thermal comfort

Recently, understanding thermal comfort management enabled the scientific community to broaden its research towards smart device set-ups, in order to further reduce energy consumption and thermal comfort satisfaction. Thus, the need to minimize user interaction and implement prediction functions has arisen. In this work, the development of a smart thermostat is presented. The procedure is divided into three basic stages: calibration, development of energy saving and thermal comfort routines, and comparison with a conventional thermostat’s operation.

Maintaining thermal comfort in buildings has become a big challenge in developing countries. Cool roof or high reflective/emissive roof reduces absorbed building solar energy, roof surface temperature to reduce energy consumption and maintain thermal comfort. However, the impact on buildings thermal performance located in hot-dry climate and dusty conditions is not well-known.

This study aims to use the WELL Building Standard (v2), an internationally recognised rating system for health & wellbeing in buildings, to perform a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the effect of wellbeing measures on an office building’s energy use in three different climates. The qualitative analysis was based on literature review and engineering rules of thumb to assess the potential energy impact of WELL’s 120 features.

The materials that compose the built environment have a key role in the resulting energy demand since their thermal properties affect the heat transfer processes. The use of cool materials aims at increasing the albedo of the urban surfaces and decreasing the heat absorbed by them. Cool materials can decrease roof temperatures, reduce energy needs for cooling and improve indoor comfort for spaces that are not air conditioned.

Due to age-related physiological changes, older people are more vulnerable than young people to heat or cold conditions. Predicting older people's thermal sensations is essential for controlling the built environment and avoiding extreme heat/cold injuries. Previous studies mainly focused on predicting the thermal sensation of young people, and the data-driven methods are often not constrained by physiological responses. This study proposes a new integrated model to combine the two-node physiological model and the data-driven method random forest classifier.

Infiltration of unconditioned air through access openings and entrance doors with high recurrence can cause detrimental impacts to the energy performance, air quality and thermal comfort of buildings. Air curtains are of strategic importance to attenuate these negative impacts. In addition, air curtains are relevant in specialized HVAC applications for which the impediment of infiltration is also essential (e.g., reduction of smoke propagation in fire events, decrease of contamination hazard in clean rooms, preservation of refrigeration properties in cold rooms).

The purpose of this study is to clarify the respiratory characteristics and productivity with wearing a mask, and to propose the indoor control strategy to maintain the thermal comfort. With the worldwide spread of biological hazards including COVID-19, it has become common to wear a mask as a countermeasure against infection in public places. Because of this influence, it is necessary to take measures against health hazards caused by wearing a mask (increased respiratory load and oxygen poverty due to wearing a mask for a long time, heat stroke in summer).

Climate change is a growing global concern and building stock, in particular, is responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases, largely due to its poor energy efficiency. This problem is especially serious in educational buildings, where it is necessary to encourage energy efficient retrofitting under the parameters of nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB), an objective which in Europe has been set for 2050. This is expected to produce economic, energy saving, hygrothermal comfort and health-safety benefits.

A Personalized Environmental Control System (PECS) aims to condition the immediate surrounding of occupants. This approach is fundamentally different from typical HVAC systems, which aim to create uniform indoor environments, regardless of the occupant preferences. PECS has several advantages including allowing occupants to adjust their immediate surroundings according to their preferences, which could improve their satisfaction with the indoor environment, and may lead to higher productivity.

Personalized Environmental Control Systems (PECS) condition the immediate surroundings of occupants, and they are expected to provide increased comfort, health, and productivity. Studies have reported on their benefits and limitations in addressing individual Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) factors, especially in terms of thermal comfort and indoor air quality. The COVID-19 pandemic and risks associated to climate change, such as heat waves, highlight the necessity for PECS that can address multiple IEQ factors.