4D Printing of Customised Smart Sunshade: A Conceptual Study

J. E. M. TEOH, C. K. CHUA, Y. LIU, J. AN

Singapore Centre for 3D Printing, School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore

ABSTRACT: 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 condition-
ing. 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 manufac-
turing 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 se-
quence of different parts of the sunshade is programmable by using multiple materials. We have also demon-
strated 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 de-
tailed thermomechanical stimulation method.