Application of comfort range control logic for thermal comfort and energy saving in VRF system

Abstract

In Korea, in order to reduce building energy, the policy applying insulation standard of passive house level to new buildings from 2017 was established. However, the concept of passive house applied in the Central and Western Europe area is feared to increase the cooling load in hot and humid areas in summer like Korea. Therefore, we propose a control logic for reducing the cooling energy in summer while maintaining occupants' thermal comfort that can apply to VRF system installed in passive buildings. In this paper, Comfort Range Control logic based on ASHRAE Comfort Chart for occupants' thermal comfort and energy saving was applied to VRF system in the actual office space of passive building in Korea. The indoor environment and energy consumption according to the conventional control method, Set-Point Control, and Comfort Range Control proposed in this study were analyzed by field measurement.