EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ON THERMAL COMFORT IN OFFICES REGARDING BUILDING ORIENTATION IN WINTER PERIOD

Abstract

The population in Serbia predominantly lives and works in traditional buildings from the middle of the last century. This paper investigates the indoor thermal environments in two business offices in the same building, located in Belgrade, Serbia. They are approximately the same size, on the same floor, but on the opposite sides of the building. In Office 1, the exposure to direct sunlight is for about one hour in the morning in winter period, due to the NE orientation. Office 2 is SW oriented and exposed to sunlight starting from 12.30h until the sunset. The study was carried out in a traditional office building from the middle of the last century, with typical walls without insulation. Physical parameters such as air temperature, measured by K-type sensors (TK1 and TK2), relative air speed, and relative humidity are the main factors that influence the indoor thermal environment. Results regarding the thermal comfort indices, PMV and PPD, were obtained by measurements, which were performed one time per day, during the working hours, at noon, in order to get the relevant conclusions with respect to the orientation and sunlight exposure of the offices. Other physical parameters mentioned above were measured three times per day, at two heights. In this work, the results of measurements of PMV and PPD for the whole heating season are presented.