Development of climate-based thermal comfort ranges from existing data: Analysis of the Smart Controls and thermal comfort (SCATS) database

Despite the multifaceted nature of notion of thermal comfort, designers have embraced a very strict definition of it, which consists of very tight and static environments, were transition and stimuli are not admitted, and with very narrow ranges of microclimatic parameters required equally for all the subjects. This neglects all the potential implications related to different users. However, when it comes to thermal comfort, the long-term history of subjects and their climatic background play a pivotal role towards their own thermal sensations and preferences. In this work, to address these diversities, the authors analysed the existing database of the Smart Controls and Thermal Comfort (SCATS) project, which was built from monitoring and survey campaigns conducted in the late 90s in five different European countries. Data were studied by means of statistical techniques to grasp and define the potential combined influence of climatic location, seasonal variations, subjective variables and ventilation modes on the occupants’ thermal feeling and preference. Different scenarios recommended by standard EN 16798 were tested to address the differences in the thermal feelings of users living in different European countries. Finally, country-based operative temperatures that optimize users’ thermal feeling and preference were determined. Results highlight that users in different countries differently evaluate indoor thermal parameters both in terms of thermal feeling and thermal preferences. This results in differences among countries for acceptability levels associated with standardised indoor conditions. Furthermore, the results highlight the importance of air movement to improve acceptability at higher indoor temperatures for all the countries.