Comparison of different louver configurations for daylight and energy optimization in Bandar Abbas and Tabriz

Selecting a proper daylighting system can help minimize artificial lighting, control energy consumption and, consequently downsize air-conditioning systems. This issue becomes more critical when building facades are mainly glazed. In fully glazed facade, daylighting systems perform sufficiently enough in terms of solar protection, daylighting harvesting, and interior heat gain. Simultaneously, they can block the daylight entity, cause the need for artificial light and prevent the winter solar radiation. Increasing the number of influential factors in louver design will complicate their design processes. Louvers are made up of numerous horizontal, vertical, or sloping slats. Louvre properties with complex features and several parameters, such as tilt angle and solar angle of incidence rotation angle, shape, size, configuration, and color of slats, all impact glare and visibility and build energy efficiency Not only several parameters of the louver device but also the variety of analyzing factors such as energy performance and visual comfort affect the design process. Overlooking each setting has a significant effect on optimization results. Due to this complexity, most research in this domain narrowed to a limited range of variables. Besides, since the focus of most research in this field has been on multi optimization, the final step of them has been the attainment of optimizing results. Optimization is the procedure of finding the minimum or maximum value of a function by choosing a number of variables subject to a number of constraints. The optimization function is called cost or fitness or objective function and is usually calculated using simulation tools Yet, the further level, which is proposing proper design alternatives for each climate, has been neglected. This research not only proposed a workflow to optimize building louvers by considering the most promising influential factors but also proposed design alternatives in understudied climate zones. These alternatives will be proposed by categorizing the results from Pareto Front GA optimization. We will come up with specific louver features which compatible with a specific climate. These design alternatives are assessed by energy performance, visual and thermal comfort in the mentioned climates. The research will be carried on by a mixed-method research approach. We will evaluate energy, visual, and thermal comfort based on the quantitative methods, and then try to categorize obtained cases by climate based on the quantitative method. To do that, Firstly, we define variable parameters of louver forms and their position on building façades. Secondly, we set three different climate zones based on the Koppen classification. We will analyze the energy performance, thermal and visual comfort of incorporating louvers in these climates. Thirdly, since several possible solutions will be gained, we employ a Pareto chart to reach optimized outcomes. Furthermore, Finally, based on the achieved design alternative, we will use qualitative research on categorizing results in each climate zone. The results show the significant change between louver parameters in Bandar Abbas and Tabriz in depth and angles. Since louver materials don’t affect energy consumption for heating and cooling, the optimization algorithm has been benefitted from material with high reflectance.