English

Explains the origin and development of the adaptive approach to thermal comfort. Considers several recent developments in the application of the theory and the origin of the differences between adaptive thermal comfort and the 'rational' indices. Explores its application to comfort standards and makes recommendations about the best comfort temperature, the range of comfortable environments and the maximum rate of change of indoor temperature. Also mentions the application of criteria of sustainability to thermal standards for buildings.

A new adaptive comfort standard is included in recently accepted revisions to ASHRAE Standard 55 - 'thermal environmental conditions for human occupancy'. The new standard allows warmer indoor temperatures for naturally ventilated buildings during summer and in warmer climate zones. The paper summarises the research carried out to formulate this new standard, presents some of the findings for naturally ventilated buildings, and discusses the standardization process. Suggests ways to use the ACS for the design, operation and evaluation of buildings and for research.

Describes existing ISO standards and current projects concerning thermal comfort. Describes the production process for ISO standards. Considers the existing EN ISO 7730 thermal comfort standard in these terms and also ISO 8996 (metabolic rate0 and ISO 9920 (clothing). Also presents the work of ISO/TC 159 SC5, 'ergonomics of the physical environment'. Gives a detailed presentation of the proposed revision of EN ISO 7730. This will be based on requirements for general thermal comfort, operative temperature and local thermal discomfort.

States that the PMV model is in good agreement with high-quality field studies in buildings with HVAC systems, located in cold temperate and warm climates, which were studied in both summer and winter. Occupants may sense the warmth in non-air conditioned buildings in warm climates as being less severe than the PMV prediction, probably because of low expectations or because too high an estimate of metabolic rate. Introduces an extension to the model which includes an expectancy factor to be used in non-air conditioned buildings in warm climates.

The subject of this study is the design of cooled ceiling and displacement ventilation systems in buildings. States that good design of CC/DV systems can lead to better indoor air quality and thermal comfort in comparison to widely used VAV mixing systems. A key design parameter is the cooling load removed by the displacement ventilation. Due to a small vertical temperature gradient, a low DV has a positive effect on thermal comfort, but also has a negative effect on indoor air quality because of the increased mixing of room air.

Proposes an HVAC system which combines chilled ceiling with desiccant cooling, to be used in hot and humid climates where air dehumidification is necessary in order to maintain the indoor air humidity within a comfort zone and to lessen the risk of condensation on chilled panels. The system decouples temperature and humidity control by using desiccant wheel for moisture removal and ceiling panels to control the temperature. Another three systems were viewed to evaluate the system performance and energy savings potential.

Aims to supply a simple and useful tool for the analysis of energy performance of different ventilated facades typology. A steady state energy balance was applied to a control volume solving basic equations with finite element code with an iterative procedure, in order to simulate the studied sample. The different surfac3e and air mass temperatures are calculate for each step of the channel height, and the mass flow rate evaluated as overall natural draught.

Investigates the functional connection between the ventilation rate experienced within a building and both the separation of the inlet and outlet vents and the temperature difference between the internal and external air. Identifies two regimes of operations: one where separation drives the situation and one where temperature is the main influence. States that considering these two regimes can have an impact on design philosophy.

Energy renovation of existing buildings can be of varying value as regards improving thermal conditions and energy savings, and economic restrictions. A series of studies have been done since 1994 in Northern Greece, with its cold and prolonged heating season, aimed at approaching the problem and developing viable proposals. Public and mixed-use buildings act as so-called 'pilot-demonstrator' buildings in the study.

States that most whole building thermal modelling computer programs use simplified, one-dimensional, parallel path descriptions of the building envelope, which may generate serious errors in building load estimation for several structural and material configurations of building envelope components which have high thermal mass and/or two- and three dimensional thermal bridges.