Optical and energetic performances of an electrochromic window tested in a"PASSYS" cell

In this work we report the results of the testing of an electrochromic wind ow. The test was performed utilizing a special test cell that allows the co ntrol of many parameters (temperature, humidity, illumination, etc.) in ord er to obtain a set of realistic test conditions carefully defining both the indoor and outdoor environments. The cell shows strongly adiabatic behavio ur on all the walls except the one holding the tested component. In our cas e this was an electrochromic window, made of an array of single electrochro mic devices, mounted in a wooden frame. The global thermal exchange coeffic ient, the solar factor, the global and diffused light transmittance, the da ylight coefficient were measured in both the optical states (bleached and c oloured) in winter and in summer. We also discussed the possibility of auto matically controlling the indoor illumination. An estimate of the energy sa ving is also given. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.