A user-controlled thermal chair for an open plan workplace: CFD and field studies of thermal comfort performance

Shahzad, Sally; Calautit, John Kaiser; Aquino, Angelo I.; Nasir, Diana S.N.M.; Hughes, Ben Richard

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.05.118

Cited by 29 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(32 reference statements)

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“…In their study, the researchers showed that the dissatisfaction of individuals rises above 40% at ambient temperatures of 17.4 • C due to increasing thermal asymmetries that appear across the human body surface. Table A3 reveals that the use of conditioned seats allows to extend the acceptable ambient air temperature range in office buildings within a range between 18 • C and 30 • C. Shahzad et al [78] showed that heated seats can have an energy consumption of about 20 W and cause an improvement of thermal sensation by one scale point. However, the system's overall energy consumption is strongly depending on the used system components and the used control algorithms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…• large area air-conditioning of multiple body parts (Tables A2-A5) • local air-conditioning of single body parts (Tables A1, A4 and A6) Most of the listed studies were performed under controlled ambient conditions within laboratory studies and need further validation in the field. Current field studies [29,[76][77][78][79] confirm the potential of personal HVAC systems in terms of thermal comfort. Fundamentally for the investigation of personal HVAC systems are studies assessing the correlation between whole-body and local thermal sensation.…”

Section: Personal Climatization Systemsmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Heated chairs are able to compensate ambient temperatures down to a minimum temperature of 5 • C, which is expressed in comfort votes as "little uncomfortable" (−1 on a scale range [−3:0]) with the highest local dissatisfaction sensed at the hands and feet [109] (Table A3- 32). Tests with a heated seat reveal that under cold climatic conditions most occupants prefer the sensation of warmth [78]. In the study of Shahzad et al [78], the occupants manually controlled the corresponding seat surface temperature between values of 29 • C and 39 • C. According to Watanabe et al [92], the heating power of a heated backrest equals an increase in ambient temperature of 5.2 K assuming a basic ambient start temperature of 20 • C. The heated seat applied by Veselý et al [95] improves thermal sensation by one scale point per 20 W heating load and has a high thermal effect related to its energy consumption.…”

Section: Conditioned Seatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tests with a heated seat reveal that under cold climatic conditions most occupants prefer the sensation of warmth [78]. In the study of Shahzad et al [78], the occupants manually controlled the corresponding seat surface temperature between values of 29 • C and 39 • C. According to Watanabe et al [92], the heating power of a heated backrest equals an increase in ambient temperature of 5.2 K assuming a basic ambient start temperature of 20 • C. The heated seat applied by Veselý et al [95] improves thermal sensation by one scale point per 20 W heating load and has a high thermal effect related to its energy consumption. A water-conditioned seat in a vehicle environment [110] will ensure a high thermal satisfaction at ambient temperatures between 15.6 • C and 28 • C if the heated and cooled seat is automatically controlled depending on the ambient temperature (Table A3- 31).…”

Section: Conditioned Seatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Personal Climatization Systems—A Review on Existing and Upcoming Concepts

et al. 2018

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To accomplish the current climate goals of the federal republic of Germany, energy efficiency within the building and automotive sector must improve considerably. One possible way to reduce the high amount of energy required for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) is the introduction of personal climatization systems in combination with the extension of the standardized room air temperature range. Personal systems allow improvements of climatic conditions (heating, cooling, and air quality) within sub-areas of the room instead of conditioning an entire room air volume. In this regard, personal systems are perfectly suitable for locations with local air-conditioning focal points, such as open-plan offices and vehicle cabins, where they substantially improve the energy efficiency of the entire system. This work aims to summarize previously conducted research in the area of personal climatization systems. The investigated local thermal actuators comprise fans for the generation of air movement, ventilators for the improvement of the air quality within the respiratory area of persons, water-conditioned panels for the climatization of persons via longwave radiation and conduction, radiant heaters, and combinations of the systems. Personal systems are superior to mixing ventilation regarding the improvement of the perceived air quality and thermal comfort. Furthermore, the introduced overview shows that personal climatization systems are generally more energy-efficient than conventional air-conditioning and facilitates the extension of the indoor air temperature corridor of the HVAC. Table fans and climatized seats are highly effective in connection with the improvement of personal thermal comfort. The performance of the overwhelming majority of applied personal environmental control systems is user-controlled or depends on a predefined load profile, which is generally defined person independent. Single studies reveal that effectively controlled automated systems have a similar thermal impact on a user’s thermal comfort as user-controlled ones. The implementation of an automated control system is feasible by using novel approaches such as the so-called human-centered closed loop control-platform (HCCLC-platform). The latter contains a central data server which allows asynchronous, bi-directional communication between multi-modal sensor data, user feedback systems, thermal actuators and numerical calculation models used to assess the individual thermal comfort of a person. This enables a continuous and holistic reflection of the thermal situation inside a room and the estimation of the corresponding impact on an individual’s thermal comfort. Considering the measured and simulated thermal state of a single person, the described system is capable of determining body-part-specific energy requirements that are needed to keep the overall thermal comfort level of an individual person on a high level.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Personal Climatization Systemsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Conditioned Seatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conditioned Seatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Personal Climatization Systems—A Review on Existing and Upcoming Concepts

et al. 2018

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“…Furthermore, in existing historical buildings with low thermal performance, asymmetry of radiant temperature occurs in winter period and too high air temperature is set inside the rooms (Semprini et al 2016). CFD analysis is an important tool in design phase for determination of the internal layout, the operation mode of terminals (inlet temperature, air flow), and the position of sensors for room control system (Shahzad et al 2017, Awwad et al 2017: the latter plays an important role to maintain internal temperature set-point.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Thermal Comfort Inside an Office Equipped with a Fan Coil HVAC System: A CFD Approach

Semprini

Jahanbin

Pulvirenti

et al. 2019

Future Cities and Environment

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Introduction Most industrialized countries, in particular the European Union countries, are in shifting phase from a fossilbased development to a sustainable development. Approximately 40% of the energy consumption in the European Union is attributed to buildings across the private and public sectors. The European Parliament Directive 2010/31 (The Directive 2010/31/EU) states that new buildings should consume very low amount of fossil-based energy (Nearly Zero Energy Buildings) by 2020. The Directive declares that all new buildings built after 31 December 2018 will have to be buildings with high energy performance and their required amount of energy should be mostly covered by renewable energy sources. Hence, energy efficiency has become a common target for all buildings, in particular historical buildings (Fotopoulou et al. 2018). Since buildings with historic value are less energy-efficient than modern ones, energy demand and indoor comfort expectations are critical challenges for them.

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Emerging Materials and Strategies for Personal Thermal Management

Liu

Shin

et al. 2020

Advanced Energy Materials

325

242

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us warm in cold climates and shielded us from the nakedness for modesty and civilization. [1,2] Cloth is also a platform for artists, designers, and tailors to advance the clothing demands with emerging materials, process, and fashion. [2] While the majority of the functionalities of clothes lie in their physical attributes, such as their softness, breathability, air/ vapor permeability, and, of course the appearance, their role in thermal management is equally, if not more, important. The primary goal of clothing is to satisfy human being's basic needs in thermal comfort, by providing cooling in the hot environment or heating in the cold environment. [1] The energy management aspect of clothing is becoming an increasingly important and attractive aspect due to our increasing awareness to energy consumption and our persisting pursuit of comfort and health. The finite availability and the associated environmental consequence of fossil fuels have motivated us to save energy from virtually all aspects of our daily lives. A suitable thermal envelop is a necessity for our living and working. To create a comfortable indoor environment, the building heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are widely used for space cooling and heating at the expense of excessive energy consumption. [3][4][5][6] According to United States In this decade, the demands of energy saving and diverse personal thermoregulation requirements along with the emergence of wearable electronics and smart textiles give rise to the resurgence of personal thermal management (PTM) technologies. PTM, including personal cooling, heating, insulation, and thermoregulation, are far more flexible and extensive than the traditional air/liquid cooling garments for the human body. Concomitantly, many new advanced materials and strategies have emerged in this decade, promoting the thermoregulation performance and the wearing comfort of PTM simultaneously. In this review, an overview is presented of the state-ofthe-art and the prospects in this burgeoning field. The emerging materials and strategies of PTM are introduced, and classed by their thermal functions. The concept of infrared-transparent visible-opaque fabric (ITVOF) is first highlighted, as it triggers the work on advanced PTM by combining it with radiative cooling, and the corresponding implementations and realizations are subsequently introduced, followed by wearable heaters, flexible thermoelectric devices, and sweat-management Janus textiles. Finally, critical considerations on the challenges and opportunities of PTM are presented and future directions are identified, including thermally conductive polymers and fibers, physiological/psychological statistical analysis, and smart PTM strategies.

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A user-controlled thermal chair for an open plan workplace: CFD and field studies of thermal comfort performance

Abstract: This study aims to improve user comfort and heaters, which are about 1-1.5kW. Further research is recommended to improve the design and application of the thermal chair to improve user overall thermal comfort and also further reduce energy consumption.

Cited by 29 publications

References 29 publications

Personal Climatization Systems—A Review on Existing and Upcoming Concepts

Personal Climatization Systems—A Review on Existing and Upcoming Concepts

Evaluation of Thermal Comfort Inside an Office Equipped with a Fan Coil HVAC System: A CFD Approach

Emerging Materials and Strategies for Personal Thermal Management

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