminous performance of a building with office characteristic activities with electrochromic glasses through comparative study, considering common glasses of 3mm and 6mm. For the computational simulation were used the EnergyPlus software. Simulations were performed with the Clear common glass Clear of 3 mm and 6 mm and the electrochromic glass Sage Glass 9 mm with the purpose of analyzing the lighting, the energy consumption, and the level of thermal comfort coming from the artificial climatization and the natural ventilation, respectively. The simulations were performed in two bioclimatic zones, in bioclimatic zone 2 (ZB 2) and in bioclimatic zone 8 (ZB 8), where it was used the climate files from the city of Camaquã and the city of Manaus, respectively. With the results obtained it was possible to observe that the building with electrochromic glasses presented the best level of thermal comfort in the hours occupied, and that the energy consumption for cooling decreases as the coloration increases, especially in the ZB 8, since it is a region of warm weather. It was noted that in the ZB 2 in some months of the year, the electrochromic glass remains totally discolored, since the temperature of setpoint was always higher than the external temperature. It was also possible to observe that it is fundamental analyze the solar orientation for the best positioning of the building’s openings.

Keywords
electrochromic glasses; illumination; thermal comfort; energy efficiency