Buildings with large glazed surfaces: optimization of solar control strategies in relation to the building's thermal inertia

Many temperate climates, like most of the Italians, are characterized by considerable daily temperature ranges. In these cases, the thermal inertia of the building structure has a significant influence on the management of solar and internal heat gains, then on energy demand for HVAC, especially during the cooling period. Winter and summer requirements regarding the thermal inertia may conflict with each other, particularly when the use of the building is discontinuous, as in the case of offices. A lower thermal inertia may allow a more rapid heating in the morning and lower nocturnal losses during the winter days, whereas a higher inertia may allow a better exploitation of night free cooling in the cooling period. In this study, a typical office room has been studied by means of computer simulations. The only external wall of the room faces south and is entirely glazed; therefore it requires some device for solar control to avoid glare phenomena and excessive solar gains, resulting in overeating and high cooling loads. Relatively to this room, the combined effects of some different solar control strategies and three different constructive technologies have been explored. They were used weather data of Gorizia, in the North East of Italy