Subtasks

Annex 87

Subtasks

Annex 87 Subtasks

To accomplish the objectives, the Participants will carry out research and developments in the framework of the following five subtasks:

  • Subtask A: Fundamentals
  • Subtask B: Applications and technologies
  • Subtask C: Control, operation and system integration
  • Subtask D: IEQ and Energy Performance evaluation
  • Subtask E: Policy and marketing actions

Subtask A: Fundamentals
Subtask A will focus on defining the necessary criteria for developing PECS and will identify the capabilities required by future PECS. These criteria will be in terms of thermal, air quality, lighting, acoustics and power requirements, and will have its scientific basis on inter-individual differences between people’s preferences towards indoor environment. In most cases, the indoor environment is designed/dimensioned for an average person. However, with PECS, the design is for individuals and therefore there is a need to know the inter-individual differences (due to physiological and psychological differences) in preferred IEQ.

Several studies on the benefits of PECS regarding thermal comfort and air quality have been published and evaluated. There is a need also to focus on possible benefits regarding lighting and acoustics.

The subtask will be divided into the following two activities:

  • Activity A1: Definition and identification of the requirements of PECS in terms of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) i.e., thermal, air quality, lighting, and acoustics.
  • Activity A2: Show the benefits of PECS regarding comfort, health and productivity and energy performance based on literature and new research.

Subtask B: Applications and technologies
Subtask B will summarize the existing PECS (e.g., desktop-based systems, chair-based systems, wearable heating, cooling, and ventilation devices) and will include both PECS at a development stage and commercially available PECS. The working principles, capabilities and limitations of existing PECS will be identified. In addition to this, different building types and most suitable PECS for different building types will be suggested.

Qualitative and quantitative Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will be selected from relevant literature (and possibly from other IEA EBC Annexes e.g., Annex 80 – Resilient Cooling of Buildings) and if needed, will be developed focusing on the characterization of PECS. These KPIs will be used in Subtask D: IEQ and Energy Performance evaluation.

Further development and improvement suggestions and directions will be identified based on these evaluations.

The subtask will be divided into the following two activities:

  • Activity B1: Summarize the working principles, capabilities and limitations of existing PECS, based on literature.
  • Activity B2: Identify future development and improvement suggestions for PECS for optimal energy, IEQ and cost performance.

Subtask C: Control, operation and system integration
Subtask C will focus on the individual control and operation of PECS, together with their system integration with the ambient conditioning systems in buildings.

There are different ways of controlling PECS and most common way is to allow the user to control different functions; however, more recently different ways of controlling PECS (e.g., using physiological inputs from the user for controlling PECS, using Machine Learning or Artificial Intelligence) have been developed. This subtask will first summarize these methods of controlling the PECS.

For PECS to achieve a wider acceptance in the building industry, it is crucial to document and provide guidelines on the interaction of PECS with ambient conditioning systems in buildings. This should address (as a minimum) the issues of system dimensioning and control of ambient systems when there are several PECS installed in an indoor space. This subtask will focus on developing these missing guidelines on integrating PECS with ambient conditioning systems in buildings.

The subtask will be divided into the following two activities:

  • Activity C1: Identify and summarize existing methods for controlling PECS (including sensors used for control).
  • Activity C2: Develop guidelines on integrating PECS with ambient conditioning systems in buildings.

Subtask D: IEQ and Energy Performance evaluation
Subtask D will focus on the existing methods of performance evaluation of PECS regarding IEQ and energy efficiency, together with developing universal and standardized ways of evaluating and reporting characteristics and performance of PECS. This will also include developing a methodology for modelling PECS in dynamic building simulations for performance evaluation.

The different methods of evaluating the performance of PECS will be summarized (i.e., measurements in climate chambers, numerical studies including dynamic buildings simulations and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), case studies). The existing results in literature will be evaluated based on the selected qualitative and quantitative KPIs to evaluate the performance of different PECS.

Once this work is completed and the missing performance evaluation methods identified, guidelines will be developed for having universal and standardized ways of evaluating and reporting characteristics and performance of PECS. These guidelines will focus on energy and cost performance characterization together with the resulting IEQ. It is expected that these guidelines will cover climate chamber measurements, case studies, dynamic building simulations, and CFD.

Another key outcome of this subtask will be the identification of the critical power use of PECS to be beneficial in terms of energy use under different climates, building types, and uses.

The subtask will be divided into the following three activities:

  • Activity D1: Collection of existing methods of studying and testing PECS.
  • Activity D2: Identification of generic power requirements for PECS to achieve energy savings compared to ambient conditioning systems.
  • Activity D3: Development of universal and standardized ways of evaluating and reporting performance of PECS.

Subtask E: Policy and marketing actions
Subtask E will identify the national and international building codes and standards regarding heating, cooling, ventilation, and IEQ and will summarize the criteria (or lack thereof) regarding PECS. Based on these analyses and the results from the other subtasks of this Annex, this subtask will provide suggestions to national building codes, and national and international standards regarding PECS, their requirements, characteristics, and performance (e.g., input to revision of EN 16798-1:2019 and ISO 17772-1:2017 on design criteria for PECS).

This subtask will also focus on identifying the current barriers and limitations for a wide implementation of PECS by practitioners and will suggest ways of overcoming these barriers and limitations. It is likely that a Practitioner Advisory Board will be set up for this purpose.

The subtask will be divided into the following three activities:

  • Activity E1: Summary of national and international building codes and standards regarding PECS.
  • Activity E2: Develop ways of overcoming current barriers for a wide implementation of PECS in buildings.
  • Activity E3: Provide input to existing national and international standards about requirements, characteristics, and performance of PECS.