Water-flow window combines the functions of transparent building envelop, solar collector, as well as sun shading. Coloured particles are added to the flowing water within window cavity in order to provide extra shading, prevent indoor glare and enhance solar collection. The energy consumption of both air-conditioning system and water heating device can be further reduced. The aim of present investigation is to predict and analyze the year-round energy performance of a well-insulated water-flow window with different shading control modes. Accordingly, physical model of water-flow window is built up. FORTRAN program is developed and utilized in the numerical simulation.

Results show that water-flow window can achieve exceptional sun blocking and cooling load reduction without occupying extra space. The year-round solar energy collection efficiency is within the range of 17.95∼21.06%. At the same time, indoor heat gain through the window can be reduced by around 50% compared with common double-layer window. The water-flow window under discussion has great application potential in buildings with constant hot water demand and high-density air-conditioning cooling load. In practice, the shading control mode should be carefully decided, and factors including climate region, hot water demand, window size and occupants' preference on indoor light environment should be taken into consideration. Numerical simulation proves to be an efficient method in predicting the energy performance of similar innovative-designed windows and a good assist in decision-making of real projects.

透水窗结合了透明建筑围护结构，太阳能收集器以及遮阳的功能。将有色颗粒添加到窗腔内的流动水中，以提供额外的阴影，防止室内眩光并增强太阳能收集。可以进一步降低空调系统和水加热装置的能耗。本研究的目的是预测和分析具有不同遮阳控制模式的隔热良好的水流窗的全年能源性能。因此，建立了水流窗的物理模型。开发了FORTRAN程序并将其用于数值模拟。

结果表明，水流窗可以在不占用额外空间的情况下实现出色的防晒效果和减少冷却负荷。全年太阳能集热效率在17.95〜21.06％之间。同时，与普通双层窗户相比，通过窗户的室内热量吸收可减少约50％。讨论中的水流窗在具有恒定热水需求和高密度空调制冷负荷的建筑物中具有巨大的应用潜力。在实践中，应仔细确定遮光控制模式，并应考虑气候区域，热水需求，窗户尺寸和居住者对室内光线环境的偏好等因素。