Evaluating annual thermal discomfort time ratio of indoor occupants caused by solar radiation using a novel model

Abstract

Thermal comfort of indoor occupants exposed to solar radiation is receiving widespread attention. Researchers have proposed many models to predict solar radiation and related indexes are used to evaluate thermal comfort. However, there are some limitations in the existing solar radiation models and evaluation indexes, such as only applying to sunny weather and requiring intensive modeling work. This study adopts a mathematical model called the improved HNU Solar Model and proposes a new evaluation index called the annual thermal discomfort time ratio by solar radiation (ratio_{td, solar}) to evaluate thermal comfort of indoor occupants exposed to solar radiation. The effects of different window parameters, i.e. window direction, window transmittance (T_sol) and window-to-wall ratio (WWR) on ratio_{td, solar} were also analyzed. The results show that the indoor area less than 2.0 m away from the window is easy to have solar discomfort. And for every 0.1 reduction in WWR, the average values of the four directions are reduced by 3% to 4%; and for every 0.1 reduction in T_sol, the ratio_{td, solar} values of four window directions are reduced by 4% to 6%. This study provides references for evaluating and optimizing the window design to create thermally comfortable environments for indoor occupants.