Thermal Comfort

“Thermal Comfort is that condition of mind which expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment” [ASHRAE standard 55]

DesignBuilder can be used to evaluate thermal comfort based on various predictive models. The most frequently used models are ASHRAE 55 adaptive comfort and Predicted Mean Vote (PMV).

Thermal comfort can be evaluated for different zones in a building by using DesignBuilder software to control or calculate the different parameters. This is a powerful scientific method for proving which times of year will be most comfortable and which design options will work the best to reduce the number of hours of discomfort.

The above example shows the small expected compromise in indoor comfort when considering use of a sustainable passive design option.

Read about the software's modules in detail on the DesignBuilder website.