Energy Consumption Verification of SPD Smart Window, Controllable According to Solar Radiation in South Korea

Abstract

Between 60% and 70% of the total energy load of a house or office occurs through the exteriors of the building, and in the case of offices, heat loss from windows and doors can approach 40%. A need for glass that can artificially control the transmittance of visible light has therefore emerged. Smart windows with suspended particle device (SPD) film can reduce energy consumption by responding to environmental conditions. To measure the effect of SPD windows on the energy requirements for cooling and heating in Korea, we installed a testbed with SPD windows. With TRNSYS18, the comparison between measurements and simulation has been made in order to validate the simulation model with respect to the modeling of an SPD window. Furthermore, the energy requirements of conventional and SPD-applied windows were compared and analyzed for a standard building that represented an actual office building. When weather for the city of Anseong and a two-speed heat pump were used to verify the simulation, the simulated electricity consumption error compared with the testbed was −1.0% for cooling and −0.9% for heating. The annual electricity consumption error was −0.9%. When TMY2 Seoul weather data were applied to the reference building, the decrease in electricity consumption for cooling in the SPD model compared with the non-SPD model was 29.1% and the increase for heating was 15.8%. Annual electricity consumption decreased by 4.1%.

Keywords

• smart window
• suspended particle device (SPD)
• testbed
• energy requirement
• electricity consumption
• solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC)