Development of Single and Combined Fan-Use Models in Japanese Dwellings

Abstract

Thermal adjustment is one of the most important behaviours. In daily life, we use some behavioural adjustments for thermal comfort. Especially, fan use is most common adaptive behaviour for the active thermal adjustments. The occupant behaviour stochastic models were proposed by some previous studies. However, the relative proportion of each behaviour has not yet been fully understand. It is important to estimate the proportion of each behaviour relatively because the selection of abehaviour is determined in relation to each others. In our previous study, the stochastic models of window opening/closed, cooling and heating use were integrated to one model. The integrated fan use model is useful for understanding the occupant behaviour. The objective of this research is to clarify the fan use in relation to the window opening and cooling use. The occupant behaviour surveys were conducted in 120 dwellings during a four-year period in Kanto region of Japan. From this survey, we have collected 36, 114 responses. The major findings are: 1) The proportion of fan use was highest in summer; 2) The stochastic model of fan use was explained by outdoor air temperature, and the combined stochastic model of “fan use” and “window opening or cooling use” were also developed; and 3) The proportion of “combined fan use” was higher than that of “fan single use”. The results indicated that the residents use the fan together with some other thermal adjustments. The knowledge of this research, as the next step of research, will be implemented in building thermal simulation.