Applied thermal comfort control

A large banking facility has three trading floors, each floor has 600 occupants. Since the commissioning of the building and its systems in 2003 there have been numerous complaints from the occupants regarding conditions on each floor. The complaints had escalated so far that senior management requested the comfort conditions relative to occupants be improved. But what were the conditions which were deemed to be “uncomfortable” and what conditions needed to be created to alleviate and further complaints? There were on-going complaints received from occupants pertaining to environmental conditions on all three of the trader floors. The complaints varied from thermal issues: Too hot, Too cold, Draft. Detailed surveys were conducted to ascertain actual small power loads of equipment installed on a zone by zone basis. The results from these surveys in conjunction with the existing occupancy densities, lighting loads and the building façade fabric performance were recorded. This paper will first describe the previous operating conditions and then will describe the analysis and proposed system modifications to remedy the situation. The revised HVAC system and controls would be capable of monitoring and operating zone conditions to PPD and PMV requirements.