HELIOS-EX: Blind control simulator and method with a consideration of adjacent buildings

Blinds are a common type of shading device and are increasingly operated automatically to overcome the limitations of manual operation. Automated blinds need to be controlled to maximize benefits of incoming daylight (sunlight and skylight) and solar irradiance for enhancing occupant comfort and reducing energy consumption. However, most previous control methods focused on minimizing the negative impacts of daylight, and so failed to maximize the positive impacts of daylight and solar heat gain. Furthermore, all of previous blind control methods never consider the impact of adjacent buildings. The rates of sunlight, skylight and solar irradiance to indoor are fluctuated by the disturbance of solar access, which can cause visual discomfort of occupants such as glare and have an effect on energy consumption due to variations of heating or cooling load. The objective of this paper is to propose the automated blind control strategy considering adjacent buildings’ geometry in order to minimize the occupants’ discomfort from glare and to maximize daylight inlet and solar heat gain, which can contribute to reducing energy consumption in a building. The proposed strategy was evaluated and verified through the computer simulations and analysis of results.