Huge efforts have been made in recent decades to improve energy saving in the building sector, particularly focused on the role of facades. Among the explored viable solutions, climate-adaptive building shells [CABS] consider promising solutions to control solar radiation, both in terms of illuminance and heating levels, but are still piloting these solutions due to their complex designs and necessary costs. The present study aims to provide a speedy but reliable methodology to evaluate the potential impacts of adopting active/passive CABS systems during the preliminary design stage. The proposed methodology allows the evaluation and comparison, when multiple options are considered, of the effects of each solution in terms of the energy needs, thermal comfort and lighting, while reducing the required effort and time for an extensive analysis of the overall building level. This is based on the use of a “virtual test room” where different conditions and configurations can be explored. A case study in the city of Bologna is included for demonstration purposes. The achieved results support the decisions made regarding energy behavior (over/under heating), indoor comfort, lighting and energy at an early design stage.

A Replicable Methodology to Evaluate Passive Façade Performance with SMA during the Architectural Design Process: A Case Study Application

The adoption of a self-powered system that incorporates energy-collecting technology may make it simpler to power electrical devices and appliances. When it comes to energy storage devices for sensors and actuators, the writers of this chapter are mainly concerned with this topic. The traditional energy harvesting methods will be addressed first, followed by self-powered portable and wearable devices with built-in sensing, which will be explored after that. The usage of self-powered systems in actuation tasks, as well as their development towards intelligent functions via the use of data processing and artificial intelligence, will be addressed in this session. Throughout this chapter, various possibilities will be shown. Nature-inspired hierarchical designs have recently piqued the interest of the materials science community, and these are now recognized as viable materials for the development of high-performance sustainable energy storage devices for sensors and actuators, which can be used in wearable electronic devices such as smart clothing. The highly dynamic interfacial interaction between these two materials has opened up new avenues for the creation of multifunctional sustainable sensing and energy storage materials, among other things. When the synergistic interfacial contacts between nature-inspired assemblies are managed properly, it is possible to achieve outstanding characteristics such as high sensitivity, high energy density, and coulombic efficiency, as well as ultra-long cycling stability and durability, among other things. The most recent achievements in the creation of sophisticated Nature-inspired sensing and energy storage materials are also addressed in this chapter, with a focus on the role of interfacial interactions in enhancing the characteristics of these substances being discussed. 

Sustainable Energy Storage Devices and Device Design for Sensors and Actuators Applications

Adaptive façades represent a viable and effective technological solution to reduce the building energy demand for cooling while achieving interesting aesthetic effects on the building envelope to screen solar radiation. During the last decade, many different design solutions, including those based on shape memory alloys, have been experimented to obtain appropriate responses without being dependent on electro-mechanically actuated systems. Several recent and ongoing studies have been published in the scientific literature regarding the different actuator typologies, as well as the different properties of the materials used, which usually determine the adaptive solution characteristics after a series of complex and time-consuming simulations using specialised dynamic modelling software. Due to the time and resources required, this kind of evaluation is usually delivered during the last and more advanced design stage as a form of assessment of already-taken architectural and technological choices. The study reported in the paper aims to offer a quick, time-saving simplified algorithm to calculate the response of an adaptive façade, according to the ISO 13790 standards, to be adopted during the early design stage to evaluate the possible effects of design decisions. The study includes three main steps: (a) the conceptualisation of the adaptive solution considering the context conditions; (b) the definition of the calculation algorithm; (c) the application of the method to a test room in a case study building located in Bologna for supporting the discussion of the related outcomes.

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Exploring the Effects of Climate-Adaptive Building Shells: An Applicative Time-Saving Algorithm on a Case Study in Bologna, Italy

Magnetic actuation of bistable flaps for kinetic building shades

Currently, most descriptions of low-energy buildings assume that the envelope acts as a barrier against energy loss. However, this approach does not focus on the potential exploitation of ...

Jacopo Cattaruzzi

Papers

Taxonomical Investigation of Self-Sufficient Kinetic Building Envelopes