Consideration of glare from daylight in the control of the luminous atmosphere in buildings

This paper presents recent investigations on modeling and control of the luminous atmosphere in buildings. The luminous atmosphere desired by the occupants is defined by the amount and the distribution of light entering the room. These criteria reflect the mean optic state of the room. In tertiary building, the rooms generally have several artificial and natural light sources, this is why the light controller developed here is based on an optimization method to determine the best distribution of light flows among all the sources. The optimal solution is computed by considering various goals like minimizing the energy consumption. In this paper, the authors present a new extension of the luminous atmosphere controller that prevents glare caused by the daylight from occurring in the room. Detection of outdoor dazzling sources is performed by a fisheye video camera fixed on the building envelope. A numerical method is then used to determine the areas of potential glare within the room and to define operating limits on actuators in order to reject them. To show the impact of glare rejection on the luminous atmosphere controller, the authors have simulated the control in a room equipped with automated Venetian blinds and lights during a whole day.