Shaping an origami shading device through visual and thermal simulations

This paper presents the first results of a research work aimed at the optimisation of a shading system through parameters of visual comfort - Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI), Daylight autonomy (DA) and Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) - and Total Energy (TE) consumption (cooling, heating and lighting per year). The goal is to define a shading system for office buildings that delivers visual comfort for users whilst reducing energy consumption for indoor climate control and artificial lighting. As the design of the shading system considers the use of shape memory alloys (SMA) as micro-actuators to accomplish solar adaptation, Origami pattern has been adopted to guarantee a relatively large displacement of the shading system with a small deformation of the SMA wires actuators. Thanks to this shape change, generating overlapped pleats and angle variation and using different materials, it has been possible to provide alterations of the direct light transmission inside the building while maintaining a certain degree of diffuse light component.