Revisiting the adaptive thermal comfort zone in ISO 17772-1 standard: Insights from four thermal comfort databases

Abstract

The design and operation of naturally ventilated environments rely on adaptive models. The International standard ISO 17772-1:2017 incorporated an adaptive model into the ISO standards framework, which was based on the SCATs Database for office buildings. To verify whether the adaptive thermal comfort zone of the ISO 17772-1 standard can effectively evaluate naturally ventilated environments across different building types worldwide, the analysis was conducted using 59,478 naturally ventilated environment data selected from the Chinese Thermal Comfort Dataset, ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II, SCATs Database, and ASHRAE RP-884 Database. The results revealed differences in thermal environments among various building types, with neutral temperatures for occupants in offices, residences, and classrooms being 22.3 ℃, 23.2 ℃, and 21.8 ℃, respectively, directly related to the mean operative temperatures they experienced. The acceptable thermal environment data for offices, residences, and classrooms were 63.4 %, 57.3 %, and 78.8 %, respectively, within the comfort zone of the ISO 17772-1 standard. When the outdoor temperature was 10–30 ℃, the ISO 17772-1 standard evaluated the acceptable thermal environments for offices and classrooms well. However, a significant portion of the acceptable thermal environments in residences exceeded the comfort zone defined by this standard. Additionally, based on these data, adaptive models and corresponding adaptive thermal comfort zones were established for offices (slope: 0.2295), residences (slope: 0.3041), and classrooms (slope: 0.2789). These findings provide references for the establishment and improvement of the adaptive model in ISO 17772-1 standard.