Daylight and sunlight

Sky Conditions
A fully overcast sky acts as a diffuse light source
The CIE standard overcast sky has a luminance
distribution defined as a function of altitude angle (). If the zenith luminance is Lz, then at
any altitude angle

i.e. the zenith luminance is three times that at the horizon andit
increases from horizon to zenith following a sine function. The
average luminance is foundat an altitude angle of 42.

Sky Conditions
The illuminance produced by an overcast sky strongly depends
on the solar altitude angle (ALT) behind the clouds. In the absence of
measured data, it can be estimated as

Clear Sky
Direct sunlight = 100 klx (1 kilo-lux = 1000 lux)
Exclude sunlight = 4050 klx diffuse illuminance

Sky Conditions
In many climates, intermediate sky conditions occur most of the time.
The average illuminance produced by such a sky (excluding direct
sunlight) can be estimated as

the illuminance can be estimated by using the luminous efficacy values

of solar radiation. This is defined as

Sky Conditions
Often used such values (in lm/W) are:

Daylight illuminance
Measured outdoor illuminance data are usually
presented in terms of frequency of occurrence (in %),
in the form of an ogive curve, such as that shown in
Fig. 2.13.
The horizontal scale of this diagram is diffuse
illuminance (on a horizontal surface, from an
unobstructed sky) and the vertical scale is percentage
frequency.
From the example of Brisbane, it can be seen that e.g.
30 klx is exceeded some 22% of the time (taken for the
year between 9:00 and17:00 h) and 10 klx would be
exceeded some 80% of this time.

Daylight illuminance
The above are planar illuminance data, i.e. measurements of illuminance on a plane, in
this case a horizontal plane surface. This, however, does not give a full picture (Fig.
2.14)
A spherical light meter would measure the mean spherical illuminance (i.e. a scalar
illuminance, Es), whether it is uniform or not.
The illuminance vector is given by the largest difference between illuminances from
two diametrically opposite directions.( Emax = Emax Emin).

Daylight illuminance
The vector/scalar ratio (v/s) is a measure of directionality of light.

e.g. if the largest difference is found as Emax = 200 lx and the

mean spherical illuminance is Es = 100 lx, then the ratio is v/s =
200/100 = 2, but if Es = 400 lx, then v/s = 200/400 = 0.5.

Luminance distribution
On the surface of a desk near a window, the daylight illuminance
may be around 200 lx. The luminance of white paper( = 0.8) may
be some 160 asb. If a beam of sunlight reaches part of this surface,
giving an illuminance of 10 klx, it will produce a luminance of
some 8000 asb. The luminance ratio within the fieldof view will
be 8000:160 = 50, which is far too much, when anything above 15
wouldcause glare.
The preferred luminance ratio would be: task:surround:background
= 1:0.5:0.2.

Luminance distribution
Glare occurring in daylighting can be reduced by the following
measures:
Reduce luminance of the view by using low-transmittance glass
Increase the luminance of areas near the high luminance view
Increase the luminance of the windows surrounds by using
light colour surfaces and contrast grading
Use external protective devices (similar to shading devices) to
block out the view of the brightest problem-area

Overshadowing
A task before starting a design would be to assess any obstructions
aroundthe site and establish the extent and duration of overshadowing.
Fig. 2.18 shows a method of assessing overshadowing in a simple case.