Evaluation of energy-efficient performance for public buildings characterized by window systems integrated with the sun-tracking PV module arrays

The glazing system in building bears a great potential of solar energy, contributing to both the indoor daylight harvest and the PV power generation, especially for the high-rise buildings. To this end, a PV module array with the dual-axis sun-tracking system was proposed and integrated into the building window. The sun-tracking PV module system, characterized by being perpendicular to the solar beam during the daytime, could maximize the power generation. Simultaneously, it could provide a non-glare shading throughout the year, and avoid overheating for the building interior in summer. Depending on the artificial intelligence technology, the dimensions of components in a real building could be obtained, by recognizing and segmenting the roof and façade images. Via importing the dimension data into our proposed building geometry generation algorithm model, the real buildings were able to automatically convert into the three-dimensional models. Then, the energy efficiency for the public building integrated with the sun-tracking PV module system was evaluated, based on the automatic generated building geometry. The research results were applied into three main buildings situated in East Campus of Yangtze University. A total energy consumption difference of 368141 kW h between the base cases and the novel buildings was achieved, leading to an energy saving rate of 21%. By changing the climate data in the building energy consumption simulation stage, the proposed evaluation method has a universal applicability elsewhere.