Analysis of the Thermal Comfort and Energy Performance of a Thermal Chair for Open Plan Office

John Calautit,Paige W Tien,Sally Shahzad,Katrina Calautit,Ben Hughes,Shuangyu Wei

doi:10.13044/j.sdewes.d7.0298

Abstract

The aim of this work is to analyse the thermal comfort and energy performance of a thermal heating chair for open plan office using field experiments, thermal comfort survey and energy simulations. A comprehensive review on the development of thermal chairs was carried out to highlight the present research gaps. The study developed a thermal chair prototype with controllable heating pads, incorporated into the back of the seat and back rest fabric. The field test was carried out in an office building in the UK during the winter. The study showed that the users set the thermal chair temperature between 29-45 °C. The field survey results of the thermal satisfaction survey showed that 19 out of 44 participants felt satisfied before using the device. While after using the thermal chair, the number of satisfied respondents increased to 34. The work also utilised Building Energy Simulation to further assess the thermal comfort and energy performance of the thermal chair. Three cases were simulated: non heated office chair with the zone thermostat maintained at 22 °C, non heated office chair with the zone thermostat at 16-20 °C and thermal chair with the zone thermostat at 16-20 °C.

Highlights

Providing a good balance between indoor thermal comfort and Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) energy efficiency is challenging
A prototype of a thermal chair was developed by modifying a typical office chair
The users of the thermal chair were advised to adjust the settings of the thermal chair temperature for the seat and the back rest according to their preference

Summary

Introduction

Providing a good balance between indoor thermal comfort and Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) energy efficiency is challenging. In order to achieve its goal in reducing carbon emissions from buildings by the year 2050 [3], it is essential to develop technologies and techniques which can significantly minimise the level of energy used for heating and cooling buildings. This is even more challenging due to the increasing levels of thermal comfort requirement of users. If the air temperature range or set point can be extended in either the cold or hot direction, significant reduction in energy can be achieved. Hoyt et al [5] estimated that HVAC energy can be reduced by up to 10% per °C set point adjustment

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