Comparison of Simulation and Measurement in a Short-Term Evaluation of the Thermal Comfort Parameters of an Office in a Low-Carbon Building

Radoslav Ponechal,Peter Barňák,Pavol Ďurica

doi:10.3390/buildings12030349

Abstract

The subject of the following analysis is the Research Centre building of the University of Zilina (RC UNIZA), which was purposely designed as a low-carbon project. The measurements of selected offices were carried out to verify how the building envelope and infill cooling system influences the indoor environment during the summer season. These measurements, along with the parameters of outdoor climate and its influence on the indoor thermal-humidity microclimate were monitored. Most of the data was then used in subsequent transient-state thermal simulation in an ESP-r program. The evaluation took two days to complete wherein an air-cooling system and ceiling radiant cooling were presented. The office during the test was not occupied and was therefore slightly cooler. Under these conditions (measured and simulated), PPD and PMV indexes were calculated during a 10 h time period with varying input parameters (metabolic heat and thermal resistance of clothing). According to the measurement and simulation, these indexes were compared. The comparison shows that the agreement depends on the chosen personal factors such as the thermal resistance of the clothing and metabolic heat. If these are chosen appropriately, then the differences between the results according to the measurement and the simulation were limited.

Highlights

Interest in studying the quality of indoor environments has been growing, especially since the second half of the last century
Exterior blinds are installed on the windows, which can be manually controlled from each room or automatically through an automatic control system which connects to the central building control system
We used different values of clothing and metabolism that are recommended by the standard ISO 7730

Summary

Introduction

Interest in studying the quality of indoor environments has been growing, especially since the second half of the last century. Many evaluation methods of thermal comfort have been found, the predicted mean vote (PMV) and predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD) index are still among the most widely used [1]. An exceptional PMV/PPD model was developed by P.O. Fanger, professor at the International Center for the Indoor. Environment and Energy at the Technical University of Denmark [2]. He used heat-balance equations and empirical studies to define thermal comfort model. Other institutions in various countries, such as the USA and China (as well as other countries) took part in research on thermal comfort [3–8]

Methods

Results

Conclusion