This paper presents a design study of adaptive skins for thermal regulation in buildings. The skins consist of rectangular panels, which can be opened and closed driven by shape memory alloy (SMA) wires in response to the variation of the environmental temperature. Metallic and laminated fiber-reinforced composite sheets are explored for the panels. The SMA components are used as both thermal sensors and actuators that inspect the environmental thermal variation and provide a corresponding actuation response. When the outdoor temperature is low, the SMA wire actuators are in their elongated martensite configuration, keeping the panels closed to maintain the building interior warm by reducing airflow from the exterior. When the temperature rises above the SMA austenite transformation temperatures, the SMA actuators transform into their contracted austenite configuration and open the panels. This permits cooling of the building interior by allowing more airflow from the exterior. The performance of the adaptive skins is evaluated using finite element models. The adaptive skins are parameterized using design variables including the dimensions of the panels, the ply thickness and orientation angles in the case of fiber-reinforced panels, and the radii of the SMA wire actuators. By employing multi-objective optimization, these design variables are optimized to minimize the cost of the system and maximize its thermal regulating performance while satisfying material failure constraints.


Design of Shape Memory Alloy-Based Adaptive Building Skins for Thermal Regulation

Division / Sponsors: 
Aerospace Division

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/SMASIS/SMASIS2020/volume/84027

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