Building performance of thermotropic glazing in mixed-ventilation residential buildings considering adaptive thermal comfort

Thermotropic (TT) glazing has been demonstrated having good energy saving potential in hot climate for air-conditioned office buildings. Whether TT glazing could still perform well in building performance for mixed-ventilated residential buildings when considering the adaptive thermal comfort model remains unclear. In this study, a building performance simulation model was developed and validated with experimental data. The model was used to evaluate the building performance of TT glazing in mixed-ventilated buildings considering adaptive thermal comfort model, consisted of available hours of natural ventilation, energy used, thermal comfort during air-conditioned period, and daylighting performance, with a comparison with conventional double-clear glazing. The building performance of TT glazing in south-facing living rooms of residential buildings was calculated, considering typical cities in Chinese five climate zones. The results indicated that: (1) Glass type and the different transition temperatures of TT glazing has minimal impact on the annual available hours of natural ventilation. (2) TT glazing with lower transition temperatures led to greater energy savings in Xiamen and Kunming. (3) The difference in glazing type and transition temperatures of TT glazing has little impact on thermal comfort during the air-conditioning period across the five climate zones. In Kunming and Xiamen, the use of TT glazing could lead to better thermal comfort, with the time proportion of level I for TT-20 being 1.43% and 1.08% higher than that of traditional double glazing, respectively. (4) The sUDI_{300–3000 lx, 50%} for TT glazing are 13.53% and 23.50% higher than those of conventional double-clear glazing, respectively.