Bio-HNV: Bio-based Humidity-responsive Night Ventilation for climate resilience [A new generation of responsive building skin for passive cooling]

Publisher:
PLEA
Publication Type:
Conference Proceeding
Citation:
Proceedings of 37th PLEA Conference, Sustainable Architecture and Urban Design, 2024, pp. 1273-1278
Issue Date:
2024-06-28
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Bio-HNVBio-basedHumidity-responsiveNightVentilation.pdfPublished version2.15 MB
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Moisture-responsive bio-based materials, such as wood veneers, are abundant and have great potential to perform as breathable building systems due to their reversible shape change through continuous deflection under different wetting and drying conditions, enabling the building envelope to passively respond to the environment while avoiding the need for mechanical ventilation resulting in operational energy reduction. Wood has been used in buildings globally for centuries; however, it has not been used in its thin monolayer form, acting as a humidity-responsive structure within a passive night ventilation system. This study evaluates the moisture responsiveness and functionality of wood veneer structures as responsive systems with potential use in external building facades of South Asian megacities. Weather data from New Delhi, India, were collected and analysed to give the operational requirements for the material systems. The woven veneer structures were exposed between low (20%) and moderately high (70%) relative humidity in a climate chamber at a constant temperature 25℃. The results showed that larch woven veneers present significant, rapid, and reversible changes in deflection (6mm opening after 1 hour at 50% humidity). The outputs of this study will inform the development and integration of wood veneer systems within breathable wall constructions for night ventilation.
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