Investigating the Effect of Reflecting Human Activity Information in Physiological Sensing-Driven Occupant Thermal Comfort Modeling

摘要

Understanding occupant thermal comfort in buildings is important in the context of their physical and psychological well-being. Thermal comfort is a subjective multi-faceted phenomenon that involves the interaction of the body, the mind, and the ambient environment; thus, each occupant typically has different thermal perception in the same thermal conditions. As the importance of occupant thermal comfort estimation has increased, numerous studies have been conducted in this field. In order to accurately model occupant thermal comfort in buildings, human activity levels and corresponding metabolic rate need to be reflected in thermal comfort modeling. However, prior studies heavily rely on an assumed metabolic rate without consideration of actual human activity changes, which may lead to inaccurate estimation of occupant thermal comfort. To address this limitation, this study aims to model occupant thermal comfort in consideration of actual human activities using physiological responses and real-time metabolic rates. For evaluation, case studies were conducted in a real office environment. This research is expected to provide improved understanding of occupant thermal comfort in the context of various indoor activities, which helps control the building energy systems in accordance with occupant thermal preferences.