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Indoor Environmental Air Quality 6.2 – Controllability of Systems – Thermal Comfort

Intent:

  1. Provide high level of thermal comfort system control for individuals and multi-occupant spaces to promote productivity, comfort and well being of building occupants.

Implementation:

  1. Individual comfort controls for 50% min. of building occupants.
  2. Operable windows are OK instead if:
    • occupants are stationed within 20′-0″ inside and 10′-0″ to either side of the window opening.
    • meets standards of ASHRAE 62.1-2004 for natural ventilation
  3. Also provide thermal comfort controls for multi-occupancy rooms, adjustable to suit needs of various groups to occupy the space.
    • thermal comfort conditions under ASHRAE 55-2004

Codes:

  • ASHRAE 62.1-2004: Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality
  • ASHRAE 55-2004: Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy

Submittal Phase:

  • design

Indoor Environmental Air Quality

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17 Comments On This Post

  1. ashrae 55 – 2004 specifies the following:

    This standard speci?es the combinations
    of indoor space environment and personal
    factors that will produce thermal environ-
    mental conditions acceptable to 80% or
    more of the occupants within a space. The
    environmental factors addressed are tem-
    perature, thermal radiation, humidity, and
    air speed; the personal factors are those of
    activity and clothing.”

    since this is the referenced standard for multi-occupant spaces, does this mean that thermal conditions have to be acceptable to 80% of occupants, although this is not specifically mentioned in the requirements for this credit?

    the sample submittal template does not make any reference to this either (only 50% individual comfort control).

    thanks!

    Reply
  2. Hi Jutta,

    I think you’re trying to learn too much here. Hehe. We don’t need to know that the ASHRAE 55-2004 credit is for 80% or more of the multi-occupancy spaces. The exam will only ask you about which standard applies to the multi-occupancy spaces for EQc6.2.

    In real life, because this is the standard for it, the project team would design the rooms to satisfy this requirement, which is the 80%+ stuff.

    Hope that makes sense! Good luck!

    Reply
  3. Please take a note.

    Two are (not) accounted for in EQc6.2, Controllability of Systems: Thermal Comfort

    A: ventilation effectiveness
    B: daylight

    Hope this helps

    Reply
  4. Can anyone clear up/explain?

    For EQc6.2 in the calc. section it says “The minimum area of the window opening may be 4% of the net occupiable area for the ventilation purposes…”

    What are they talking about w/ this 4%? Any ideas?

    Reply
  5. Cassi,

    This is my interpretation, say you have a regularly occupied room of 100 sf with 10 sf of window, you would need 4 sf (4% of 100 sf room area) minimum OPERABLE window opening. I interpret this requirement as total window area itself (i.e. 10 sf window) can be larger (may permit more daylighting or to satisfy local code req’ts) than minimum area of operable window opening (i.e. 4 sf opening).

    This “4%” is not to be confused with ratio of openable window area to the actual window area itself, i.e. if you have 10 sf of window, it doesn’t mean to provide 4% from window area itself; it must be based on the Floor/Room area square foot where the window is located at.

    I deeply hope that this has not confused you even more. The Reference Guide 3rd ed. page 369 first paragraph explains this as well.

    Reply
  6. Yuki,

    Thanks so much!! I had read pg 369 of the the Reference Guide and that’s where I got confused. I believe you cleared it up for me though!

    Thanks SO MUCH!

    Reply
  7. Cassi,

    I would advise to not get too tangled up in the technicalities of this concept. On the exam you will be asked to choose the percentage from a list of other percentages. So just *memorize* that it’s 4%..

    Reply
  8. Thanks Nick. I realize this but it helps me to memorize it if I actually can understand and comprehend it.

    Reply
  9. Sample test ques:
    Thermal Comfort, as defined for EQc6.2, Controllability of Systems, is defined as control over how many of the following: air temperature, radiant temperature, air speed, and humidity. (Choose 1.)
    a. 1
    b. 2
    c. 3
    d. 4
    Ans a

    I don’t understand why its a , i think it should be d.
    Help.

    Reply
  10. mamz
    if you refer to page 361 of the reference guide under that specif credit specified on the question, one can read “comfort system control, for the purposes of this credit, is defined as the provision of control over at least one of these primary factors in the occupant’s local environment”.

    in that case mamz; you can control any of the for factors giving in your question. so yes, the correct answer is a.1

    i hope that helps and good luck!

    Reply
  11. sorry for the redundancy and misspelling of my answer given above, hope it is clear though. thanks

    Reply
  12. got it..excellent..thanx humberto

    Reply
  13. i want explanation about this point
    (Operable windows can be used in lieu of comfort controls for occupants of areas that are 20 feet inside of and 10 feet to either side of the operable part of the window).

    Reply
  14. Ibtihal –

    It’s my understanding that you can use operable windows as a means of thermal comfort control for anyone within that area adjacent to an operable window. The occupants within that space will count towards the percentage of occupants who have “control.”

    Reply
  15. Hi,

    Related to the aspects that contribute to thermal comfort, EQ 6.2 states (in approach) that aspects of thermal comfort include air temperature, air velocity, amount of outside air, and moisture content. Three of these correspond to ASHRAE 55: air temp, air speek, and humidity. However, ASHRAE 55 includes ‘radiant temperature’, but not ‘amount of outside air’. So if asked for aspects that contribute to thermal comfort, would you go with the ones from ASHRAE 55 (including ‘radiant temperature’, or with the ones from EQ 6.2, which include ‘amount of outside air’?

    Reply
  16. Has anyone run across a question that mentions window shades as a method of manual control for thermal comfort? It seems that it would be an option for controlling radiant heat from windows but while I do recall a mention of ‘shade’, I wasn’t sure if it referred to exterior shading or something applied to the interior that could be considered as one of the control methods.

    Thanks.

    Reply
  17. EQc6.2 states operable windows must meet ASHREA 62.1-2004 for ventilation, what are these specifications?

    Reply

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