Evaluation through adaptive model (ATC) in the levels of thermal comfort in summer in offices in Mediterranea locations.

Abstract

The design of the building-plant system in the case of office buildings has rarely considered the adaptive model of comfort almost always limited to the control of temperature and humidity and only in some cases of PMV and PPD. Specifically when the building interacts with a climate characterized by high values of external temperature and humidity for long periods, and with high solar radiation in the presence of large glazed areas, it is crucial to take into account relevant aspects of the principle of thermal adaptation. The long stay of the occupants in an air-conditioned environment leads, at the request of colder temperatures very distant from those indicated by the criteria of acceptability of an environment from those occurring at the same moment outside the building, characterizing in this way, a greatly exceeding to negative values with respect to static model of comfort. By using of the adaptive model, the occupant of a building is no longer simply understood as a passive subject, as it appeared in the static model of Fanger, but as an active agent that interacts at all levels with the environment in which stays. This article shows an experimental study, which shows that the results of this model defines comfort temperatures greater and more flexible than the model of Fanger, even with significant energy savings on air conditioning in summer.