Comfort and performance impact of personal control over thermal environment in summer: Results from a laboratory study

Boerstra, Atze; Kulve, Marije te; Toftum, Jørn; Loomans, Mglc Marcel; Olesen, Bjarne W.; Hensen, Jlm Jan

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2014.12.022

Cited by 85 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(21 reference statements)

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“…The benefits of the control policy mentioned above for HVAC operations is not limited to energy efficiency. For example, it has been shown that workplace productivity can be improved when occupants have the control over their thermal environment and their thermal comfort has been fulfilled [49][50][51][52].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infrared thermography of human face for monitoring thermoregulation performance and estimating personal thermal comfort

Ghahramani

Castro

Becerik-Gerber

et al. 2016

Building and Environment

200

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The common practice of defining operational settings for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems in buildings is to use fixed set points, which assume occupants have same and static comfort requirements. However, thermal comfort varies from person to person and also changes due to climatic variations or acclimation, making it dynamic. In addition, thermal comfort in transient conditions are different from the steady state conditions, which makes the prediction of thermal comfort more difficult. Thus, thermal comfort has to be monitored over time. In this paper, we present a novel infrared thermography based technique to monitor an individual's thermoregulation performance and thermal comfort levels by measuring the skin temperature on several points on human face, which has a high density of blood vessels and is not usually covered by clothing. Unlike other methods, our method requires no continuous user input or interaction. Our results demonstrate that the monitored facial points behave differently under the heat and cold stresses and it can be explained based on the underlying vascular territories. We define two heuristics to describe the thermoneutral zone based on the observed behaviors and estimate thermal comfort for individuals with 95% confidence level. Considerable variations are observed in the thermoregulation performance and uncomfortably cool conditions metrics between the males and females. Females' thermoregulation system responses are less sensitive to the perception of warm conditions. However, similar behaviors are observed for uncomfortably cool conditions across genders.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infrared thermography of human face for monitoring thermoregulation performance and estimating personal thermal comfort

Ghahramani

Castro

Becerik-Gerber

et al. 2016

Building and Environment

200

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“…Therefore, HBIs play a decisive role in determining not only building energy usage [8], but also occupant comfort and well-being [9]. A well-designed HBI system encourages occupants to control the built environment to reduce energy use while enhancing their comfort [10], [11], productivity [12], and health [13]. Due to their importance in modern buildings, HBIs have become a popular topic [14], 3 new models have been introduced to simulate HBIs [15], and new tools have been developed [16].…”

Section: Human-building Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking human-building interactions in shared offices with personality traits

Hong

Chen

Wang

et al. 2020

Building and Environment

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“…Therefore, the cooling power temperature equivalent that is necessary for the climatization of an entire person equals 4 K at 28 • C and 3 K at 26 • C. According to Watanabe et al [92] the local temperature effect that can be produced by an under-desk-mounted heating panel at an ambient temperature of 20 • C equals a 2.8 K increase in overall room temperature, using mixing ventilation. Boerstra et al [93] (Table A1-5) showed that a personal HVAC system with automated control can provide the same thermal comfort as a user-controlled system, if the ventilation load profiles are equal. However, occupants prefer scenarios with user-controlled ambient conditions.…”

Section: Desk-mounted Personal Actuatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personal Climatization Systems—A Review on Existing and Upcoming Concepts

et al. 2018

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To accomplish the current climate goals of the federal republic of Germany, energy efficiency within the building and automotive sector must improve considerably. One possible way to reduce the high amount of energy required for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) is the introduction of personal climatization systems in combination with the extension of the standardized room air temperature range. Personal systems allow improvements of climatic conditions (heating, cooling, and air quality) within sub-areas of the room instead of conditioning an entire room air volume. In this regard, personal systems are perfectly suitable for locations with local air-conditioning focal points, such as open-plan offices and vehicle cabins, where they substantially improve the energy efficiency of the entire system. This work aims to summarize previously conducted research in the area of personal climatization systems. The investigated local thermal actuators comprise fans for the generation of air movement, ventilators for the improvement of the air quality within the respiratory area of persons, water-conditioned panels for the climatization of persons via longwave radiation and conduction, radiant heaters, and combinations of the systems. Personal systems are superior to mixing ventilation regarding the improvement of the perceived air quality and thermal comfort. Furthermore, the introduced overview shows that personal climatization systems are generally more energy-efficient than conventional air-conditioning and facilitates the extension of the indoor air temperature corridor of the HVAC. Table fans and climatized seats are highly effective in connection with the improvement of personal thermal comfort. The performance of the overwhelming majority of applied personal environmental control systems is user-controlled or depends on a predefined load profile, which is generally defined person independent. Single studies reveal that effectively controlled automated systems have a similar thermal impact on a user’s thermal comfort as user-controlled ones. The implementation of an automated control system is feasible by using novel approaches such as the so-called human-centered closed loop control-platform (HCCLC-platform). The latter contains a central data server which allows asynchronous, bi-directional communication between multi-modal sensor data, user feedback systems, thermal actuators and numerical calculation models used to assess the individual thermal comfort of a person. This enables a continuous and holistic reflection of the thermal situation inside a room and the estimation of the corresponding impact on an individual’s thermal comfort. Considering the measured and simulated thermal state of a single person, the described system is capable of determining body-part-specific energy requirements that are needed to keep the overall thermal comfort level of an individual person on a high level.

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Comfort and performance impact of personal control over thermal environment in summer: Results from a laboratory study

Cited by 85 publications

References 20 publications

Infrared thermography of human face for monitoring thermoregulation performance and estimating personal thermal comfort

Infrared thermography of human face for monitoring thermoregulation performance and estimating personal thermal comfort

Linking human-building interactions in shared offices with personality traits

Personal Climatization Systems—A Review on Existing and Upcoming Concepts

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