Many indoor models have been developed to describe thermal indoor discomfort, but are they relevant to outdoor or semi-outdoor environments ? They have not been yet critically validated . So, the thermal comfort of more than one thousand subjects living in outdoor and semi-outdoor locations in subtropical Sydney has been investigated by a questionnaire on the one hand and measured with micro-meteorological instruments.
Objective measurement, CFD modelling and subjective assessment have been used in that study to evaluate the thermal comfort of an air-conditoned lecture theatre in the tropics. The simulated parameters are temperature, airflow rate and relative humidity.The parameters were found in the limits of the comfort standard. Occupants' vote show that they were uncomfotable and dissatisfied.
The ambiometer is a tool that allows both the recording of physical parameters of comfort and sensations of the occupant.The method developed is based on field investigations of four components of comfort : thermal, acoustic, visual and olfactory components : the experiment comfort parameters are recorded with the Ambiometer and the occupant gives his own feeling on each comfort parameter and on overall comfort.A database including those physical and perceptive parameters of comfort has been made, information was collected from about sixty offices.
This paper presents a case study : under extremely hot and arid climate, the thermal perception of 36 students has been tested. For the calculations, energy balance models of Fanger and Gagge et al. were used. There was a discrepancy between the observed and calculated values during daytime under extremely hot conditions.
A graphic tool is presented in this paper. The daily swings of temperature can be represented on this graph, and this point can be compared with the comfort zones for different activity levels. The graph allows the representation of climatic variables, the definition of comfort zones, the selection of bioclimatic design resources.
This paper deals with the results of a large-scale survey performed to develop new notions about ACT (adaptive comfort temperature) in buildings in humid sub-tropical Hong-Kong ; the aim was to determine the adaptive interface relationship between indoor comfort temperature and outdoor air temperature in order to preset the indoor air temperature as a function of the oudoor air temperature.
This paper describes a numerical model that takes into account the indoor air moisture and its transport by the airflow, within an enclosure. That model is a potential useful tool for correctly estimating the indoor environment in steady and homogeneous thermal conditions.
An effective sensor for thermal comfort index is necessary for a successful comfort index-based HVAC control system. A comfort sensor with a new structure is proposed in this paper. This instrument consists of an equivalent temperature sensor, a relative humidity sensor and a temperature sensor.
Simulations show that the suggested PMV and SET sensor can have a good measurement of PMV, but for SET more research is needed.
This paper deals with thermal comfort as part of the dynamic interaction between people and their environment. The comfort temperature is continuously changing. The author introduces the idea of an adaptive thermal comfort through an exploration of the results from thermal comfort surveys in that field. Implications of this approach for building is studied along with how existing technologies should be modified or extended to predict energy use and comfort in occupied buildings.
In the EDF comfort-laboratory, realistic environmental chambers have been designed, furnished and decorated like offices and flats. A large panel of representative consumers has been evaluated on their preferences in terms of comfort, in parallel a small panel of trained experts has carried out sensation measurements. Then a correlation between the data of both studies has been used to explain the preferences in terms of sensations (sensation mapping).