Thermal comfort in the low energy building - validation and modification of the Fanger model

Abstract

Nowadays, we spend most of our time inside buildings. Thus, ensuring adequate thermal comfort is an important issue. The paper discusses the issue of thermal comfort assessment in the intelligent low energy building “Energis” of Kielce University of Technology (Poland). The tests conducted in a selected lecture theater focused on collecting anonymous questionnaires containing thermal sensation and air quality votes of the respondents as well as performing measurements of indoor air parameters (air and globe temperatures, relative humidity, air velocity and CO2 concentration). Based on the obtained data a comparison has been done between the actual sensation votes of the volunteers and the calculation results performed with the Fanger thermal comfort model. Two indices have been considered in the paper: PMV (Predicted Mean Vote) and PPD (Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied). A modification of the model has also been proposed, which considers the impact of the carbon dioxide concentration on thermal comfort.

Comparison of thermal comfort in a traditional and intelligent building

“…The authors showed similar results [14,15]. In Poland, however, the authors were involved in research on thermal comfort [16][17][18][19]. Based on the presented literature review, it should be noted that there is no generally acceptable model of thermal comfort.…”

Assessment and comparison of thermal sensations for a traditional and modern building

“…And then the same authors carried out an analysis in one room in the "Energis" intelligent building in winter. It turned out that the building in this research group met people's thermal expectations, because according to their responses, the room was comfortable and pleasantly cool at an indoor temperature of 25.7 o C. Similar tests of thermal comfort, including PMV and PPD, were carried out by [5,6]. The research on comparing traditional and intelligent buildings and two intelligent buildings was presented by [7].…”

Modeling of indoor thermal comfort in the intelligent building

“…It needs to be remembered that heat can be dissipated by conduction, convection and radiation, as well as phase change processes [8][9][10]. The analysis of the accuracy of the Fanger model has been done by Krawczyk [11]. Papazoglou et al [12] by researching schools in Athens found out that PMV showed that the students' feelings were cooler than they were in reality.…”