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An investigation to link thermal comfort and occupant perceptions to measured environmental data in university offices
Thesis   Open access

An investigation to link thermal comfort and occupant perceptions to measured environmental data in university offices

Richard Lamont Kimball III
Master of Science (M.S.), Drexel University
Jun 2020
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00000024
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Abstract

Building Human comfort Indoor air quality Occupant perceptions Thermal comfort Thermal environment
Thermal comfort is an incredibly complex topic that has consistent effects on the physical comfort, stress, and mood of occupants in their thermal environment. A review of the leading standards for thermal comfort design based on a 1970 model is performed to provide a basis for this work. A greater understanding of this comfort will lead to the design of better thermal environments and the improvement of the those states of mind of occupants. The goal of this work to try and link qualitative responses from occupants on the perception of their thermal comfort with simple thermal environment data collected in those occupants spaces. A quantification of these perceptions will allow for better comparisons to measured data and an understanding of this connection. This work further investigates the magnitude of and ability to infer building details and draw conclusions based upon basic measured environmental data.. Analysis was performed on the collected data through spatial and seasonal comparisons and resulted in the conclusion that a variety of previously unknown building details can be inferred from data of this type. Details regarding operation/design of the mechanical system, mechanisms of CO₂ accumulation, occupancy, and energy usage were able to be inferred with confidence from the collected data. A firm conclusion regarding the link between qualitative occupant perception data and quantitative environmental data could be drawn based on this work stemming from the complexities of this perception and a lack of survey responses regarding this perception.

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