FLUIDGLASS

FLUIDGLASS project develops a multifunctional solar-thermal glass façade system. The FLUIDGLASS approach turns passive glass façades into active solar collectors with adjustable transparency, while at the same time controlling the energy flow through the building envelope.

www.fluidglass.eu

Project Overview
FLUIDGLASS unites four key functionalities in one integrated system: The system firstly acts as a fully transparent solar thermal collector, which enables harvesting of solar energy even in buildings with large glass share. It secondly acts as transparent insulation layer and thirdly controls the solar radiation transmission and inner glass surface temperature thus increasing the thermal user comfort and reducing the demand for heating, cooling and lighting. At the same time FLUIDGLASS substitutes conventional HVAC components such as cooling and heating panels.

Replacing four different systems by one, FLUIDGLASS brings a significant cost advantage compared to existing solutions. FLUIDGLASS increases the thermal performance of the whole building resulting in energy savings potential of 50%-70% for retrofitting and 20%-30% for new low energy buildings while the comfort for the user is significantly improved at the same time. Compared to state-of-the-art solar collectors FLUIDGLASS has the elegant but neutral aesthetics of clear glass. This allows full design freedom for the architect in new built applications and enables retrofits that do not destroy the original look of an existing building.

The FLUIDGLASS system will be validated in different climate conditions. The consortium brings together partners experienced in glass architecture, building simulation and energy management but also in experimental testing, HVAC systems, manufacturing of glazing units and construction of façades. It is very well balanced between RTD and industrial sectors covering the whole innovation value chain of the future building skin and gives an important role to participating SMEs.

CyRIC has a key role as the leader of WP4 “System Integration” and key participation of WP6 “Validation in real conditions”.
Particularly, CyRIC is responsible for designing and developing an intelligent real-time control strategy for a commercial controller. The controller will host the logic of the FLUIDGLASS System and manage/monitor its operations and the integration with other building systems like HVAC, BEMS, Lighting, and Control Systems and the district network. The controller will incorporate a control and optimization module driven by rule based processing necessary for real-time thermal energy decisions such as local use or feed in. Moreover, CyRIC will host the test container in Cyprus for the last 4 months of the project.