Improving local wind estimation for the automated control of blinds

Blinds are usually installed on building façade to improve the visual and thermal comfort of the oc-cupants. They are now often linked to an automat-ed system that helps control the glare and decrease overheating. These automated systems are linked to a weather station that is located on top of the buildings on which they are installed. In the cur-rent study, we show that the use of such stations does not provide accurate and reliable information to the control algorithm. It is proposed to couple a model that can calculate wind speed and direction in an urban canopy to the control algorithm. The model is compared to data from an experimental setup on the EPFL campus, Switzerland. We demonstrate that there is very good agreement between the models and the data that have been collected. Furthermore, a new control algorithm was proposed in order to improve the response of the system during strong gusts and to prevent er-ratic behaviour of the automated system.