individual control

The aim was to study how the cooling jet from the ceiling, with individual control over the airflow, is perceived and how it affects the thermal comfort in warm office environment. 32 undergraduate university students participated in the experiment. Two thermal conditions were tested: (1) no cooling jet and (2) adjustable cooling jet from the ceiling. Subjects were able to use a controller with seven different settings to adjust the airflow coming from the nozzles so that the target velocity varied from 0.3 m/s to 1.5 m/s. The cooling jet was directed into the upper body.

Although the adaptive comfort model has gained unprecedented popularization during the past few decades, the mechanism behind the model, especially with regard to certain key hypotheses, still requires further clarification. To validate whether people with greater individual control tend to attain comfort state in wider ranges of indoor thermal environments, we designed an investigational study in Beijing apartments with different degrees of individual control over space heating systems.

This research suggests that the thermal preference of occupants is subject to change; hence, a particular thermal setting may not be able to constantly satisfy everyone. On the contrary, individual thermal control in the workplace is more likely to increase user comfort and satisfaction. This is examined through environmental measurements, comfort surveys and semi-structured interviews in two office layouts with high and low thermal control.