Thermal comfort evaluated for combinations of energy-efficient personal heating and cooling devices
Abstract
Personal comfort systems (PCS) have potential to fulfill building occupants' personal thermal comfort preferences with great efficiency. But to integrate them into building conditioning, there must be a broader selection of PCS devices available. Design guidance and standards are needed to assure that such devices provide high levels of comfort effectiveness and energy efficiency. This study addresses these needs. A suite of minimum-power PCS devices was built that target body parts significant to alliesthesia—a heated shoe insole, heated/cooled wristpad, small deskfan, and heated/cooled chair. They were tested in a climate chamber under cool and warm conditions using both thermal-manikin and human-subjects. Their efficiency at physically heating/cooling the body is high; the combined suite has a coefficient of performance (COP) of 3.6 for cooling and 0.88 for heating. The subjects' whole-body thermal acceptance and thermal comfort perception were improved by the devices in an additive manner; using the combined suite over 80% of people accepted ambient temperatures of 18°C and 29°C. The PCS ‘corrects’ the ambient temperature towards thermal neutrality by as much as 6.5 K cooling and 3.6 K heating, overcoming building occupants' typical interpersonal thermal differences and making possible large HVAC energy savings in buildings. The idea of temperaturemore »
- Authors:
-
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1613635
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1548028
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AR0000529
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Building and Environment
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 143; Journal ID: ISSN 0360-1323
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; thermal comfort; building energy saving; personal comfort system (PCS); local heating/cooling; heated and cooled chair; corrective power (CP)
Citation Formats
Luo, Maohui, Arens, Edward, Zhang, Hui, Ghahramani, Ali, and Wang, Zhe. Thermal comfort evaluated for combinations of energy-efficient personal heating and cooling devices. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2018.07.008.
Luo, Maohui, Arens, Edward, Zhang, Hui, Ghahramani, Ali, & Wang, Zhe. Thermal comfort evaluated for combinations of energy-efficient personal heating and cooling devices. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2018.07.008
Luo, Maohui, Arens, Edward, Zhang, Hui, Ghahramani, Ali, and Wang, Zhe. 2018.
"Thermal comfort evaluated for combinations of energy-efficient personal heating and cooling devices". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2018.07.008. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1613635.
@article{osti_1613635,
title = {Thermal comfort evaluated for combinations of energy-efficient personal heating and cooling devices},
author = {Luo, Maohui and Arens, Edward and Zhang, Hui and Ghahramani, Ali and Wang, Zhe},
abstractNote = {Personal comfort systems (PCS) have potential to fulfill building occupants' personal thermal comfort preferences with great efficiency. But to integrate them into building conditioning, there must be a broader selection of PCS devices available. Design guidance and standards are needed to assure that such devices provide high levels of comfort effectiveness and energy efficiency. This study addresses these needs. A suite of minimum-power PCS devices was built that target body parts significant to alliesthesia—a heated shoe insole, heated/cooled wristpad, small deskfan, and heated/cooled chair. They were tested in a climate chamber under cool and warm conditions using both thermal-manikin and human-subjects. Their efficiency at physically heating/cooling the body is high; the combined suite has a coefficient of performance (COP) of 3.6 for cooling and 0.88 for heating. The subjects' whole-body thermal acceptance and thermal comfort perception were improved by the devices in an additive manner; using the combined suite over 80% of people accepted ambient temperatures of 18°C and 29°C. The PCS ‘corrects’ the ambient temperature towards thermal neutrality by as much as 6.5 K cooling and 3.6 K heating, overcoming building occupants' typical interpersonal thermal differences and making possible large HVAC energy savings in buildings. The idea of temperature corrective power can be the basis of standards for PCS.},
doi = {10.1016/j.buildenv.2018.07.008},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1613635},
journal = {Building and Environment},
issn = {0360-1323},
number = ,
volume = 143,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jul 11 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Wed Jul 11 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
Web of Science
Works referenced in this record:
Heat roadmap China: New heat strategy to reduce energy consumption towards 2030
journal, March 2015
- Xiong, Weiming; Wang, Yu; Mathiesen, Brian Vad
- Energy, Vol. 81
Extending air temperature setpoints: Simulated energy savings and design considerations for new and retrofit buildings
journal, June 2015
- Hoyt, Tyler; Arens, Edward; Zhang, Hui
- Building and Environment, Vol. 88
Energy savings from temperature setpoints and deadband: Quantifying the influence of building and system properties on savings
journal, March 2016
- Ghahramani, Ali; Zhang, Kenan; Dutta, Kanu
- Applied Energy, Vol. 165
Are ‘class A’ temperature requirements realistic or desirable?
journal, January 2010
- Arens, Edward; Humphreys, Michael A.; de Dear, Richard
- Building and Environment, Vol. 45, Issue 1
Air temperature thresholds for indoor comfort and perceived air quality
journal, April 2011
- Zhang, Hui; Arens, Edward; Pasut, Wilmer
- Building Research & Information, Vol. 39, Issue 2
Using footwarmers in offices for thermal comfort and energy savings
journal, October 2015
- Zhang, Hui; Arens, Edward; Taub, Mallory
- Energy and Buildings, Vol. 104
Preferred skin temperature as a function of internal and mean skin temperature.
journal, December 1972
- Cabanac, M.; Massonnet, B.; Belaiche, R.
- Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol. 33, Issue 6
Temperature Transients: A Model for Heat Diffusion through the Skin, Thermoreceptor Response and Thermal Sensation
journal, December 1991
- Ring, J. W.; Dear, Richard
- Indoor Air, Vol. 1, Issue 4
A review of the corrective power of personal comfort systems in non-neutral ambient environments
journal, September 2015
- Zhang, Hui; Arens, Edward; Zhai, Yongchao
- Building and Environment, Vol. 91
Thermal pleasure in built environments: physiology of alliesthesia
journal, December 2014
- Parkinson, Thomas; de Dear, Richard
- Building Research & Information, Vol. 43, Issue 3
Thermal pleasure in built environments: alliesthesia in different thermoregulatory zones
journal, April 2015
- Parkinson, Thomas; de Dear, Richard; Candido, Christhina
- Building Research & Information, Vol. 44, Issue 1
Partial- and whole-body thermal sensation and comfort— Part I: Uniform environmental conditions
journal, January 2006
- Arens, Edward; Zhang, Hui; Huizenga, Charlie
- Journal of Thermal Biology, Vol. 31, Issue 1-2
Thermal sensation and comfort models for non-uniform and transient environments, part III: Whole-body sensation and comfort
journal, February 2010
- Zhang, Hui; Arens, Edward; Huizenga, Charlie
- Building and Environment, Vol. 45, Issue 2
Personalized conditioning and its impact on thermal comfort and energy performance – A review
journal, June 2014
- Veselý, Michal; Zeiler, Wim
- Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 34
The underlying linkage between personal control and thermal comfort: Psychological or physical effects?
journal, January 2016
- Luo, Maohui; Cao, Bin; Ji, Wenjie
- Energy and Buildings, Vol. 111
A user-controlled thermal chair for an open plan workplace: CFD and field studies of thermal comfort performance
journal, December 2017
- Shahzad, Sally; Calautit, John Kaiser; Aquino, Angelo I.
- Applied Energy, Vol. 207
Personalized heating – Comparison of heaters and control modes
journal, February 2017
- Veselý, Michal; Molenaar, Paul; Vos, Marissa
- Building and Environment, Vol. 112
Thermal comfort and energy consumption in cold environment with retrofitted Huotong (warm-barrel)
journal, February 2017
- He, Yingdong; Li, Nianping; Zhou, Linxuan
- Building and Environment, Vol. 112
Enabling energy-efficient approaches to thermal comfort using room air motion
journal, September 2014
- Pasut, Wilmer; Arens, Edward; Zhang, Hui
- Building and Environment, Vol. 79
Thermal evaluation of a chair with fans as an individually controlled system
journal, July 2009
- Watanabe, Shinichi; Shimomura, Toshimichi; Miyazaki, Hironori
- Building and Environment, Vol. 44, Issue 7
Applicability of whole-body heat balance models for evaluating thermal sensation under non-uniform air movement in warm environments
journal, May 2014
- Huang, Li; Arens, Edward; Zhang, Hui
- Building and Environment, Vol. 75
Comfort under personally controlled air movement in warm and humid environments
journal, July 2013
- Zhai, Yongchao; Zhang, Hui; Zhang, Yufeng
- Building and Environment, Vol. 65
Local thermal sensation and comfort study in a field environment chamber served by displacement ventilation system in the tropics
journal, February 2007
- Cheong, K. W. D.; Yu, W. J.; Sekhar, S. C.
- Building and Environment, Vol. 42, Issue 2
Field study of thermal environment spatial distribution and passenger local thermal comfort in aircraft cabin
journal, October 2014
- Cui, Weilin; Ouyang, Qin; Zhu, Yingxin
- Building and Environment, Vol. 80
Individual difference in thermal comfort: A literature review
journal, June 2018
- Wang, Zhe; de Dear, Richard; Luo, Maohui
- Building and Environment, Vol. 138
Thermal comfort and gender: a literature review: Thermal comfort and gender: a literature review
journal, November 2011
- Karjalainen, S.
- Indoor Air, Vol. 22, Issue 2
The relative influence of body characteristics on humid heat stress response
journal, March 1995
- Havenith, G.; Luttikholt, V. G. M.; Vrijkotte, T. G. M.
- European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology, Vol. 70, Issue 3
Effect of age, gender, economic group and tenure on thermal comfort: A field study in residential buildings in hot and dry climate with seasonal variations
journal, March 2010
- Indraganti, Madhavi; Rao, Kavita Daryani
- Energy and Buildings, Vol. 42, Issue 3
Human metabolic rate and thermal comfort in buildings: The problem and challenge
journal, March 2018
- Luo, Maohui; Wang, Zhe; Ke, Kevin
- Building and Environment, Vol. 131
The validity of ISO-PMV for predicting comfort votes in every-day thermal environments
journal, July 2002
- Humphreys, Michael A.; Fergus Nicol, J.
- Energy and Buildings, Vol. 34, Issue 6
Works referencing / citing this record:
Numerical and experimental investigation of the effect of air conditioning duct on the room temperature distribution and energy efficiency
journal, December 2019
- Delavari, Abolfazl; Ghassabi, Ghodrat; Saffarian, Mohammad Reza
- Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering, Vol. 42, Issue 1
Experimental comparison of thermal conditions in office rooms: Diffuse ceiling ventilation, chilled beam system, and chilled ceiling combined with mixing ventilation
journal, January 2020
- Lestinen, Sami; Mustakallio, Panu; Kilpeläinen, Simo
- Science and Technology for the Built Environment, Vol. 26, Issue 5
Implementation of demand-oriented ventilation with adjustable fan network
journal, January 2020
- Wang, Huan; Wang, Guijin; Li, Xianting
- Indoor and Built Environment, Vol. 29, Issue 4