Daylight Factor
Daylight Factor
Daylight Factor
the
Daylight Factor
Deepa Ananthakrishnan
and
Jason DeCaestecker
Outline
I. What is Daylight Factor?
Definition of the components
There are three possible paths along which light can reach a point
inside a room through glazed windows.
(a) light from the patch of sky visible at the point considered,
expressed as the sky component (SC),
(b) light reflected from opposing exterior surfaces and then reached
the point, expressed as the externally reflected component (ERC),
(c) light entering through the window but reaching the point only
after reflection from internal surfaces, expressed as the internally
reflected component (IRC).
The sum of the three components gives the daylight factor:
DF = SC + ERC + IRC
SC Sky Component
ERC Exterior Reflectance Component
IRC Interior Reflectance Component
Graphical methods
1. The BRE overcast SC protractor
Graphical methods
3. The Waldram diagram Method
Protractor Method
The Building Research Establishment BRE (formerly the Building Research
Station BRS) developed a set of protractors which give direct reading of the
sky component in percentages. There are ten such protractors, of which five
are for the uniform sky and five for the CIE sky
Series 1
Uniform Sky
Series 2
CIE Sky
VERTICAL GLAZING
HORIZONTAL GLAZING
UNGLAZED OPENINGS
10
For Vertical glazing with overcast sky we use the Series 2, #2 Protractor
What else do we Need?
- Plan, and Section Elevations showing all the work surfaces and
obstructions.
- Nomograph for the IRC calculation
Take a section of the room, mark the working plane and on it the point to be
considered.
2.
3.
Place the Protractor with the scale A facing up and on the point with base
line on the work plane.
4.
Read the values where these lines intersect the outer perimeter: the
difference is the initial sky component.
5.
Read where these line intersect the inner angle of elevation and take the
average of these.
6.
Switch to the plan view, and mark where you would put the point on this
view. Stay the same distance from the window.
7.
8.
Place the protractor with scale B towards and parallel to the window and on
the point.
9.
Scale A
10. Find where the limit lines intersect the semi-circle, and read the values
along the inner semi-circle.
11. If the two points were on either side of the centerline, then add the values, if
the are both on one side then subtract them, this is the correction factor.
12. Multiply the initial SC in step 4 with the correction factor to obtain the Sky
Component.
Scale B
(Correction factor)
Then since we are using the series 2 protractors we must multiply the SC
by a factor of 0.2, this is our ERC value.
Find the window area and find the total room surface area
(floors, ceiling, and walls including the windows. Calculate
the window: total surface area ratio. Find the value on Scale
A.
2.
Find the area of the walls and calculate the wall area: total
surface area ratio. Find this value in the first column of the
small table.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
IRC = 1.25%
III = 21
IRC = 1.4%
IV = 16
IRC = 1.5%
VERTICAL
SLOPING
HORIZONTAL
CLEAN
0.9
0.8
0.7
INDUSTRIAL
0.7
0.6
0.5
VERY DIRTY
0.6
0.5
0.4
Dirt Factor
Protractor Method
Tabulated Chart: multiple locations
The Previous example was done for one point in the room. To characterize the
whole room a series of points has to be determined and following the steps
for each of these points. They can be organized in a tabulated form a follows
Scale A
Readings
Upper
Lower
Initial
SC
1-2
Scale B
Angles
II
III
Correct
ed
SC
10*11
IRC
DF
12 + 13
12
13
14
Lef
t
Right
10
.4
.1
.5
9.58
6.46
7.34
.4
.15
.55
10.3
6.9
7.78
.15
.4
.55
10.5
4
7.11
7.99
.25
.15
.4
4.36
2.94
3.82
.15
.3
.45
4.9
3.3
4.18
.15
.25
.4
4.36
2.94
3.82
.15
.1
.25
1.48
.05
.2
.25
1.48
.99
1.87
.1
.15
.25
1.48
.5
1.87
.25
.05
.2
.73
.5
1.38
.05
.15
.2
.73
.5
1.38
.15
.05
.1
.37
.25
1.13
.2
.05
.15
.55
.37
1.25
Upper
Lowe
r
A
I
SC
3*9
Correction
Factor
7+-8
Grid point
reference
Average
Altitude
4+5/2
Readings
GF= 1
FF=
D=
20.2
11
.24
.1
.1
19.96
10.9
5.9
64.5
48
37
34.25
25
19.5
K
IV
3.7
3.65
3.65
31
GF* FF*
D
11
0.675
.99
.88
1.87
16