Field measurement, survey and evaluation on indoor thermal environments in typical office buildings

Abstract

The indoor air environmental conditions of three different typical office buildings were studied with the help of actual measurement and questionnaire survey. The field study was carried out in winter time (heating season, January, 2011) and transition season (October, 2011) in the city of Xi'an. The survey results showed that most workers perceived good thermal environment in the investigated office buildings both the heating season and transition season. However, it was found apparently relative low indoor air humidity at heating season. It was also noticed that there was remarkable difference between predicted mean vote (PMV) index and actual-measurement thermal sensation vote (TSV) in evaluating indoor thermal environments in typical office buildings. Based on the survey, at heating season, the thermal neutral temperature (20.6 °C) of workers is 0.7 °C higher than that at transition season (19.9 °C). From the view of indoor thermal comfort, it is reasonable for Chinese national standard to set the indoor temperature at 20 °C at heating season. The field measurement and survey results showed that the quality of indoor air exerts the greatest impact on the acceptance of environmental quality. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014.