Annotated Summary (Draft 2)

Deng, Z., & Chen, Q. (2020). Development and validation of a smart HVAC control system for multi-occupant offices by using occupants’ physiological signals from wristband. Energy and Buildings, 214, 109872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2020.109872

 

In this article, Deng and Chen (2020) focus on the usage of wristbands on occupants in order to collect data from a human. The article primarily discusses how to achieve the optimal thermal comfort for each occupant. A thermal sensational vote (TSV) is a linearity scale which is used as a form of measurement in order to find out the level of comfort of each occupant (-3 being very hot, 0 comfortable and 3 being very cold). Heat, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems are usually unable to measure occupant factors such as thermal comfort. Therefore, with this solution it aims to counter the problem faced. Thermal comfort is usually neglected as it is unable to be categorised as a whole. In fact, each individual will differ from one another in terms of their factors such as gender, metabolism rate, clothing and health conditions.

The use of wristbands solves the limitations of using traditional sensors in rooms, which are limited to measuring external data such as the occupant’s clothing, gender, and health. Comparatively, the wristband can record the occupant’s physiological data, including wrist skin temperature, relative humidity and heart rate, every ten minutes. Every individual wristband would be registered to a different serial number and would use Bluetooth to communicate with mobile phones. With a working distance of 5m, the connection between the wristband the phone would be used to detect human presence in the room. The data collected would then be used to calculate the individual’s thermal comfort and direct this data to the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) System in the Building Management System (BMS) to modulate the room’s setpoint temperature in order for each occupant to achieve the TSV value of 0. This system updates every ten minutes or even every time someone enters or leaves the room. Each room will be equipped with a lighting occupancy sensor placed on the ceiling, allowing for the system to communicate with the wristband to sense the arrival and departure from the room, sending the data to the BMS system. This causes the system to update the room’s setpoint temperature or to even shut down the HVAC system in the situation where the system detects nobody left in the room. Thus, leading to the reduction in energy consumption and increment of the cost savings from the HVAC system.