Development of a First Prototype of a Liquid-shaded Dynamic Glazed Facade for Buildings

This paper will report on the development of a prototype of actively controlled facade module, which is capable of adapting its solar transmittance to changeable solar gains. Hence this new facade offers additional features with respect to the most popular currently used glass facades, which have fixed solar transmittance indeed. The novel technology is made possible by the creation of an additional 1.5-mm-thick sliding shielding liquid, which flows internally, in order to dynamically adapt the window's solar transmittance. As compared with competitive technologies, this shielding system has low manufacturing costs, is durable, is completely reversible and always transparent, irrespective of its transmittance state. Specifically, the manufacture of a full size window prototype and the engineering of the window was carried out; moreover, glass pane bending when subject to hydrostatic pressure was eventually assessed. All this information has been used to set up the industrial process needed for its manufacturing.