B022 Occupant cooling load

An occupant load model for cooling load calculation of offices

Brief:

A heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) system is the major consumer of energy consumption in an air-conditioned office building, an accurate cooling load calculation method is thus indispensable to energy management. ASHRAE has developed a Radiant Time Series (RTS) method to improve the accuracy of cooling load calculation. Occupant load pattern of an office is an essential input parameter and would have significant effects on the calculated cooling load. In order to obtain a reasonably accurate result, the input occupant load profile has to be determined by experienced engineers with sound professional judgment. This study argues that the probable occupant load profiles can be determined with the office floor area by a stochastic model. In particular, the model constants have been determined from a recent year-round occupant load assessment in typical offices in Hong Kong. Occupant load profiles at certain confidence levels generated by the model for a typical Hong Kong office are illustrated, with the corresponding cooling load and thermal energy evaluated. The results would be useful in determining the energy consumption due to the occupant cooling load of HVAC systems in office buildings.

Further information:

Mui KW, Wong LT, 2005. An occupant load model for cooling load calculation of offices, Hubei-Hong Kong Joint symposium 2005 on Building Services Design, System Control and Value Evaluation, Wuhan, 1-2 July 2005, China. pp. 128-135.