Experimental Validation of Water Flow Glazing: Transient Response in Real Test Rooms

Belen Moreno Santamaria, Fernando del Ama Gonzalo, Benito Lauret Aguirregabiria and Juan A. Hernandez Ramos
Additional contact information
Belen Moreno Santamaria: Department of Construction and Architectural Technology, Technical School of Architecture of Madrid, Technical University of Madrid (UPM), Av. Juan de Herrera, 4, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Fernando del Ama Gonzalo: Department of Sustainable Product Design and Architecture, Keene State College, 229 Main St, Keene, NH 03435, USA
Benito Lauret Aguirregabiria: Department of Construction and Architectural Technology, Technical School of Architecture of Madrid, Technical University of Madrid (UPM), Av. Juan de Herrera, 4, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Juan A. Hernandez Ramos: Department of Applied Mathematics, School of Aeronautical and Space Engineering, Technical University of Madrid (UPM), Plaza Cardenal Cisneros 3, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 14, 1-24

Abstract: The extensive use of glass in modern architecture has increased the heating and cooling loads in buildings. Recent studies have presented water flow glazing (WFG) envelopes as an alternative building energy management system to reduce energy consumption and improve thermal comfort in buildings. Currently, commercial software for thermal simulation does not include WFG as a façade material. This article aims to validate a new building simulation tool developed by the authors. Simulation results were compared with real data from a scale prototype composed of two twin cabins with different glazing envelopes: a Reference double glazing with solar-control coating and a triple water flow glazing. The results showed a good agreement between the simulation and the real data from the prototype. The mean percentage error of the indoor temperature cabin was lower than 5.5% and 3.2% in the WFG cabin and in the Reference glazing one, respectively. The indoor air temperature of the WFG cabin was 5 °C lower than the Reference one in a free-floating temperature regime when the outdoor air temperature was 35 °C and the maximum value of solar radiation was above 700 W/m 2 . WFG has energy-saving potential and is worthy of further research into the standardization of its manufacturing process and its ability to increase building occupants’ comfort.

Keywords: building energy simulation; water flow glazing; experimental validation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/14/5734/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/14/5734/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:14:p:5734-:d:385440

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().