A Personalized HVAC Control Smartphone Application Framework for Improved Human Health and Well-Being

Building HVAC system is essentially set at nominal levels according to industry guidelines. Several studies have demonstrated that this conventional practice is unable to meet the thermal requirements of occupants in a single or multi-occupancy space due to occupants’ diverse preferences, activities and needs. To improve occupants’ health and well-being, this study develops and tests a smartphone application framework which is capable of dynamically determining the optimum room conditioning mode (mechanical conditioning or natural ventilation) and HVAC settings (e.g., thermostat setpoint) in single and multi-occupancy spaces. The “personalized” control framework integrates building indoor environment data (obtained from sensors) with human physiological and behavioral data (obtained from wearable devices, polling apps, and surveys) to develop occupant comfort models under both mechanical and natural ventilation modes. In the operation phase, occupants’ personalized thermal sensations and preferences are continuously predicted using the comfort model when determining the optimum HVAC control strategies. A case study is conducted to demonstrate the capabilities of the developed application framework to improve personal comfort in single occupancy spaces.