Model for Thermal Comfort and Energy Saving Based on Individual\n Sensation Estimation

In office spaces, the ratio of energy consumption of air conditioning and\nlighting for maintaining the environment comfort is about 70%. On the other\nhand, many people claim being dissatisfied with the temperature of the air\nconditioning. Therefore, there is concern about work efficiency reduction\ncaused by the current air conditioning control. In this research, we propose an\nautomatic control system that improves both energy-saving and thermal comfort\nof all indoor users by quantifying individual differences in thermal comfort\nfrom vital information, on the basis of which the optimal settings of both air\nconditioning and wearable systems that can directly heat and cool individuals\nare determined. Various environments were simulated with different room sizes,\nnumbers of users in a room, and heating/cooling conditions. The simulation\nresults demonstrated the efficiency of the proposed system for both energy\nsaving and comfort maximization.\n