Solar and heat protection techniques. Evaluation and design recommendations for different types of fabric canopies.

GANEM, CAROLINA; COCH, HELENA

Rodas, Grecia

Conferencia; 3rd Passive and Low Energy Cooling for the Built Environment (PALENC) y 5th European Conference on Energy Performance & Indoor Climate in Buildings (EPIC).; 2009

Heliotopos Conferences

Tissues and fabrics have always being used as solar protection. Interior and exterior curtains, urban and building canopies are common resources in Mediterranean architecture to create comfort in hot summers. Solar and heat control (for cooling) through external opaque protections present two main functions: a) On transparent elements of the envelope: the regulation of impinging radiation almost direct transmission to the interior space. Operable external shading devices can reduce solar heat gain through windows and other glazed areas down to about 10 to 15% of the radiation impinging on the wall. (Givoni, 1994). If the space between the exterior protection and the glass is perfectly ventilated, the shadow coefficient and thermal transmittance respect to a single glass can be around 0.16 (Paricio, 1997). b) On opaque elements of the envelope: the control of the impinging radiation on massive materials that would absorb and storage heat to release it to the interior space with a time delay (thermal inertia). In this paper, results of temperature monitoring of two different density fabric canopies belonging to single family houses in the city of Mendoza are presented. Mendoza, located in central western Argentina (32º40’ southern latitude, 68º51’ western longitude, 750 m above sea level), has a temperated continental climate with hot summers and cold winters. Therefore, the use of solar and heat protection techniques in the hot season are crucial. Air and surface temperature monitoring were performed at the same time in both cases with data loggers every 15 minutes for a representative period of  15 days. A control sensor was placed outside the influence of the canopy in both cases. Results show cooling pros and cons for each type of studied fabric canopy that lead to design recommendations to achieve optimal responses with each one.