A sensitivity analysis of design parameters of BIPV/T-DSF in relation to building energy and thermal comfort performances

ABSTRACT In recent years, Building-Integrated Photovoltaic/Thermal Double-Skin Facade (BIPV/T-DSF) shows great potentials on improving indoor thermal comfort and energy efficiency for buildings. Previous studies assessed both indoor thermal comfort and energy efficiency of a BIPV/T-DSF building through the use of the photovoltaic devices and ventilation types of the BIPV/T-DSF, however, which did not evaluate the effect of other dominant design parameters on the BIPV/T-DSF’s performance. This paper presents a simulation study of sensitivity analysis on the correlations between indoor thermal comfort and energy consumption and various design parameters of the BIPV/T-DSF operating in different configurations and climatic conditions. The results showed that solar heat gain coefficient of the BIPV/T-DSF’s external window possessed the highest importance affecting indoor thermal comfort and energy consumption, while thermal transmittance of both the internal and external windows and cavity depth of the BIPV/T-DSF showed also the notable importance to the building performances.