TERI, DST develop external shading solutions for windows in residential and commercial buildings

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology has developed a novel external shading solution for windows for achieving indoor comfort with reduced electricity consumption in air conditioning and lighting, a statement said on Wednesday.

This technology, named ShadeSmart, will help bring more daylight with less heat inside the buildings, thus making occupants comfortable and also more productive and healthy, the statement noted. External shading devices are not common in modern buildings, which are mostly glazed or buildings with curtain walls.

They are usually permanent structures, posing challenges such as maintenance, obstruction of views, architecturally not meeting the aspirations of the client, and so on.

"In contrast, the technology changes its configuration depending upon the Sun's position. For example, when the Sun is in the east direction, the east facade windows will be shaded, once the Sun is in South orientation during noon, ShadeSmart configuration on east changes to provide unobstructed external views and glare-free daylight," the statement added.

The criterion of design for residential and commercial buildings differs substantially due to differences in activity and occupancy patterns, each design derived through a unique methodology ensuring highest benchmarks of comfort and energy efficiency.

The performance of each of these designs have been tested through software simulation as well as real-time field measurements at testbeds, it added. ShadeSmart is being commercialised, and efforts are being made to make it more affordable than air conditioning in small thermal zones next to external windows, especially in the residential sector, it added.

The second technology, radiant cooling, where cooling is achieved through radiant heat transfer, as against regular convective air conditioning is efficient and gives better quality of thermal comfort.

At present, energy and comfort audits of existing radiant cooled buildings, energy simulations, and finally, construction of a demonstration habitat is being undertaken, the statement added. Besides, the process to integrate radiant cooling in the National Building Code is being undertaken. Radiant cooled buildings have an extremely high potential of energy-saving (60-70 per cent).

"Due to the COVID 2019 pandemic, conventional air cooling, which involves re-circulation on return air, is being perceived as harmful to the health of occupants. In this scenario, Radiant Cooling, which employs 100 per cent fresh air supply, is expected to gain popularity and higher acceptance rates in the air-conditioning industry," the statement said.

Hence, establishing adaptive comfort bands and operating protocols of radiant cooled buildings can help the buildings sector adopt this low energy cooling technology. Work on the Patentability Report has been initiated, and a patent is being filed for ShadeSmart, it added.