Comfort Analysis as a Criterion for Energy Management

Over the past decade many models have been developped to analyse thermal behaviour of buildings, but thermal comfort of occupants, which should never be forgotten, is seldom treated. The aim of this paper is to present three models created to get a complete tool to simulate thermal behaviour of a man in a real environment. The simplest one is the "PMV-PPD", which calculates comfort indices. The two others are human thermoregulation model: "Gagge", a two--node model, which leads to several comfort indices, along with global thermal physiological variables and "MARCL" a 25-node model which calculates local variables. These softwares have been improved by refining calculation of heat exchanges with environment, adding a better representation of clothings, and a postprocessor to translate physiological and physical data into thermal sensations. Controllers have been built up, using either indices or thermo-physiological variables, to regulate indoor thermal ambience. Those models will be shortly described and their use will be discussed. Examples are given pointing out the usefullness of such models to find the best solutions to reach optimal environmental conditions for comfort of the inhabitant.