Thermal environment modelling - assessment of Fanger model’s usability in the smart building supplied from renewable energy sources

Abstract The proper design of smart buildings, usually powered with renewable energy sources, should ensure that the indoor conditions are comfortable and users experience thermal comfort throughout the year. The existing model of thermal comfort comes from the 60’s/70’s and was the basis for the ISO 7730 Standard. It utilizes the concept of the PMV (Predicted Mean Vote) and PPD (Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied) indicators. The current paper compares the actual expressions of people (as indicated by them in the anonymous questionnaires) with the PMV/PPD values calculated according to the Standard. Therefore, 76 people aged 20 to 40 were examined during the heating period. The temperature in the rooms ranged from 21.6°C to 24.1°C, and the insulation of the clothes of the examined people ranged from 0.40 to 1.39 clo. Differences between these values have been discussed and conclusions have been drawn as to the usability of this thermal comfort model in smart buildings, which still seem to be a novelty in Central European countries and data on their thermal comfort performance is still quite modest.