Visual Comfort Assessment in an Industrial Environment: A Case Study

Abstract

Air, water, soil, and light are important factors in the environment. Light is the only elementary part of life that has become an almost irreplaceable part of life. Because man is more connected with the interior, the task is to ensure that natural daylight in the interior is as high as possible. Industrial lighting is currently at a level that in many cases does not meet the requirements of legislation and standards. Optimal environmental conditions depend on the purpose for which the environment is intended. Since toplighting is largely involved in the overall lighting climate, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the visual comfort in a selected industrial hall with two types of glazing at the saddle skylight. In the study, measured values in the hall were used as boundary conditions in the simulation program Radiance The program evaluated the visual comfort for two types of sky by the Guth VCP method. The results show that the use of diffuse glazing instead of simple wire glazing reduces the brightness and glare levels, but that people’s satisfaction with visual comfort is greater with wire glazing. Furthermore, the model of the hall can be used to calculate light conditions for other types of arches as well as to compare other types of skylights. An alternative to diffusing glazing could also be verified for side windows.

Ergonomic Rationalization Sequence of Digital Lighting Design in the Working Environment

“…It is a value determined by calculation under certain simplified assumptions. It is determined as the sum of the following components [ 42 ]: …”

“…The sky component expresses the ratio by which a point on the plane under consideration in the interior is illuminated from the surface source element induced by the sky brightness, with respect to the current exterior horizontal lighting from an evenly clouded sky. The sky component may be obtained from the following relation [ 42 ]: ψ —angle of incidence of light rays on the lighting opening. ϑ —angle of incidence of light rays on the point under consideration perpendicular to the plane of incidence, L dS —luminance of the sky element with elevation angle ε = 90° − ϑ , calculated as follows [ 42 ]: since the horizontal exterior lighting is a function of the zenith brightness Lz , it can be defined by the following relation [ 42 ]: and thus, the general mathematical model for the sky component has the final form of [ 42 ]: …”

“…D e —reflected external component of the factor expressing the ratio between the illuminated part E ie (light reflected from the reflective external surfaces, obstacles located in front of the building opening (windows) and the actual horizontal lighting. The mathematical formula is as follows [ 42 ]: …”

“…D i —reflected internal component of the factor expressing the ratio between the interior component of the light in the interior caused by the multiple reflection of daylight from the surfaces located in the interior of E ir and the actual horizontal lighting. The mathematical formula is as follows [ 42 ]: …”

A preliminary post-occupancy evaluation of the built-environment in office buildings: a case study from Saudi Arabia

“…(2) Visual comfort: Adequate provision of lighting at the office workplace environment enables the staff to focus on completing their work tasks, which would ultimately increases their productivity (Dolnikova and Katunsky, 2019). Visual comfort is an essential requirement that significantly affects the occupants' task performance at the workplace.…”