THERMAL SCIENCE

International Scientific Journal

EXPERIMENTAL AND STATISTICAL SURVEY ON LOCAL THERMAL COMFORT IMPACT ON WORKING PRODUCTIVITY LOSS IN UNIVERSITY CLASSROOMS

ABSTRACT
The paper presents an experimental analysis of the relationship between local thermal comfort and productivity loss in classrooms. The experimental investigation was performed in a real university classroom during the winter semester in city of Belgrade. Measurements were taken for four scenarios, with different indoor comfort conditions. Variations were made by setting the central heating system on/off, adding an additional heat source to provoke higher indoor temperatures, and measuring the radiant asymmetry impact. Innovative questionnaires were developed especially for the research, in order to investigate students’ subjective feelings about local thermal comfort and indoor environmental quality. Local predicted mean vote and predicted percentage dissatisfied indices were calculated using data measured in situ. The results were compared to existing models recommended in literature and European and ASHRAE standards. Student productivity was evaluated using novel tests, designed to fit the purposes of the research. Surveys were conducted for 19 days under different thermal conditions, during lectures in a real classroom, using a sample of 240 productivity test results in total. Using the measured data, new correlations between the predicted mean vote, CO2, personal factor and productivity loss were developed. The research findings imply that local thermal comfort is an important factor that can impact productivity, but the impact of the personal factor is of tremendous importance, together with CO2 concentration in the classroom. [Projects of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 33047 and Grant no. III 42008]
KEYWORDS
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2017-09-20
PAPER REVISED: 2018-05-21
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2018-05-24
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2018-06-03
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI170920160B
CITATION EXPORT: view in browser or download as text file
THERMAL SCIENCE YEAR 2019, VOLUME 23, ISSUE Issue 1, PAGES [379 - 392]
REFERENCES
  1. ***, ASHRAE Handbook 2009/Fundamentals2009/F10 SI: Indoor Environmental Health, in: ASHRAE, 2009.
  2. Rupp, R.F., et al., A review of human thermal comfort in the built environment, Energy and Buildings, 105 (2015), pp. 178-205
  3. De Dear, R., et al., Developing an adaptive model of thermal comfort and preference. Final report, Results Coop. Res. between Am. Soc. Heating, Refrig. Air Cond. Eng. Inc., Macquarie Res. Ltd." 104 (1997), pp.1-18
  4. Zomorodian Sadat, Z., et al., Thermal comfort in educational buildings : A review article, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Review, 59 (2016), pp. 895-906
  5. Fanger, P.O., Assessment of thermal comfort practice, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 30 (1973), pp. 313-324
  6. Kim, J.T., et. al., Development of the adaptive PMV model for improving prediction performances, Energy and Buildings, 98 (2014), pp. 100-105
  7. Almeida, R.M.S.F., et al., Thermal comfort models and pupils' perception in free-running school buildings of a mild climate country, Energy and Buildings, 111 (2016), pp. 64-75
  8. Stevanović, Ž. Ž., Experimental research of uniformity thermal comfort indicators in public buildings, Ph. D. thesis, University of Nis, Serbia, 2015.
  9. Stevanović, Ž. Ž., et al., CFD simulations of thermal comfort in naturally ventilated primary school classrooms, Thermal Science, 20 (2015), pp. 287-296
  10. D'Ambrosio Alfano, F.R., et al., PMV-PPD and acceptability in naturally ventilated schools, Building and Environment, 67 (2013), pp. 129-137
  11. Wargocki, P., et al., Indoor climate and productivity in offices, REHVA Guidebook 6, 2006
  12. Bajc, T.S., et al., Indoor environmental quality in non-residential buildings - experimental investigation, Thermal Science, 20 (2016), pp. 1521-1530
  13. Herrmann, M.A., Worker Absence and Productivity: Evidence from Teaching, Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 53 (2011), pp. 1689-1699
  14. Kosonen, R., et al., The effect of perceived indoor air quality on productivity loss, Energy and Buildings, 36 (2004), pp. 981-986
  15. Wargocki, P., et al., Productivity is affected by the air quality in offices, Proceedings of Healthy Buildings 2000, Espoo, Finland, 2000, Vol.1, pp. 635-640.
  16. Kosonen, R., et al., Assessment of productivity loss in air-conditioned buildings using PMV index, Energy and Buildings, 36 (2004), pp. 987-993
  17. Lan, L., et al., Use of neurobehavioral tests to evaluate the effects of indoor environment quality on productivity, Building and Environment, 44 (2009), pp. 2208-2217
  18. Bajc, T.S., et al., Local thermal comfort indices impact on productivity loss in classrooms, Proceedings, BEST 2016 - 1ST International Conference on Building, Energy, System and Technology, Belgrade, Serbia, 2016
  19. ***, ISO 7730:2005 International Standard - Ergonomics of the thermal environment - Analytical determination and interpretation of thermal comfort using calculation of the PMV and PPD indices and local thermal comfort criteria, 2005.
  20. ***, ISO 10551: Ergonomics of the thermal environment: assessment of the influence of the thermal environment using subjective judgment scales, Genewa, Switzerland, 1995
  21. ***, ASHRAE STANDARD 55-2013 Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy, 2013.
  22. ***, Ds/En, DS/EN 15251: Indoor environmental input parameters for design and assessment of energy performance of buildings addressing indoor air quality, thermal environment, lighting and acoustics, 2007
  23. Mohamed, S., et al., Forecasting labor productivity changes in construction using the PMV index, International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 35 (2005), pp. 345-351
  24. Lan, L., et al., Quantitative measurement of productivity loss due to thermal discomfort, Energy and Buildings, 43 (2011), pp. 1057-1062

© 2024 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International licence