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Md Anam Raihan – Automated Parametric Simulation

November 2022

Md Anam Raihan received his Master of Science – Dual Degree in IT in Building Science (ITBS). His research work was supervised by Prof. Vishal Garg. Here’s a summary of his research work on Automated Parametric Simulation Tool for Energy Performance Analysis of Smart Glazing: 

Due to rapid urbanization and rising population, there has been a significant increase in the global demand for electricity in the building sector. Windows significantly influence building energy performance; while it helps provide daylight for the occupants, it may aggravate the building’s heating or cooling load and results in higher energy consumption if not appropriately designed. Proper window design may help to reduce the power consumption in the building. The relation between the building energy consumption and the window-to-wall ratio (WWR) is complex since increasing the window size or WWR, may initially result in electricity savings due to increased daylight utilization. Still, the increase in solar radiation inside the space might increase the cooling load after a certain WWR, reducing the benefits. So, there will be a point of inflection where the user can get the maximum energy benefit/saving. This point will vary based on the type of glazing, solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC), visible light transmittance (VLT), thermal transmittance (U-value), WWR, location, and the orientation of the window. Modern buildings have different types of glazing, such as clear glass, Low-E, semi-transparent photovoltaic (STPV), electrochromic (EC) glazing, and glazing with dynamic blind to provide comfort to the occupants and achieve building energy efficiency. Thus, there is a need to determine what type of window and WWR would give the optimal performance for a given orientation for different window systems. This work proposes a simulation-based approach that does parametric simulation analyses for different window systems with several WWR and orientations to compute and compare the annual energy performance in EnergyPlus. An index, net electricity consumption (NEC), is used based on the electricity consumption by air conditioning, artificial lighting, equipment, and electricity generation in the case of STPV glazing to evaluate the annual energy performance and perform a comparative analysis with different glazing. Performing parametric simulation and calculating NEC of different combinations require expertise in modeling and building energy simulation using software such as EnergyPlus. A web-based parametric tool can assist the user in carrying out the desired studies without requiring extensive technical knowledge. Based on this approach, an automated parametric simulation tool is developed, and a case study is conducted in two distinct climatic zones of India. This study examines the benefits of single and double pane semitransparent photovoltaics (STPV) glazing over other regular glazing systems with similar opto-thermal parameters as STPVs. Further, the impact of dynamic internal blind on the STPV window and electrochromic glazing on the annual energy consumption is analyzed. The study adopts an Energy Management System (EMS) approach to model EC window systems. The simulation results consist of case studies of Hyderabad and Kolkata, which lie in two different climatic zones of India. It shows benefits in adopting the STPV window system across all directions and higher optimal WWR in the STPV window compared to the traditional window with the same opto-thermal characteristics. The study shows that the optimal NEC in the case of STPV windows is 10-12% less than simple glazing’s optimal NEC. Additionally, the result suggested that glare-controlled interior blinds in the STPV window further reduce the NEC by up to 15% compared to conventional glazing. Similarly, installing the EC glazing reduces the NEC consumption by up to 5% compared to standard glazing.