Implementation of an experimental setup for the analysis of transient thermal comfort in buildings with dynamic heating operation

Prior research indicated that charging the buildings thermal mass by increasing the heat flow above the current heating demand at given times can be efficiently used as a measure of demand side management (DSM). In combination with electricity driven heating systems such DSM can support matching the heat demand with the growing yet fluctuating renewable electricity generation. For this purpose, the set point temperatures within a building need to be dynamically adjusted resulting in transient non-linear temperature changes. Still, it is crucial to ensure the residents thermal comfort to enable acceptability of the suggested load shifting approach. However, the effects of such non-linear temperature drifts upon the thermal comfort are unknown. Therefore, this paper presents the implementation of an experimental setup for the analysis of transient thermal comfort in buildings. Therein, a complex building model with a very detailed representation of building physics and heating systems is used to generate realistic thermal boundary conditions (i.e. airand surface temperatures) for climate chamber experiments. Thus, the proposed setup allows the emulation of different heating systems and the resulting dynamic temperature scenarios with non-linear temperature drifts in a climate chamber. Further, the suggested experimental procedure allows evaluating the influence of different metabolic activity levels and thermal preconditions upon the subject’s perception of analysed scenarios.

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