Estudio de modelos de confort térmico en zonas de altura en la Región de los Andes de Ecuador

Abstract

A significant quantity of energy consumed by the building sector is used to maintain thermal comfort, essential for satisfaction, productivity, and human well-being. The most widely used international standards for evaluating the thermal environment are ISO 7730, ASHRAE 55 and EN 15251, which are based on the comfort models of PMV thermal balance and the adaptive model. However, there are several discrepancies between both models and they don’t fully cover particular conditions. In this regard, few studies analyze the influence of high altitude variation on thermal perception. This research aims to study the performance of these two comfort models in three high altitude zones of Quito, named as low, medium and high located at 2331 m.s.n.m., 2660 m.s.n.m. and 3066 m.s.n.m., respectively. A field study was conducted in naturally ventilated dwellings. The obtained data was analyzed based on statistical criteria used in investigations of this type. The results show acceptability of 72%, although this decreases as the altitude increases. The operative temperature ranges considered comfortable were 16,3-27,7 ° C. It was found that model PMV is not an accurate predictor of the thermal sensation vote. Whereas the adaptive model fit well enough to the temperatures resulting from the different altitudes.