DISSERTATION

DAYLIGHTING IN CLASSROOMS
BACKGROUND STUDY

• Day lighting is the controlled admission of natural light, direct sunlight, and diffused-skylight into a building to
reduce electric lighting and saving energy.
• Daylight can be defined as the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight during the daytime, which is
incorporated as an architectural treatment for energy savings.
• The components of a day lighting system are designed to bring natural light into a building in such a way that
electric lights can be dimmed or turned off for a portion of the day, while preventing occupant discomfort or other
building loads from increasing.
• In educational buildings, daylight may play an important role in student statues in respect to their mode, health and
level of productivity.
• Achieving good concept for natural lighting and aware of different tasks in the classroom that are affected by
natural light is critical because every task requires specific lighting conditions.
AIM
The primary goal of the study was to get an idea about how the typical classroom spaces perform in terms of
daylight.Collect information about the natural lighting conditions in the classroom is the first step to test the impact
on student comfortability.The study involves the analysis of a classroom and provide solutions to improve its daylight
provisions.

OBJECTIVES
- To understand how the existing classroom performs in terms of daylight.
- To understand the role of daylight design in terms of the performance of the building.

Providing the appropriate level of illumination, with uniform distribution of light withungeared effect are essential for
comfortable classroom indoor environment. Lighting of classroom should be in the level that is sufficient for student
activities such as writingand reading on the study tables and blackboards or boards on the wall. Glare control is a key
consideration in the classroom, particularly in the direct sunlight penetration to classrooms.

Principles of Effective Natural Lighting

1. Orientation of the Building
2. Form of the Building
3. Glazing Ratio and specifications
4. Window Height and location
5. Overhead day lighting
6. Daylight Redirection
METHADOLOGY
The methodology used for the study is described below:
-Identify the parameters for the analysis of daylighting
- 3 classrooms are documented, analyzed and tested through simulations. Documentation can be done by,

-Simulation: This portion of the study demands

the use of simulation tools like Ecotect with
help of additional built-in connections like
radiance and daysim, which help further to
visualize results. Ecotect is majorly used for
creating the prototype of classroom space, to
assign characteristic like material, color, external
obstruction, climatic data, etc and further test
them.
Radiance and Daysim are used for simulation for
specific analysis and time period. The
performance of space will be evaluated based
on annual data.
LIMITATIONS

The foremost limitation of the study is that it analyses computer-generated models through the
process of virtual simulation techniques.
Parametric analysis studies can only be done with the help of computer simulation.
Understanding the performance of a building over a year needs annual data that can be easily generated by simulation
using the weather file of a place.
The space selected for this research is specific to government schools which are taken into consideration comes under
Piravom Muncipality.
TERMINOLOGY RELATED TO DAYLIGHTING

Orientation of Buildings
In the case of nonsquare buildings, orientation refers to the direction of the normal to the long axis.
For example, if the length of the building is east-west, its orientation is north- south.

Glare
Effect of brightness/ brightness differences within the visual field which carries discomfort.
A condition of vision in which there is discomfort or a reduction in the ability to see significant objects or both due
to an unsuitable distribution or range of luminance or due to extreme contrasts in space and time.

Illuminance
The unit of illuminance (the measurement of illumination) is lux which is 1 lumen per m2
Illumination: Represented by E.
Luminous flux reaching it perpendicularly per unit area.
Total output of light Unit : Lumen/m2 or lux
Lux is the intensity of illumination produced in the inner surface of a hollow sphere of radius
one metre by a standard candle at the centre.
Lightmeter –Measure illuminance
At a point on a surface, the ratio of the luminous flux incident on an infinitesimal element of the surface containing
the point under consideration to the area of the element.
Luminance
Luminance measure the brightness of surface .
Lumens emitted by a luminous surface of 1 sqm.
(At a point of a Surface in a Given Direction) (Brightness) The quotient of the luminous
intensity in the given direction of an infinitesimal element of the surface containing the
point under consideration by the orthogonally projected area of the element on a plane
perpendicular to the given direction.
The unit is candela per square metre (cd/m2).

Luminous Flux (φ)

The amount of light energy emitted by a source in a given time. The flux of light emitted from a luminous body is the
energy radiated per second in the form of light waves.
Depends upon the luminous intensity.Represented by F.

Luminous intensity: Represented by I ,Unit : Candela cd ,Luminous intensity of a light source in a given direction is the
luminous flux given out by the light source per unit solid angle.
Solid angle: Angle subtended by an area r2 on the surface of sphere.Unit of solid angle= steradian
The quantity characteristic of radiant flux which expresses its capacity to produce visual sensation evaluated according to
the values of relative luminous efficiency for the light adapted eye:
a) Effective Luminous Flux (φn) Total luminous flux which reaches the working plane.
b) Nominal Luminous Flux (φo) Total luminous flux of the light sources in the interior.
SOURCES OF DAYLIGHTING

The primary source of lighting for daylighting

is the sun.
The light received by the earth from the sun
consists of two parts, namely, direct solar
illuminance and sky illuminance.

For the purposes of daylighting design, direct

solar illuminance shall not be considered and
only sky illuminance shall be taken as
contributing to illumination of the building
interiors during the day.
Sky Component (SC)

The ratio (or percentage) of that part of the daylight illuminance at a point on a given plane which is received
directly from the sky as compared to the simultaneous exterior illuminance on a horizontal plane from the entire
hemisphere of an unobstructed clear design sky.

External Reflected Component (ERC)

Sunlight reflected from an exterior surface (building/walls) and then reaching the point considered, known as the
externally reflected component (ERC).
The ratio (or percentage) of that part of the daylight illuminance at a point on a given plane which is received by
direct reflection from external surfaces as compared to the simultaneous exterior illuminance on a horizontal plane
from the entire hemisphere of an unobstructed clear design sky.

Internal Reflected Component (IRC)

The daylight reaching the reference point after reflections and inter-reflections from the surfaces inside a room is
known as internally reflected component.
The ratio (or percentage) of that part of the daylight illuminance at a point in a given plane which is received by
direct reflection or inter-reflection from the internal surfaces as compared to the simultaneous exterior illuminance
on a horizontal plane due to the entire hemisphere of an unobstructed clear design sky.
Daylight Factor
Measure of natural daylight in a space.Amount of light in ratio at a given in a space inside.
The measure of total daylight illuminance at a point on a given plane expressed as the ratio (or percentage)
which the illuminance at the point on the given plane bears to the simultaneous illuminance on a horizontal
plane due to clear design sky at an exterior point open to the whole sky vault, direct sunlight being excluded.
The sum of the three components gives the daylight factor:

DF = SC + ERC + IRC

SC – Sky Component
ERC – Externally Reflected Component
IRC – Internally Reflected Component
• SKY CONDITIONS
• Clear sky : Sky that is less than 30% cloud cover.
• Overcast sky: Sky completely covered by clouds, no sun visible
• Cloudy sky: Sky having more than 70% cloud cover.