Adaptive Polymer Based BIPV Skin

Abstract

This study focuses on developing three-dimensional solar panels, as an alternative to traditional flat Photovoltaic (PV) surfaces in Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV). We propose to increase the energy efficiency of buildings by using the entire envelope for energy production as well as by increasing the efficiency of solar energy output in orientations which were traditionally considered as non-ideal. The panels are constructed from Polycarbonate with integrated flexible photovoltaic film, solar paint or dye. The methodology included digital algorithm-based tools for achieving optimized variable three-dimensional surfaces according to local orientation and location, computational climatic simulations and comparative field tests. In addition, the structural, mechanical and thermal properties of the integration between flexible PV sheets and hard plastic curved panels were studied. Interim results demonstrate a potential improvement of 50-80% in energy production per building unit resulting from geometric variations per-se. The dependence of energy production by surface geometry was revealed and an optimized method for solar material distribution on the surface was proposed. A parametric digital tool for automatic generation of optimized three-dimensional panels was developed together with a database and material models of the optimized panels system.