Evaluation of Indoor Thermal Environment in a Radiant-Cooled-Floor Office Building in Malaysia

2014 ◽  
Vol 564 ◽  
pp. 228-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Jie Kwong ◽  
Mohamad Afri Arsad ◽  
Nor Mariah Adam
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Office Building ◽  
Air Velocity ◽  
Variable Air Volume ◽  
Indoor Thermal Environment ◽  
Radiant Cooling ◽  
Comfort Parameters

This paper presents the findings of a thermal comfort survey conducted in a tropical green office building. The building was installed with a slab-integrated radiant cooling system, which operated concurrently with an integrated variable-air-volume system. Evaluation of indoor thermal environment was made, where both objective and subjective assessments were carried out. The air temperature, air velocity, relative humidity and surface temperatures were measured by using calibrated sensors. Based on the data collected from the field assessment, the thermal comforts indices with expectancy factor were calculated. The results showed that thermal comfort parameters were within the comfort range specified in a local guideline, except for the air velocity profile. Besides, discrepancy between the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) with expectancy factor and Actual Mean Vote (AMV) was found, which showed that the former still overestimated the thermal sensation of occupants although an expectancy factor of 0.5 was used.

Field Survey on Occupant Thermal Comfort of Cold Regions in Transition Season

2013 ◽  
Vol 805-806 ◽  
pp. 1620-1624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wan Ying Qu
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Field Survey ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Cold Regions ◽  
Indoor Thermal Environment ◽  
Transition Season

A thermal comfort field study was investigated in residential buildings of cold regions in transition season during which the indoor thermal environment conditions are measured, the thermal sensation value of the occupants is questioned and recorded. A seven-point thermal sensation scale was used to evaluate the thermal sensation. The statistical method was used to analyze the data and the conclusions are as follows in transition season: clothing increase in 0.1clo when the indoor air temperature is lowered by 1°C; and clothing will be a corresponding increase in 0.06clo when the outdoor air temperature is lowered by 1°C; clothing also varies with gender, age, weight and thermal history and other related; the measured thermal neutral temperature is 21.3°C; and the minimum accepted temperature is 11.4 °C in transition season in cold regions. Most people choose to change clothes, switch and other passive measures, and occasionally take active measures of heater, electric fans and others.

scholarly journals Impact of ventilation system type on indoor thermal environment and human thermal comfort in a ceiling cooling room

2021 ◽  
pp. 277-277
Author(s):  
Xiaozhou Wu ◽  
Genglin Liu ◽  
Jie Gao ◽  
Shuang Wu
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Ventilation System ◽  
Physical Parameters ◽  
Curtain Wall ◽  
Indoor Thermal Environment ◽  
Human Thermal Comfort ◽  
System Type

A ceiling cooling (CC) system integrated with a mechanical ventilation system is an advanced HVAC system for the modern office building with glass curtain wall. In this paper, considering the influence of heat transfer of external envelope, the indoor thermal environment and human thermal comfort were objectively measured and subjectively evaluated in a ceiling cooling room with mixing ventilation (MV) or underfloor air distribution (UFAD). Indoor physical parameters and human skin temperatures were measured as the chilled ceiling surface temperature and supply air temperature were 17.1?C-17.6?C and 22.2?C - 22.6?C. Simultaneously, 16 subjects (8 males and 8 females) were selected to subjectively evaluate the thermal environment. The results showed that the difference between mean radiant temperature and air temperature in the occupied zone was 0.8?C with CC+MV and 1.2?C with CC+UFAD, and the indoor air velocity was 0.17m/s with CC+MV and 0.13m/s with CC+UFAD. In addition, the calculated and measured thermal sensation votes with CC+MV were all slightly less than those with CC+UFAD. Therefore, ventilation system type had a slight impact on the indoor thermal environment and human thermal comfort in the ceiling cooling room.

scholarly journals Thermal environment assessment in selected Polish educational buildings

2021 ◽  
Vol 246 ◽  
pp. 15004
Author(s):  
Luiza Dębska ◽  
Justyna Krakowiak
Keyword(s):  
Indoor Air ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Subjective Assessment ◽  
Thermal Preference ◽  
Air Velocity ◽  
Indoor Thermal Environment ◽  
Environment Assessment ◽  
Educational Buildings ◽  
The City

The paper presents experimental results of a study on indoor thermal environment in selected educational buildings located in the city of Kielce (Poland). The volunteers in the investigated rooms were asked to fill in the anonymous questionnaires containing questions on their thermal sensation, thermal preference and thermal acceptability votes as well as humidity assessment and humidity preference votes. In total, 83 people completed the questionnaires. Simultaneously, the indoor air parameters were measured with a microlimate meter equipped with precision sensors to measure air and globe temperatures, air velocity and relative humidity. The analysis of the obtained results provides information on the subjective assessment of the thermal environment in the considered rooms. It allowed to assess whether the guidelines given in the standard are consistent with the real feeling of comfort of the respondents. Research in the performed scope has shown that the feelings of the respondents and the standard guidelines diverge. It was noticed that that the subjects definitely felt better in the rooms where the temperature was around 22.5°C. The subjects felt worse at the temperature of 25.3°C and the worst of 27.6°C.

scholarly journals Enhancement of Thermal Comfort Inside the Kitchen of Non-Airconditioned Railway Pantry Car

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 275-291
Author(s):  
Md Sarfaraz Alam ◽  
Urmi Ravindra Salve
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Ventilation System ◽  
Comfort Level ◽  
Air Velocity ◽  
Sustainable Improvement ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Air Ventilation

There are ample literature studies available, focusing on hot-humid built environment, which have achieved an increase in thermal comfort conditions by proper installation of ventilation-systems. The present thermal comfort study has been carried out in the kitchen environment of a non-air-conditioned railway pantry car in Indian Railways. The purpose is to enhance thermal comfort level under the currently applied ventilation system inside the kitchen of pantry car by determining the standard effective temperature (SET) index. During the summer and winter seasons, a field study was carried out to obtain the value of air temperature, globe temperature, relative humidity, and air velocity inside the pantry car for estimation of the SET index. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was used to obtain a better-modified case model of the pantry car kitchen for the improvement of thermal comfort. The design interventions for the pantry car kitchen were created, with emphasis on increasing energy efficiency based on low-power consumption air ventilation system. The study results indicated that, modified case-I model has a better ventilation design concept as compare to the existing and other models, which increased the air velocity and significantly decreased the air temperature inside the kitchen of pantry car at all cooking periods. A value of SET (28.6–30℃) was found with a comfortable thermal sensation within all cooking periods, which is better for the pantry car workers. This finding suggests a sustainable improvement in the thermal environment of the "non-air-conditioned" pantry car kitchen in the Indian Railways, which can be applied immediately.

scholarly journals Thermal Comfort Assessment of an Office Building in Tropical Climate Condition

2018 ◽  
Vol 225 ◽  
pp. 01003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Koh ◽  
Hussain H. Al-Kayiem ◽  
Jundika C. Kurnia
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Tropical Climate ◽  
Comfort Level ◽  
Office Building ◽  
Climate Condition ◽  
Solar Research ◽  
Better Than

As a lot of people spend their time indoor, indoor thermal comfort will affect the performance of the occupants in terms of health, comfort and productivity. This paper aims to investigate the thermal comfort of an office building constructed using low cost materials in tropical climate condition. That has been achieved by investigating the PMV using the CBE thermal comfort tool in the post-graduate office building in the solar research site in UTP. The experimental measurements have been conducted at two different cases; without ventilation and with air-conditioned in the office building. The thermal comfort of the office building is assessed by using the ASHRAE thermal sensation scale. Results have demonstrated that the office room without ventilation is hot and not suitable for occupants to work at such thermal environment. Thermal comfort of the room with air-conditioning is warm and is slightly better than the room without ventilation as the PMV has been improved by around 60%. However, the acceptable thermal comfort level in the low-cost material office building is yet to be achieved.

scholarly journals Does a neutral thermal sensation determine thermal comfort?

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Shahzad ◽  
John Brennan ◽  
Dimitris Theodossopoulos ◽  
John K Calautit ◽  
Ben R Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Thermal Preference ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Comfort Zone ◽  
Indoor Thermal Environment ◽  
Human Thermal Comfort ◽  
Comfort Condition

The neutral thermal sensation (neither cold, nor hot) is widely used through the application of the ASHRAE seven-point thermal sensation scale to assess thermal comfort. This study investigated the application of the neutral thermal sensation and it questions the reliability of any study that solely relies on neutral thermal sensation. Although thermal-neutrality has already been questioned, still most thermal comfort studies only use this measure to assess thermal comfort of the occupants. In this study, the connection of the occupant’s thermal comfort with thermal-neutrality was investigated in two separate contexts of Norwegian and British offices. Overall, the thermal environment of four office buildings was evaluated and 313 responses (three times a day) to thermal sensation, thermal preference, comfort, and satisfaction were recorded. The results suggested that 36% of the occupants did not want to feel neutral and they considered thermal sensations other than neutral as their comfort condition. Also, in order to feel comfortable, respondents reported wanting to feel different thermal sensations at different times of the day suggesting that occupant desire for thermal comfort conditions may not be as steady as anticipated. This study recommends that other measures are required to assess human thermal comfort, such as thermal preference. Practical application: This study questions the application of neutral thermal sensation as the measure of thermal comfort. The findings indicate that occupant may consider other sensations than neutral as comfortable. This finding directly questions the standard comfort zone (e.g. ASHRAE Standard 55) as well as the optimum temperature, as many occupants required different thermal sensations at different times of the day to feel comfortable. These findings suggest that a steady indoor thermal environment does not guarantee thermal comfort and variations in the room temperature, which can be controlled by the occupant, need to be considered as part of the building design.

The Study of Indoor Thermal Environment Characteristics of Office Building Effected by Stratum Ventilation

2014 ◽  
Vol 556-562 ◽  
pp. 803-806
Author(s):  
Ze Qin Liu ◽  
Zhen Jun Zuo ◽  
Tai Shun Liu
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Thermal Stratification ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Vertical Direction ◽  
Ventilation Rate ◽  
Office Building ◽  
Breathing Zone ◽  
Indoor Thermal Environment ◽  
Human Thermal Comfort ◽  
Air Supply

A typical office building with stratum ventilation as the research object was studied in this paper. CFX Fluid Computation software was used to numerical simulate the characteristics of indoor thermal environment effected by air speeds under 19°C supply air temperature and 8 ventilation rate. The numerical simulate results showed that, the obvious thermal stratification occurred in the vertical direction. Such thermal stratification met the demands of building energy conservation and the human thermal comfort. In this paper, the velocity coefficient and the temperature coefficient were used to evaluate thermal comfort. From the results of the numerical simulation, it could be seen that when the supply air speeds were controlled between 0.5m/s to 0.9m/s, the thermal comfort, as well as the air supply efficiency in the human activity area was relative satisfactory. With the constant fresh air ventilated to the breathing zone, the air quality could be improved.

scholarly journals Field study on thermal comfort in naturally ventilated and air-conditioned university classrooms

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 851-859 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Fabozzi ◽  
Alessandro Dama
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Field Study ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Thermal Perception ◽  
Adaptive Models ◽  
Adaptive Comfort ◽  
Comfort Perception ◽  
Comfort Parameters ◽  
University Classrooms

Maintaining a satisfactory thermal environment is of primary importance, especially when the goal is to maximize learning such as in schools or universities. This paper presents a field study conducted in Milan during summer 2017 in 16 classrooms of Politecnico di Milano, including both naturally ventilated (NV) and air-conditioned (AC) environments. This study asked 985 students to report their thermal perception and their responses were evaluated according to the measured thermal comfort parameters to assess the prediction as given by Fanger and adaptive models, according to ANSI/ASHRAE 55-2017 and EN 15251:2007 standards. Furthermore, an analysis regarding potential effects of gender in comfort perception was performed. The results confirmed the fitness of Fanger’s model for the prediction of occupants’ thermal sensations in AC classrooms with a reasonable accuracy. In NV classrooms, the Adaptive model was proven to be suitable for predicting students’ comfort zone according to ASHRAE 55 Standard, while the adaptive comfort temperatures recommended by EN 15251 were not acceptable for a large number of students. No significant differences in thermal comfort perception between genders have been observed, except for two NV classrooms in which females’ thermal sensation votes had resulted closer to neutrality in comparison to males, who expressed a warmer thermal sensation.

scholarly journals Membrane-assisted radiant cooling for expanding thermal comfort zones globally without air conditioning

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (35) ◽  
pp. 21162-21169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Teitelbaum ◽  
Kian Wee Chen ◽  
Dorit Aviv ◽  
Kipp Bradford ◽  
Lea Ruefenacht ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Dew Point ◽  
Mean Radiant Temperature ◽  
Radiation Exchange ◽  
Radiant Cooling ◽  
Chilled Water ◽  
Radiant Temperature

We present results of a radiant cooling system that made the hot and humid tropical climate of Singapore feel cool and comfortable. Thermal radiation exchange between occupants and surfaces in the built environment can augment thermal comfort. The lack of widespread commercial adoption of radiant-cooling technologies is due to two widely held views: 1) The low temperature required for radiant cooling in humid environments will form condensation; and 2) cold surfaces will still cool adjacent air via convection, limiting overall radiant-cooling effectiveness. This work directly challenges these views and provides proof-of-concept solutions examined for a transient thermal-comfort scenario. We constructed a demonstrative outdoor radiant-cooling pavilion in Singapore that used an infrared-transparent, low-density polyethylene membrane to provide radiant cooling at temperatures below the dew point. Test subjects who experienced the pavilion (n= 37) reported a “satisfactory” thermal sensation 79% of the time, despite experiencing 29.6 ± 0.9 °C air at 66.5 ± 5% relative humidity and with low air movement of 0.26 ± 0.18 m⋅s−1. Comfort was achieved with a coincident mean radiant temperature of 23.9 ± 0.8 °C, requiring a chilled water-supply temperature of 17.0 ± 1.8 °C. The pavilion operated successfully without any observed condensation on exposed surfaces, despite an observed dew-point temperature of 23.7 ± 0.7 °C. The coldest conditions observed without condensation used a chilled water-supply temperature 12.7 °C below the dew point, which resulted in a mean radiant temperature 3.6 °C below the dew point.

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