Journal
IEEE INTERNET OF THINGS JOURNAL
Volume 8, Issue 8, Pages 7089-7100Publisher
IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC
DOI: 10.1109/JIOT.2020.3038378
Keywords
Automation; Sensors; Intelligent agents; Buildings; HVAC; Heating systems; Temperature sensors; Building automation; indoor environments; smart buildings; smart systems; thermal comfort
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation [1763134]
- Div Of Civil, Mechanical, & Manufact Inn
- Directorate For Engineering [1763134] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The study found that the use of Personal Comfort Systems can increase occupant satisfaction with the thermal environment. Additionally, incorporating some level of automation in the control process can further enhance occupant satisfaction, particularly when users are able to approve control actions of the intelligent agent before execution.
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems account for 43% of building energy consumption, yet only 38% of commercial building occupants are satisfied with the thermal environment. The primary reasons for low occupant satisfaction are that HVAC operations do not integrate occupant comfort requirements nor control the thermal environment at the individual level. Personal comfort systems (PCSs) enable local control of the thermal environment around each occupant. However, full manual control of PCS can be inefficient, and fully automated PCS reduces an occupant's perceived control over the environment, which can then lead to lower satisfaction. A better solution might lie somewhere between fully manual and fully automated environmental control. In this article, we describe the development and implementation of an Internet-of-Things (IoT)-based intelligent agent that learns individual occupant comfort requirements and controls the thermal environment using PCS (i.e., a local fan and a heater). We tested different levels of automation where control is shared between an intelligent agent and the end user. Our results show that PCS use improves occupant satisfaction and including some level of automation can improve occupant satisfaction further than what is possible with manually operated PCS. Among the levels of automation investigated, inquisitive automation, where the user approves/declines the control actions of the intelligent agent before execution, led to highest occupant satisfaction with the thermal environment.
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