A Preliminary Study for Determining Photovoltaic Panel for a Smart Photovoltaic Blind Considering Usability and Constructability Issues

Many countries have implemented PV systems in buildings to solve environmental pollution and energy shortage issues. A smart photovoltaic blind (SPB) reduces indoor energy consumption with a shading device and substitutes energy consumption through a PV system. This study aims to determine a PV technique, which can be implemented in the development of the SPB as an initial step. Toward this end, usability issues (i.e., efficiency, shading effect, and harmful effect) and constructability issues (i.e., size and weight) were reviewed. Results demonstrated that the second PV technique (i.e., a-Si and CIGS) can be applied to the SPB.