Luminous performance of inclined reflectors in Vitória - ES

Abstract

Buildings located in hot climates can receive large amounts of direct solar radiation, which damages the light
and thermal comfort of indoor users. Glazed side openings reconciled with solar control devices collaborate in
shading, as well as in redirecting and increasing the reflection of light to the internal environment, thus
enhancing the luminous performance of this environment. Thus, this article proposes to investigate the
luminous performance of inclined reflectors in Vitória - ES. The methodology covers the use of Solar
Geometry as well as computational simulation in an indoor environment. Ten models were tested with Inclined
Reflectors at 15°, 30° and 45° and reflectances of 0.2; 0.5; 0.9 plus a model without Inclined Reflector. The
simulations used the TropLux software, which generated illuminance data at 20 points of an orthogonal mesh
located in the environment. The simulated times were from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm for all days of the year with
opening facing North and South. To the south, the best UDI's (Useful Daylight Illuminances) results come
from Inclined Reflectors associated with the lowest reflection coefficients, regardless of the simulated
inclination. To the North, the variation of inclination provides differences in the ALN that reach 20% between
the models with reflectors, in which the model with the lowest slope associated with the highest reflectance
presented the best result. Still to the North, in relation to the UDI, the model with the lowest inclination and
highest reflectance also performed better, while the models inclined at 30° or 45° should be associated with
greater reflectance for better performance in the indoor environment.