Smart Systems and Heat - Comfort Literature Review - Literature Review Findings Report

Abstract:

The aim of the project is to detail a Home Energy Management System (HEMS) performance specification from the published evidence on comfort and control e.g. definition of the physical parameters that need to be delivered by the HEMS system, for various market segments. The project will summarise the findings and communicate the key implications for the design of better HEMS. Although there are a number of literature reviews of the physiological and psychological factors that influence human comfort, there has been no attempt to date to identify the implications for HEMS design. This work will review the existing literature with a final report summarising implications for HEMS performance. Findings from this work will be used to inform the performance specification of future SSH HEMS systems and to benchmark existing commercial designs

This report was commissioned by the Energy Technologies Institute to enhance the understanding of the published research in the area of thermal comfort in the homes and includes research into:

• Thermoregulation – deals with temperature changes in the environment and how the complex physiological system maintains body temperature
• Defining thermal comfort – review on the thermal environment people find comfortable and how age, gender, race and other factors affect the thermal comfort of the individuals
• Perception of thermal comfort and control – how people perceive thermal comfort and how much control they have to alter their comfort
• Different models of thermal comfort – Fanger’s Model and the Adaptive Model
• Conclusion on the findings

Publication Year:

2014

Publisher:

ETI

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5286/UKERC.EDC.000694

Author(s):

Haines, V., Lawton, C. and Spencer, J.