Analysis of the Effect of Using External Venetian Blinds on the Thermal Comfort of Users of Highly Glazed Office Rooms in a Transition Season of Temperate Climate—Case Study

Abstract

Improving the energy efficiency of buildings is among the most urgent social development tasks due to the scale of energy consumption in this industry. At the same time, it is essential to meet high requirements for indoor environmental quality and thermal comfort. The issue of overheating is most often analysed in summer but it also occurs in transition seasons, when the cooling systems do not operate. The paper attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of external mobile shading elements on the microclimate of rooms with large glazed areas in the transition season. Passive solutions, such as shading elements, which limit the increase of indoor temperature, do not always allow the acquisition and maintenance of comfortable solutions for the duration of the season, as demonstrated by the authors. Temporary cooling of the rooms may be necessary to maintain comfortable conditions for the users, or other solutions should be devised to improve comfort (e.g., reduction of clothing insulation characteristics). The novelty of the study consists in the analysis of comfort in a "nearly zero energy consumption" building (NZEB) during a period not analyzed by other scientists. This is a transition period during which heating/cooling systems do not operate. The research task set by the authors involved the assessment of the possibility to reduce office space overheating in the transition season (spring) by using external shading equipment in rooms with large glazed areas. An additional research task aimed at checking the extent to which user behaviour, such as reduction in clothing insulation characteristics, can improve comfort in overheated rooms. The results of the tests reveal that the difference in the ambient air temperature between a room with external venetian blinds and an identical room with no venetian blinds in the transition season, i.e., from 27 March to 6 April 2017, ranged from 12.3 to 2.1 • C. The use of a shading system (external venetian blinds positioned at an angle of 45 • ) reduced the number of discomfort hours by 92% (during working hours) compared to the room without external venetian blinds. A reduction in the thermal insulation of the clothes worn by people working in the room with no venetian blinds helped to reduce the number of discomfort hours by 31%.

A Neural Network for Monitoring and Characterization of Buildings with Environmental Quality Management, Part 1: Verification under Steady State Conditions

“…For instance, some inaccessible valves that previously were set during construction needed accessibility to permit adjustments, thus, new controls to expand the adjustment ranges had to be added. Yet the biggest impact was the requirement for additional monitoring information of temperatures or intensity of the flowing media as the control system needed to develop predicting capabilities [29].…”

“…The solution presented in the article is a continuation of many years of research, which was the basis for the creation of many articles. In previous studies [25][26][27][28][29][30], the experimental base was discussed in detail along with the possibilities it creates for conducting "in situ" research in the field of automatic process control. The issues concerning the work of individual technical systems (HVAC, lighting, blinds, etc.)…”

“…The issues concerning the work of individual technical systems (HVAC, lighting, blinds, etc.) in terms of reducing energy consumption through the implementation of specially developed control algorithms are presented elsewhere (see [6,26,[31][32][33]), as are issues related to providing comfort in an energy-efficient building (see [10,29,30,34,35]). Following the development of technology, conducting an analysis of scientific research results, we designed a new solution that is the subject of this article.…”

“…Following the development of technology, conducting an analysis of scientific research results, we designed a new solution that is the subject of this article. To develop this solution, we used measurements published in different sources [10,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34].…”

Assessment of Thermal Comfort in the Intelligent Buildings in View of Providing High Quality Indoor Environment

“…The indoor air quality measured with the CO 2 concentration proved to be high in all the buildings. Fedorczak-Cisak et al [34] considered the impact of external shading equipment in office rooms with large glazed areas on indoor thermal comfort. It was observed that the application of external Venetian blinds reduced the ambient air temperatures and the number of discomfort hours by 92%.…”