Definition: A system with a high degree of freedom that an occupant in a shared work environment can control part of the adaptive elements of a non-conventional AF in real-time behavior
CASE STUDY: An international published Patent was used for this research as a hypothetical case study. Detailed information of the patent can be accessed here:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US20180216399A1/en?inventor=Seyed+Amir+Tabadkani
The proposed control strategy facilitates an integrated algorithmic workflow by creating a live linkage between two different simulation interfaces to overcome the existing challenges as discussed, including:
(1) simulations using EnergyPlus and Ladybug-tools to cover the energy and comfort-related calculations,
(2) an offline simulation using Python programming language to program a personalized control.
With respect to the research methodology, since the workflow is genuinely a simulation-driven approach, there are assumptions that influence the results significantly:
- From results, we could see there are times that discomfort glare can occur even if the façade section or modules are fully-closed. This finding is due to the existing gaps in the designed non-conventional AF prototype that does not cover the façade 100%.
- The proposed façade prototype can react steplessly or in hundreds of positions; however, due to computational power limitation, only four shading positions are selected that resulted a limited range of view ratio to outdoors where there is no view ratio between 34% and 85% and caused further challenges for the PRC to find an optimum solution to satisfy user demands.
- The proposed control strategy depends on a fixed furniture layouts and assume users with view directions towards the computer screens, thus in case of modifying the furniture design or placement in the space, simulations should be repeated for accurate personalization.
- The personalized real-time control and its current development is only applicable in controlling the façade according to occupants’ visual comfort preferences, not thermal comfort models. This limitation is only due to inability of existing simulation tools to localize thermal comfort models and indicators based on occupant’s position in a shared space while façade is changing over time.
- TThe methodology is only applicable on adaptive façade typologies that allow user interactions and decentralization mechanisms like foldable responsive facades. So, adaptive facades with intrinsic controls or material-based actuators should be excluded when using the proposed control framework of this research.
- User behaviour and preferences are replaced with pre-calculated simulations and identified thresholds for each visual comfort metric, that in reality this is not the case and user behaviour might be subjected to many unexpected psychological or physiological aspects that should be sent in real-time manner by user interfaces. -It is true that occupancy profiles are generated stochastically to consider occupant’s presence/absence in the space for each time interval, but as the PRC algorithm is not aware of who will be present or absent in the next 20 minutes. Therefore, the brute-force algorithm of the PRC system searches the generated 64 shading configurations along with their implications on visual comfort performance that assume that all occupants will be present in the next time interval as the worst-case scenario. However, in a real building with real time input from space and occupants using occupancy sensors and smart phones, it is possible to have a robust control input for finer time steps than 20 minutes if computational power allows.
- Maintaining and operating non-conventional AFs require additional costs and energy that are not studied in this research and their final contribution to energy consumption is ignored.
Simulation-based personalized real-time control of adaptive facades in shared office spaces (Automation in Construction) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0926580522001194
Analysis of the impact of automatic shading control scenarios on occupant’s comfort and energy load (Applied Energy) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261921003883?via%3Dihub
Design approaches and typologies of adaptive facades: A review (Automation in Construction) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092658052031030X?via%3Dihub
A review of occupant-centric control strategies for adaptive facades (Automation in Construction) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092658052031044X?via%3Dihub
A review of automatic control strategies based on simulations for adaptive facades (Building and Environment) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360132320301591?via%3Dihub
Innovative control approaches to assess energy implications of adaptive facades based on simulation using EnergyPlus (Solar Energy) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0038092X20305879?via%3Dihub
Integrated parametric design of adaptive facades for user’s visual comfort (Automation in Construction) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0926580518308240?via%3Dihub
For more information, please contact: