4D printing of customised smart sunshade: A conceptual study

摘要

Singapore's hot and humid tropical weather drives the need for novel building structures that can maintain a comfortable indoor environment while reducing our reliance on energy intensive air conditioning. Advancements in material science and 3D printing provide possibility to create climatically adaptive and shape morphing structures which could be activated by pre-defined climate conditions. 3D printing with shape memory materials, one of the 4D printing techniques, enables the fabrication of complex structures with multi-material parts, which would be extremely challenging to produce if using conventional manufacturing techniques. In this research, we investigated the feasibility of using 4D printing technology to design and fabricate smart shading structures for cooling buildings. The investigation has shown that the bending sequence of different parts of the sunshade is programmable by using multiple materials. We have also demonstrated that by integrating these basic programmable structures, a 4D printed sunshade can be movable to change the direction upon thermal stimulation. Future works will address the actual environment issue and detailed thermomechanical stimulation method.