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A matched pair of test houses with synthetic occupants to investigate summertime overheating

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posted on 2018-11-29, 15:59 authored by Ben M RobertsBen M Roberts, David AllinsonDavid Allinson, Kevin LomasKevin Lomas
Summertime overheating is increasingly prevalent in both new and existing UK dwellings. High internal temperatures can be dangerous to vulnerable occupants, disrupt sleep and cause thermal discomfort. The mitigation or exacerbation of overheating through simple occupant interventions like window opening and blind use needs better understanding if homes are to be comfortable and safe in summer without the use of air conditioning. This paper describes the adaptation of two adjoining, semi-detached houses to create a matched pair of test houses for full-scale, side-by-side summertime overheating experiments under real weather conditions. Synthetic occupancy was installed to allow dynamic remote control of actuated windows, motorised curtains, automated internal doors and internal heat gains. The houses were instrumented with calibrated sensors to measure the internal and external environment. These instrumented, matched pair homes have also been used to accurately quantify the effects on energy demand, internal temperatures and air quality of refurbishment strategies, occupant behaviour, and different heating, cooling and ventilation technologies.

Funding

This research was made possible by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) support for the London-Loughborough Centre for Doctoral Research in Energy Demand (grant EP/L01517X/1). Loughborough University is acknowledged for funding the continued maintenance of the test houses and providing 24-hour security.

History

School

  • Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering

Published in

Journal of Sustainable Design & Applied Research

Volume

6

Issue

1

Pages

29 - 38

Citation

ROBERTS, B.M., ALLINSON, D. and LOMAS, K.J., 2018. A matched pair of test houses with synthetic occupants to investigate summertime overheating. Journal of Sustainable Design & Applied Research, 6 (1), pp.29-38.

Publisher

Arrow, Dublin Institute of Technology

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Acceptance date

2018-10-10

Publication date

2018

Notes

This is an Open Access Article. It is published by Arrow, Dublin Institute of Technology under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-NC 4.0). Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

ISSN

2009-549X

Language

  • en

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