News from the Zero Carbon Building Systems Lab

Written By Alessandra Gabaglio

Over the past few months, our team has been busy with a comprehensive calibration campaign to understand and validate the potential of our solar simulator, in terms of irradiance, beam collimation, and spectral characteristics. Using the insights gained during the calibration phase, the team started the first experimental campaign using the solar simulator and the climatic chamber.

The facade system studied is a novel polymer 3D printed facade, designed and prototyped within the framework of the NCCR Digital Fabrication 's "Integrated 3D Printed Facade" project. The solar simulator allows the replication of irradiation conditions for almost any desired time and location on earth, making it possible to study how facade systems transmit and distribute daylight in a space. Additionally, thanks to the climate chamber, we are also able to assess the thermal performance of the component as well as user indoor comfort.

These experimental results will be compared with simulations to validate our calibration findings and will inform the design of next-generation 3D-printed facade prototypes.

Project team: Rino Sogno, Dominique Maritz, Erik Jan De Best, Dr. Valeria Piccioni, Dr. Lars O. Grobe, Dr. Illias Hischier, Prof. Dr. Arno Schlueter.

Alessandra Gabaglio
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