Experimental Confirmation of the Reliability of Fanger’s Thermal Comfort Model—Case Study of a Near-Zero Energy Building (NZEB) Office Building

Abstract

Designing and constructing near zero energy buildings (NZEBs) is a challenge not only from a structural point of view, but also from the point of view of ensuring appropriate climate comfort for users. The standards describing how to ensure comfort were created in times when the challenges of building ZEB/NZEB were not yet explored and energy issues were not as important as they are today. Therefore, the assessment of the thermal and climatic comfort of people living and working in such buildings requires a new or revised approach to the methodology of thermal comfort assessment. In this article, the authors present the results of a thermal comfort study based on measurements and thermal sensory tests. Testing was carried out in an experimental office building (passive standard). The main goal of the experiment was to compare the thermal comfort measurement method based on the ISO-Fanger model with the actual comfort results obtained by the panellists in the model office condition. The tests allowed the lowest operating temperature providing thermal comfort (predicted mean vote (PMV) = 0 and −0.5) to be determined. Sensory tests were conducted using three types of questions. The results were compared to the other researchers’ findings. It was noted that the panellists showed better thermal comfort sensation at lower temperatures than would result from the traditional Fanger distribution, so the authors proposed the experimental function of percentage of dissatisfied (PPD) = f(PMV). The authors hope that it contributed to the actual state of knowledge as a “small and specific scale” validation of the existing thermal comfort model. The results also revealed that the method of heating has an influence on the subjective thermal sensation.