Daylighting simulation for the configuration of external sun-breakers on south oriented windows of hospital patient rooms under a clear desert sky

The outcomes of this study identified the range of sun-breaker cut off angles and their corresponding tilt angles which produced adequate daylighting performance for the two patient room types at different window to wall ratios. In general, the number of accepted sun-breaker cases increased with higher window to wall ratios for both patient room designs. It was noted that a wider range of accepted tilt angles was identified for the patient rooms having inboard bathrooms. Both the inboard and outboard bathroom designs had the same range of accepted cut off angles. It was observed that efficient daylighting performance was achieved in all tested WWRs for the two patient room layouts with cut off angles between 50° and 54° with the wall. Moreover, horizontal sun-breakers achieved successful results in all tested WWRs for the two patient room layouts. It was also noted that the cut off angles were more influential in providing adequate daylighting performance in comparison with tilt angles.