Employing the edge-ray principle, the
anidolic system (AS) has been proven as a promising
daylighting solution for various climates. However,
studies on the thermal performance of an AS are still
rare. Because of the dominant contribution of the spacecooling
load to building energy consumption at the
operational stage in hot climates, knowledge of the
impact of AS application on the space-cooling load is
important. This study assessed the energy-saving potential
of AS in the tropics by measuring the daylight level
and distribution, as well as the solar heat gain, based on
Radiance and EnergyPlus simulations using weather
files of two locations in the tropics—Yogyakarta and
Singapore. Monitoring data of a full-scale, unoccupied
test building was acquired to validate the Radiance
simulations and EnergyPlus models. A comparison between
the energy-saving potential for lighting and
cooling of AS and conventional aperture models
showed that the application of AS in the tropics benefits
the daylighting performance (DF ≥ 3% and horizontal
distribution 51–70%), but still produces higher solar
heat gains (44–437% higher than those of clerestory
only). Narrow anidolic collectors with medium angular
spread (45°–52°) and maximum clerestory height
equipped with internal shelves can be applied to produce
lower solar heat gain or indoor air temperature (2%) with sufficient daylight levels (≥ 2%) and an increased
in horizontal illuminance distribution (> 57%).