Simulation of transparently insulated buildings

Computer models of transparently insulated walls are required in order to determine the effects these components have on building energy requirements. A simplified model of the optical portion of a transparently insulated wall has been developed. It is both fast and reasonably accurate. Using this simplified model the multizone component ("TYPE 56") of the simulation program TRNSYS (Klein et al., TRNSYS - a transient system simulation program, 1988, see reference (5)) has been extended in order to account for transparent or translucent massive or massless layers in the envelope of the building. This extension is based on the version 12.2 (1988) of TRNSYS. It is no problem, however, to link it with the current version 13.1. Any reasonable combination of transparent and opaque layers, including controllable shading devices, can be defined. The user-friendliness of the "Building Input Description" (BID) program has been maintained. A comparison of measured and simulated wall temperatures of a transparently insulated building in Freiburg is given.