Thermal Comfort Control Based on a Simplified Predicted Mean Vote index

Abstract

Temperature restriction in indoor environment is a simple way of saving energy; however, it may cause discomforts to the people in such an indoor environment. The discomfort is aggravated when the environments of different rooms cannot be controlled individually. Furthermore, the discomfort is intensified during the intermittent seasons. Thermal comfort is estimated by the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) model based on six parameters. This is a complex procedure and has limitations because a number of measurement indices have to be known. Hence, we analyzed the major variables of PMV and simplified the parameters in order to implement the model without incurring additional cost or installing equipment such as sensors. In addition, we compared the simplified PMV control with a control based on room temperature. The simplified PMV control realizes 7.0% more thermal comfort and 5.6% more energy reduction than those achieved by room temperature control, especially in the intermittent operation period.