Simplified air-flow window system for thermal performance and visual comfort

Recently, façade systems using air-flow have been popular for their thermal comfort and energy conservation. Among them is the simplified air-flow window system. However this system is operated with the shields on the windows closed and results in a poor view from indoors. To solve this, we have combined this system with a highly reflective roll screen, which can be seen through. The objective of this study is to evaluate the thermal performance and visual comfort of the simplified air-flow window system. First, an experiment was conducted to understand the thermal performance of this system. Second, the heat load reduction of this system was calculated. Finally, a questionnaire and a survey were conducted to determine the visual comfort of workers and the influence of the respondents' visual comfort on the use of screens. It was found that the simplified air-flow window system with a highly reflective roll screen attained both high view satisfaction and thermal performance even though the screen was closed.