A Low-Cost Sensor for Real-Time Monitoring of Indoor Thermal Comfort for Ambient Assisted Living

Abstract

The present paper illustrates an innovative low cost solution for the monitoring of indoor thermal comfort by means of Predictive Mean Vote (PMV ) index for multiple positions. This is particularly interesting in an Ambient Assisted Living environment as replacement of typical thermostat used for the climate control. In fact, the system proposed considers also personal parameters, as metabolic rate (M) and clothing level (I cl ), instead of the merely environmental parameters. If this is important for normal living conditions, it becomes crucial in case of elderly people and long-term care patients where a reduction of M or I cl causes a high sensitivity to thermal conditions (especially for cold sensation), or where the disability does not allow the subject re-action (e.g. shading opening/closing when solar radiation occurs). The device proposed uses a set of low-cost non-contact sensors to determine, based on algorithms provided by ISO 7726 and 7730, Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT ) and PMV, which are provided as output of the device through wireless or wired connection. The capability of predicting thermal comfort conditions for multiple positions of the occupant in the room has been tested and validated in a real case study: it resulted in a discrepancy of ±0.5 • C in the MRT measurement and ±0.1 for the PMV with respect to a reference measurement system (microclimate station). The sensitivity to the metabolic rate and clothing level for AAL applications is also discussed together with a procedure for an estimation of these parameters. The accuracy achieved allows a better measurement of the real thermal sensation for a more comfortable environment with lower energy consumption.

Measuring Metabolic Rate to Improve Comfort Management in Buildings

“…Among the parameters affecting indoor thermal comfort, this physiological parameter is one of the most important. In Revel et al (2014b) a sensitivity analysis of the PMV index was performed to investigate the PMV variation due to the metabolic rate. The authors report that the metabolic rate has a high influence, which increases especially for lower values (<1met).…”

Developing an Android App for Dementia Patient Location: Prevention of Wandering Case Study

“…This setting is even more complex to be used for trucking patients. Actually most of the other studies and systems that we found in the literature are designed for monitoring dementia patient for indoor activities [5,6,7]. These technologies are very complex to be used for monitor the outdoor patients activities.…”

Digital ID framework for human-centric monitoring and control of smart buildings

“…With the sensing data, real-time visualization platforms for indoor environments were developed, which aimed to provide the building manager with a more efficient decisionmaking process. For example, Revel et al (2014) developed a low-cost thermal comfort monitoring system by means of the predicted mean vote (PMV) index of multiple positions calculated through the collected environmental parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, and air velocity. Chang et al (2018) presented a framework to achieve colorful visualization of indoor temperature and humidity associated with adaptive thermal comfort values, which used Dynamo to import real-time sensing data into Autodesk Revit through the Arduino microcontroller.…”