The ventilated facade hybrid solar collection

This is a research project developed by AdermaLocatelli Group in collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano and the Berkeley University of California, to help achieve the impact of buildings "almost zero".

The new concept of "almost zero".
On 17 November 2009 the European Council shall prepare a text that contains an obligation to "very high energy standards" for public buildings from 2018, and for those residential and commercial since 2021.

The text introduces the concept of building consumption "almost zero": new thresholds will be established where numerical quantification of consumption will depend very much on the ability of the industry to create, in the coming years, products and solutions with a performance ratio energy / cost sustainable. Once these thresholds are defined and communicated to the European Commission, individual member states will have to adapt in order to avoid infringement procedures.

It 'obvious that this "revolution", considering the performance increase required relatively small time available, it will be possible only with intensive research and development.

The integration of photovoltaic and solar thermal facade.
In the definition of standards ever higher energy, renewable energy will have an increasing importance. For these reasons - particularly with regard to buildings that have roof areas  too small to generate enough energy from solar panels - will be crucial architectural integration of photovoltaic modules or solar heat directly onto the facades of buildings. Just continue along these lines of development will be possible to meet the performance criteria imposed by new regulations.
In this context, the ventilated facade, compared to other solutions, has many advantages: on the one hand the existence of a supporting metal structure, facilitates the mounting architectural integration of solar panels, second the presence of a cavity between the cladding slabs and wall structure allows easy placement of electrical and plumbing.
The ventilated façade is also a solution that is perfectly suited for new buildings under construction, and  renovation of existing buildings.

The prototype  of ventilated façade hybrid solar collection.
Based on these evaluations, AdermaLocatelli Group has decided since 2006 to focus on research in this specific field, creating in its place in Turate (CO) a prototype of a ventilated façade solar collection: it is a real permanent laboratory in which , thanks to a sophisticated and widespread network of wireless sensors ,are continuously monitored the behavior of thermo-energy materials and used solutions.
In 2008 AdermaLocatelli Group has won a contract research for this project and the Lombardy Region has signed research contracts with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California and the Politecnico of Milan, after finding industrial partners for the realization of various components of the facade.
The objectives of this ambitious research project are:

• the creation of an interoperable digital model of ventilated facade, compared with the results of monitoring of the thermal behavior of the prototype in place.
• by monitoring the behavior of four different types of thermal insulation.
• integration of architectural panels and slabs with a single function-enhancing coating.
• Field verification of potential problems encountered by the placement of electrical and hydraulic cavity of the facade.
• measuring over time the effectiveness of various types of solar panels (especially in relation to the benefit of continued ventilation, stack effect due to air in the interspace of the ventilated facade).
• verification of the influence of solar panels on the operating budget and thermodynamic of ventilated façade in the various stations and climatic conditions.

The technical partners
The research project was carried out with the fundamental contribution of a network of businesses including: GL Locatelli and Sika who developed the chemical mechanical anchoring system, Foamglas, Rockwool Sirap Gema for insulation, and Laminam Mariotti, the covering slabs, and Energyglass Sistemphotonics for photovoltaic panels, Resstende for solar screens.