Investigation of comfort temperature, adaptive model and the window-opening behaviour in Japanese houses

This study described in this paper was undertaken to investigate comfort temperatures and related behaviours in Japanese homes. In it temperatures were measured in the living rooms and a thermal comfort survey of residents and related window-opening behavioural survey was completed over a full year in the Gifu region of Japan. The residents were found to be highly satisfied with the thermal environment of their houses. Significant seasonal differences were found in their comfort temperatures. The results showed that comfort temperature changes varied with changes in both the indoor and outdoor climate. The strength of the relationship between indoor and outdoor temperatures justified the adoption of the adaptive model for both prediction and design of control strategies for the provision of indoor comfort. The window-opening behaviours were shown to be related to both the indoor or outdoor air temperatures. The deadband was narrower and constraints on the window opening in the houses investigated were both considerably lower than previously found in office building studies. The adaptive model is highly supported by this study of occupant perceptions and window-opening behaviour.

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