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SUN SHADING
Natural daylight is a vital element in creating a
more efficient and eminently more rewarding
interior environment. Daylight is important for
its quality, spectral composition, and the
variability that it provides to any space.
Windows receive a
large amount of
energy from the sun
and usually most of
the sunlight gets
concentrated in
certain areas of the
Such a large amount of direct sunlight can be a
space.
source of great discomfort when concentrated
on a spot, but is extremely useful if distributed
to all parts of the room equally.
When ambient
temperature are within or
above the comfort zone,
any ingress of solar
radiation will contribute
to discomfort
9.9252 N
At 9amon April 1...
the azimuth is 62o
the altitude is 30o
STEREOGRAPHIC SUN
PATH DIAGRAM
SUN CONTROL AND SHADING DEVICES
Vertical
Louvers can
also be
designed to
vary angle
according to
the sun's
position.
EGG-CRATE
The egg-crate solar shading device is a combination of
vertical and horizontal shading elements. They are
more commonly used in hot climate regions because of
their high shading efficiencies. The horizontal elements
control ground glare from reflected solar rays.
RULES OF THE THUMB
Shading devices should be selected according to the
orientation of the window. Whilst some orientations are
easy to shade, others are much more difficult as the sun
can shine almost straight in at times. The table below
indicates the most appropriate type of shading device to
use for each orientation in the southern hemisphere.
ANGLE OF INCIDENCE
Shadow Angles
When attempting to shade a
window, the absolute azimuth and
altitude of the Sun are not as
important as the horizontal and
vertical shadow angles relative to
the window plane. These can be
calculated for any time if the
azimuth and altitude of the Sun
are known.
Thesolar azimuth angleis the
azimuthangle of thesun.[1][2][3]It
defines in whichdirectionthe sun is,
whereas thesolar zenith angleor its
complementaryanglesolar elevation
defines how high the sun is.
ORIENTATION
Structural controls like external shading devices are essential
environmental controls that either obviate or greatly reduce the
need for mechanical heating and cooling to maintain thermal
comfort inside buildings, by controlling heat gain through
openings. Along with glazing type and size of the fenestration,
shading devices are equally important in limiting heat gain from
outside through radiation. External and internal shading devices
can thus be used as an essential solution for achieving energy
efficiency.
Efficacy of internal shading devices is limited as they absorb the
heat once it has been transmitted inside the space and heat up
themselves. This can lead to higher mean radiant temperatures
inside the building.
Orientation of an opening and by extension, solar radiation
incident on it, is the single most important factor in the design
of its external shading devices. Impact of seasonal variation in
the sun path (and incident solar radiation) is linked to the
orientation. Sun path is at a low angle and, slightly to the south
of east and west during the winter season in northern
hemisphere. In summer, sun path is at a high angle and, to the
north of east and west. So shading for south openings in the
south must allow penetration of the low angle sun for heat gain
during winter but must block the same during summer. For
opening in north, shading is needed only to prevent penetration