HI-02-6-4
Field Measurements of
Operative Temperatures in
Buildings Heated or Cooled by
Embedded Water-Based Radiant Systems
Michele De Carli, Ph.D., P.E.
ABSTRACT
The performance of radiant heating systems (floor heat-
ing, ceiling panels) is relatively well documented. Water-based
systems, where pipes are embedded in the building structure,
are now being increasingly used for cooling purposes. Several
theoretical studies based on the use of computer simulations
have been published, but very little has been reported on the
actual performance in existing buildings. There are still uncer-
tainties on how such systems operate and on how well the space
temperatures are kept within the comfort range under varying
external and internal loads.
To study this aspect, field measurements of thermal
comfort conditions were made in several buildings with radi-
ant surface systems: floor, wall, and systems with pipes embed-
ded in the concrete slabs between each floor in a multistory
building. Long-term measurements of operative, air, surface,
system, and external temperatures have been carried out. The
present paper present the results of the measured operative
temperatures.
The analysis of the data shows that, for the major part of
the time of occupancy, the operative temperature is inside the
comfort range. The data show an increase in space tempera-
ture during the day, which is counterbalanced by a correspond-
ing decrease during the night. This study shows that hydronic
radiant systems in many buildings are an interesting alterna-
tive to full air-conditioning systems for obtaining acceptable
indoor thermal environments.
INTRODUCTION
Heating systems using large surfaces with surface
temperatures close to room temperature are not a new tech-
nique. The so-called hypocaust heating was already known by
Michele de Carli is a research associate at Istituto di Fisica Tecnica, University of Padova, Italy. Bjarne W. Olesen is the head of research
and development, Wirsbo-VELTA GmbH, Norderstedt, Germany.
714
Bjarne W. Olesen, Ph.D.
Fellow ASHRAE
the Romans 2000 years ago to heat thermal baths and houses
by means of the combustion products coming from external
furnaces. People have felt that a room surrounded by low-
temperature surfaces is more comfortable than one with a fire-
place, which provides thermal nonuniformity and high levels
of air circulation. It has also been the traditional heating
system in Korea for hundreds of years.
More recently, the technique, based on low-temperature
heated surfaces by means of pipes circulating water inside
building elements, used increasingly in the 1950s with many
applications in buildings. Many theoretical studies led by
Shoemaker (1954) and Missenard (1959) investigated the
possibility of floor radiant cooling systems.
After this initial period, the interest in this technique
became less and less because of the conjunction of two
aspects. The first is related to technological defects, mainly
due to steel pipes with weak soldering under the floor. The
second one represents the high values of surface temperatures
of the floor, which occurred because of high values of perfor-
mance required by the systems (up to 100 W/m2) as a conse-
quence of the inadequate insulation used in the envelope of the
buildings.
The decrease of U-factors of buildings allows use of
systems with less capacity and, therefore, lower surface
temperatures. To heat up a room to 20°C by a heat load of 40
W/m2 requires only a floor temperature of 24°C, while in the
1950s, with more than 100 W/m2 heat load, the required floor
surface temperature was above 30°C. It should be noted that
the maximum design floor is 29°C (ASHRAE 1994; ISO
1994).
ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia
 In the 1980s and 1990s, the market for radiant cooling
panels (suspended ceiling panels) increased significantly in
middle Europe (De Carli et al. 2000).
In the middle of the 1990s, interest in radiant floor cooling
started (Michel and Isoardi 1994; Olesen 1997; Olesen et al.
2000) and since the end of the 1990s, the so-called “active
thermal slab” (Olesen 2000) has been installed in several
multistory buildings. Until now, papers presenting theoretical
studies of this new technology have been published (Brunello
et al. 2001; De Carli and Olesen 2001; Hauser et al. 2000;
Simmonds et al. 2000; Koschenz and Lehmann 2000; Meier-
hans and Olesen 1999; Meierhans 1996). At the beginning of
2001, more than 60 buildings with the active thermal slab tech-
nique were in operation or were being constructed in
Germany. Most of them are office buildings with a floor area
between 250 m2 and 40,000 m2, but other types of buildings,
such as museums, hospitals, and schools, are also built with
embedded cooling systems.
During the last three years, temperature measurements on
some buildings have been made in order to investigate the
performance of different radiant cooling systems in different
climatic zones. In the present paper, measurements from four
buildings are presented.
Figure 1 Requirements in the German Standard DIN 1946-
Part 2. Horizontal dashed zone: cool range.
Crossed dashed zone: comfort range. Vertical
dashed zone: warm range.
TABLE 1
Classes of Thermal Comfort (CR 1752)
Comfort Requirements
PPD PMV
Class
[%] [/]
A <6 -0.2 < PMV < + 0.2
B < 10 -0.5 < PMV < + 0.5
C < 15 -0.7 <PMV < + 0.7
ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia
METHOD
In the present study, the operative temperature at several
positions was monitored in four existing buildings. Air
temperatures and system data were also monitored but are not
presented in this paper. Subjective assessments from the occu-
pants were not monitored. Evaluation criteria for the operative
temperature were based on existing national and international
standards.
Thermal Comfort Evaluation
On the basis of the international standards and guidelines
(ISO 7730 1994, CR 1752 1998, ASHRAE 55-1994), the
recommended comfort range for operative temperatures
during winter (heating season) is between 20°C and 24°C for
people with sedentary activity level (1.2 met) with clothing
thermal resistance equal to 1.0 clo. In cooling conditions
(summer), the recommended comfort range for an activity
level of 1.2 met and a clothing thermal resistance of 0.5 clo is
23°C to 26°C. These ranges are based on a predicted percent-
age of dissatisfied (PPD) below 10% and a predicted mean
vote (PMV) between –0.5 and +0.5. Similar requirements can
be found in a German standard (DIN 1946, Part 2), which
allow for higher room temperatures by increasing outside
temperatures (Figure 1). For radiant systems, it is very impor-
tant to refer to the operative temperature, both for evaluating
the comfort conditions and the performance of the system
itself.
Thermal active slab systems use the thermal storage of the
concrete slabs to reduce peak loads and transfer some of the
energy use to outside the time of occupancy. This has a
dynamic effect on the thermal characteristics of the indoor
environment, i.e., the operative temperature will often
increase during daytime in summer and decrease in winter. In
the German standard DIN1946, the space temperature may
increase to 27°C with outside temperatures of 32°C (see
Figure 1). In EN ISO 7730 and CR 1752, the comfort criteria
for the temperature level inside are given as a range for PMV
or PPD. Depending on economy and outside climate, not all
countries will design for the same comfort level. Also, depend-
ing on the type of building, it may be acceptable to design for
different levels of comfort. Therefore, CR 1752 and a
proposed revision of ISO 7730 introduces three classes, as
shown in Table 1.
Temperature Range
Winter Summer
1.0 clo 1.2 met 0.5 clo 1.2 met
[°C] [°C]
21-23 23.5-25.5
20-24 23.0-26.0
19-25 22.0-27.0
715
 TABLE 2
Specifications of the Measurement Probes (Includes Building 4 Using Sensor 1)

Accuracy Resolution
Probe Type [°C] [°C] Building
Operative temperature I Ellipsoide 0.5 0.1 1, 2, 3,4
Operative temperature II Globe thermometer (40 mm) 0.5 0.1 2, 3
Operative Temperature III Half-globe thermometer (40 mm) 0.5 0.1 2
Air temperature I Pt 100 0.2 0.1 1, 2, 3, 4
Air temperature II NTC sensor 0.5 0.1 3
Dew-point temperature Chilled mirror 0.5 0.1 1, 2, 3, 4

The standards give values for the comfort conditions in

steady-state conditions but, according to Knudsen et al.
(1989), the PMV-PPD index can be used as long as the rate of
temperature change is lower than 5°C per hour.
In many cases, it may be too costly to keep the tempera-
ture levels in buildings always within the specified comfort
ranges. There should be some allowance for a limited time to
exceed the specified range.

Measurements
Measurements have been made with different tempera-
ture probes, whose specifications are reported in Table 2. For
operative temperature, three different probes have been used.
The first probe is a temperature sensor shaped like an ellipsoid
(50 mm × 120 mm), which will directly measure the operative
temperature (ISO 7726). The second temperature sensor (II) is
a globe thermometer with 40 mm diameter, which, due to the
size according to ISO 7726 specifications, measures the aver-
age value between air and mean radiant temperature at low air
velocities. The third probe (III) is a half-globe thermometer
with 40 mm diameter that has been installed on the surfaces
opposite to the external walls. In this way, the sensor will be
exposed to a radiant heat exchange with all surfaces except the
back wall. Probes II and III were transferring the temperatures
to a logger via radio frequency. Data were recorded each half
hour.
Analysis of the operative temperatures in the buildings
has been made both for the whole day and for the working time
only during the whole measuring period. Typical office hours
have been defined as the reference working time (between
8:00 and 18:00, Monday through Friday). In this paper, only
the data of the working time are reported.
Measurements were made in four buildings with different
types of water-based radiant systems. Building 1 in Bregenz,
Austria, has a combination of wall-floor-ceiling heating-cool-
ing system. Building 2 in Halle, Germany, has a floor heating-
cooling system. Building 3 in Stuttgart, Germany, has an
active thermal slab system. Building 4 in Milan, Italy, has a
floor heating/cooling system.
Figure 2 Schematic construction of Building 1.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The results and discussion are presented below, building
for building.
Building 1
This is a two-story building of a very light construction.
In order to limit the indoor operative temperatures, floor heat-
ing/cooling was installed in the offices and in the hallway, as
well a wall heating/cooling system (Figure 2). The cooling is
supplied from a ground heat exchanger where pipes are
embedded in the foundation, which is more or less surrounded
by groundwater. This allows a supply water temperature of
16°C. The offices are all located in a westerly direction with
external sun screens. There is a ventilation system that
provides primary air.
Three offices and the hallway were investigated for one
month (between July and August 1998). The operative
temperatures were measured by means of an elliptical probe
(Table 2). The external temperature was provided by the mete-
orological institute. A sample of measured operative temper-
atures are shown in Figure 3: even if the outside temperature
is higher than 30°C, the inside temperature is always below
26°C.

716 ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia

 Figure 3 Operative temperature trends in one typical warm week.

TABLE 3
Percentage of Operative Temperature Distribution During Working Time

Temperature Range Total for Rooms 304,

[°C] Hallway Room 304 Room 404 Room 414 404, 414
<20 3.5 2.2 2.6 3.5 2.7
20-21 22.0 18.6 6.4 18.9 14.4
21-22 22.2 32.1 20.6 28.2 26.9
22-23 13.7 26.0 32.3 24.8 27.9
23-24 12.1 13.1 19.6 11.7 15.0
24-25 13.7 7.4 16.2 9.6 11.2
25-26 7.8 0.5 2.2 2.4 1.7
26-27 3.3 0 0 0.6 0.2
27-28 1.6 0 0 0.2 0.0
28-29 0.1 0 0 0.2 0.0

Table 3 shows that for 95% of the total working hours the
operative temperature in the offices is between 21°C and 25°C,
and the temperatures increase above 26°C only in the hallway.
The temperature sensor in the hallway is exposed, around
noon, to the direct sun radiation coming from the glazed ceil-
ing. Table 4 shows that the operative temperature during a
working day is in most cases below 4°C, with the exception of
the hallway and office 404.
By evaluation according to the German standard (Table
5), the operative temperatures in the offices are, for more than
50% of the time, in the optimal comfort range between 22°C
and 26°C and about 40% in the cool range between 20°C and
22°C.
The tuning of the control system was not completed at the
time of the measurements and the excess of low temperature
could be avoided by stopping the cooling earlier in the night.
The results show that even in a very light building it is
possible with a surface cooling system to keep the room
temperatures from getting too high.
Building 2
This rectangular building (11.5 m × 60 m) is equipped by
floor heating/cooling. In this building, the control of the floor
heating/cooling system is separated in an east and a west zone.
The supply water temperature was controlled according to the
outside temperature. For the cooling, the supply temperature
was limited according to the dew point measured in an east-
oriented office for the east zone and in a west-oriented office
for the west zone. The windows in the offices are shielded
from sun radiation by means of internal or external screens.
The building has operable windows and no mechanical venti-
lation. Measurements were made from middle June to middle

ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia 717

August in 2000. Operative temperature was measured by
means of a half-globe thermometer (Table 2) in eleven rooms.
More detailed measurement has been done for a room on the
east side where the reference sensor for the control was
installed. The operative temperature was also measured by
means of an elliptical probe (Table 2). For this room, the trend
of relevant parameters is shown in Figure 4. The outside
temperature was measured on the east side by means of a
PT100. For some hours of the day, this sensor was exposed to
sun radiation, which can be seen from some high temperatures
in Figure 4.
As can be noted from Tables 6 through 8, the office rooms
are below the comfort range for long periods. From the
measured water temperature in Figure 4, it can be noted that
on several days (June 27-July 3 and July25) the cooling was
not in operation. Even in the period June 27 to June 30, heating
was provided. This is caused by the central control, which,
according to outside temperature and internal temperature in
the reference room, turns on and off the heating and cooling.
The control system has the capability of also using an individ-
ual room control. This is used in the present building for heat-
ing operation but not for cooling, which meant all offices
would get cooling if the reference room required cooling.
Instead, the local control should have been used so that in
rooms where the temperatures were low enough, the room
control would shut off the water flow to those rooms. Looking
at Table 7, it can be observed that for most of the working days,
the temperature range is inside an acceptable range of 4°C.
It is anyway interesting to note that the rooms with exter-
nal sunscreens present values of room temperatures lower than
the ones with internal sunscreens. Also, the temperature
change (Table 7) during a day is lower in rooms with external
screens. This shows how important the position of the
sunscreen is, especially for surface cooling systems character-
ized by a limited cooling capacity.
The results from this building also show the importance of
optimizing the control setting after the building is in operation.
For the offices, the temperatures were in most cases below the
upper level of the comfort range, but they did, in several cases,
go below the comfort range.
Building 3
In this building, 6500 m2 of active thermal slab systems
were installed for heating and cooling. The building has raised
floors for the installation of cables, only a limited area with
suspended ceiling, and operable windows. Mechanical venti-
lation is provided by a displacement system, where the supply
air is precooled or preheated to a temperature 1 to 3 degrees
below room temperature.

TABLE 4
Percentage of the Operative Temperature Change Distribution During a Working Day

Temperature Change Dur- Total for Rooms

ing a Working Day [°C] Hallway Room 304 Room 404 Room 414 304, 404, 414
<1 5.3 0 0 0 0.0
1-2 5.3 15.8 5.3 0 9.5
2-3 26.3 31.6 42.1 50 38.1
3-4 0 47.4 26.3 50 38.1
4-5 21.1 5.3 21.1 0 11.9
5-6 26.3 0 0 0 0.0
>6 15.8 0 5.3 0 2.4

TABLE 5
Percentage of Operative Temperature Distribution According to DIN 1946

Total for Rooms

Temperature Range [°C] Hallway Room 304 Room 404 Room 414 304, 404, 414
<20 3.5 2.2 2.6 3.5 2.7
20-22 44.2 50.7 27.0 47.0 41.2
22-25 39.5 46.5 68.1 46.1 54.1
25-26 7.8 0.5 2.2 2.4 1.7
26-27 3.3 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.2
>27 1.7 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.1

718 ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia

 Figure 4 Temperature trends in the measured period for relevant parameters in a
room.

TABLE 6
Percentage of Operative Temperature Distribution During Working Time

Temperature Range
[°C] East West Inside Shading Outside Shading All
<20 4.7 16.1 10.2 10.5 9.9
20-21 6.0 14.2 8.5 10.8 10.0
21-22 9.3 20.7 12.2 16.2 15.5
22-23 20.7 23.5 18.0 23.9 23.1
23-24 29.5 14.8 16.6 24.5 23.4
24-25 17.4 7.1 15.9 10.7 12.1
25-26 7.6 2.4 9.2 3.2 4.5
26-27 2.3 0.4 4.1 0.1 0.9
27-28 1.2 0.5 2.5 0.1 0.4
28-29 0.8 0.2 1.5 0.0 0.1
29-30 0.3 0.1 0.6 0.0 0.0
>30 0.3 0.1 0.7 0.0 0.1

TABLE 7
Percentage of Operative Temperature Change Distribution During a Working Day

Temperature Change
During a Day [°C] East West Inside Shading Outside Shading All

<1 1.9 1.9 0.0 2.7 1.9

1-2 17.5 26.9 8.3 28.1 22.2
2-3 30.6 21.3 15.6 30.4 25.9
3-4 21.3 23.8 22.9 22.3 22.5
4-5 14.4 10.6 16.7 10.7 12.5
5-6 5.6 4.4 13.5 1.3 5.0
>6 8.8 11.3 22.9 4.5 10.0

ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia 719

 Measurements have been conducted in two open space
offices on the 4th and 5th floors. All measurements have been
done by means of the globe thermometer probes (Table 2) with
the exception of the middle place on the 5th floor measured
during the 1999 campaign; here, the operative temperature
was measured by means of the elliptic sensor (Table 2).
Measurements have been made during August 1999, from
middle June till middle October 2000, and from December
2000 till January 2001. The outside temperature was also
measured. The water supply temperatures were controlled in
range of 19°C to 23°C, from summer to winter according to the
outside temperature.
The system was only in operation from 18:00 until 10:00.
Cooling Period. A sample of operative temperatures can
be seen in Figure 5 for a typical warm working week. From
Table 9, it appears that around 95% of the total working time
operative temperatures are between 21°C and 26°C. From
Table 10, it can be noted that the change of temperature during
working time is for all of the offices below 4°C, with the
exception of the office placed at the 5th floor west-oriented,
which exceeds 4°C during only 4% of the working hours.
From Tables 9 to 11, it can be seen that temperatures on
the 5th floor are higher than those on the 4th floor. This is
because the two floors are connected by an open stairway in
the middle of the landscape offices. Therefore, some of the
convective part of the internal loads on the 4th floor (people,
equipment, sun) will rise to the 5th floor and increase the inter-
nal load there.
It can be noted that on some days, the temperature in the
morning is on the cool side. As no subjective evaluations were
made, it is not possible to determine if this caused a real
comfort problem or not. The low temperatures could probably
be avoided by decreasing the number of hours of cooling oper-
ation during the night.
Heating Period. A sample of operative temperature can
be seen in Figure 6 for a typical working week in heating
conditions. From Table 12, it can be seen that operative
temperatures are for most of the time in the comfort range
suggested by the existing standards. Also, the daily change in
the operative temperature (Table 13) is limited to a value of
4°C.

TABLE 8
Percentage of Operative Temperature Distribution According to DIN 1946 During Working Time

Temperature Range
[°C] East West Inside Shading Outside Shading All
<20 4.7 16.1 10.2 10.5 9.9
20-22 15.3 34.9 20.7 27.0 25.5
22-25 67.6 45.4 50.5 59.1 58.6
25-26 7.6 2.4 9.2 3.2 4.5
26-27 2.3 0.4 4.1 0.1 0.9
>27 2.5 0.8 5.3 0.1 0.6

Figure 5 Sample of temperature trend in a working week for cooling conditions in

Building 3.

720 ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia

 TABLE 9
Percentage of Operative Temperature Distribution During Working Time

4th Floor
Temperature 4th Floor Window 5th Floor 5th Floor 5th Floor All Offices Except
Range [°C] Window East South Window West Window East Middle Meeting Room Middle
<20 0.0 1.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2
20-21 1.3 6.9 0.4 0.1 2.6 13.3 4.4
21-22 9.9 27.6 2.1 1.4 17.8 22.4 12.7
22-23 34.8 40.6 10.8 8.1 30.6 34.1 25.7
23-24 39.2 22.3 27.8 26.7 19.8 22.0 27.6
24-25 14.7 1.4 36.4 36.9 22.2 7.7 19.4
25-26 0.1 0.0 18.4 21.7 7.0 0.5 8.1
26-27 0.0 0.0 3.7 5.2 0.0 0.0 1.8
27-28 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1

TABLE 10
Percentage of Operative Temperature Change Distribution During in a Working Day

Temperature 4th Floor 5th Floor

Change During a 4th Floor Window Window 5th Floor 5th Floor All Offices
Day [K] Window East South West Window East Middle Meeting Room Except Middle
<1 8.6 5.7 1.4 5.7 0.0 28.6 10.0
1-2 74.3 57.1 25.7 57.1 50.0 45.7 52.0
2-3 15.7 32.9 51.4 32.9 50.0 22.9 31.2
3-4 1.4 2.9 17.1 2.9 0.0 2.9 5.4
4-5 0.0 1.4 1.4 1.4 0.0 0.0 0.8
5-6 0.0 0.0 2.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6
>6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

TABLE 11
Percentage of Operative Temperature Distribution According to DIN1946 During Working Time

4th Floor 5th Floor

Temperature Range 4th Floor Window Window 5th Floor 5th Floor All Offices
[°C] Window East South West Window East Middle Meeting Room Except Middle
<20 0.0 1.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2
20-22 11.2 34.5 2.5 1.4 20.4 35.7 17.1
22-25 88.6 64.4 75.0 71.7 72.6 63.8 72.7
25-26 0.1 0.0 18.4 21.7 7.0 0.5 8.1
26-27 0.0 0.0 3.7 5.2 0.0 0.0 1.8
>27 0.0 0.0 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1

ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia 721

 Figure 6 Sample of temperature trends, in a working week for heating conditions in
Building 3.

TABLE 12
Percentage of Operative Temperature Distribution During Working Time

Temperature Range 4th Floor 4th Floor 5th Floor 5th Floor
[°C] Window East Window South Window West Window East Meeting Room All Offices
<20 0.0 11.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 2.2
20-21 16.9 38.0 10.4 0.9 2.6 13.8
21-22 38.4 37.2 23.5 17.2 27.2 28.7
22-23 40.6 13.6 38.9 42.5 37.6 34.6
23-24 4.1 0.3 25.3 37.4 32.5 19.9
24-25 0.0 0.0 1.7 2.0 0.0 0.7

TABLE 13
Percentage of Operative Temperature Change Distribution During in a Working Day

Temperature Change 4th Floor 4th Floor 5th Floor 5th Floor
During a Day [K] Window East Window South Window West Window East Meeting Room All Offices
<1 16.7 19.4 2.8 11.1 11.1 13.3
1-2 69.4 30.6 25.0 75.0 75.0 52.2
2-3 13.9 44.4 52.8 13.9 13.9 29.4
3-4 0.0 5.6 19.4 0.0 0.0 5.0
>4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Except for 4th floor south, the measured operative
temperatures are inside the recommended comfort range; in
this position, 11% of the time the temperature dropped below
20°C. The building has an additional heating system installed,
which, however, has not been in operation. The basic heating
is made by the activated concrete slab system. During the
winter, however, the supply air temperature increased above
the room temperature during the morning hours. After one to
two hours of occupancy, the supply temperature was again
decreased below room temperature.
Building 4
The fourth building is located in Milan (Italy). It is a
conference building designed by a renovation of an old farm.
It is naturally ventilated and has a floor heating/cooling
system. Measurements were carried out in the second floor

722 ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia

and the third floor during July 2001. The third floor is a room
smaller than the second floor, which is an open space.
In Figure 7, the trend of relevant parameters can be seen.
As can be noticed, temperatures are, for most of the time, in the
comfort range and never go over 27°C (Table 15). Also, the
daily change in the operative temperature (Table 16) is always
less than 2°C, which is an optimal situation. Temperatures in
the second level are always lower than the ones in the third
level (Table 15 and 17) and this is mainly due to the fact that
all the walls and ceiling of the third floor are external and
exposed to sunshine. Moreover, the two rooms are connected
by a staircase, which allows convection between the two levels
(warm air upstairs, cool air downstairs). The rooms were not
generally occupied during the measurements except for a
couple of days on the second floor.
General Discussion
By long-term evaluation of measurements, it can be
argued which comfort criteria should be used for the evalua-
tion. Most standards for thermal comfort give an operative
temperature range based on a fixed clothing-activity level for
the heating period (winter) and one for the cooling period
(summer). These ranges may be appropriate for the design of
systems (heating-cooling capacity), but for a comfort evalua-
tion, a certain variation of clothing according to outside
temperatures should be taken into account. Therefore, in the
present analysis, no attempts have been made to calculate how
many hours the operative temperatures were outside the spec-
ified comfort range.
CONCLUSIONS
The four examples show that surface heating and cooling
of office buildings is not only theory, but will also work in
practice.
In all four buildings, the measured operative temperatures
specified in existing standards were only above the comfort
range during the summer period (> 26°C) for a few hours, even
with outside temperatures above 30°C.
The operative temperature variation during a working day
was, in most cases, below 3 to 4 K.

TABLE 14
Percentage of Operative Temperature Distribution According to DIN1946 During Working Time

Temperature Change 4th Floor 4th Floor 5th Floor 5th Floor
During a Day [°C] Window East Window South Window West Window East Meeting Room All Offices
<20 0 11 0.1 0 0 2.2
20-22 55.3 75.1 34 18.1 29.9 42.5
22-25 44.7 13.9 65.9 81.9 70.1 55.3
>25 0 0 0 0 0 0

Figure 7 Temperature trends in the measured period for relevant parameters in the
rooms for Building 4.

ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia 723

 TABLE 15 TABLE 16
Percentage of Operative Temperature Distribution Percentage of Operative Temperature Change
During Working Time Distribution During in a Working Day

2nd Floor Temperature 2nd Floor

Temperature Window 3rd Floor Change During a Window 3rd Floor
Range [°C] North Center Mean Day [K] North Center Mean
<20 33.7 0.0 16.8 <1 100.0 97.4 98.7
20-21 21.6 15.2 18.4 1-2 0.0 2.6 1.3
21-22 18.1 20.0 19.0 >2 0.0 0.0 0.0
22-23 5.7 17.8 11.7
TABLE 17
23-24 1.0 15.6 8.3 Percentage of Operative Temperature Distribution
24-25 20.0 11.4 15.7 According to DIN1946 During Working Time
25-26 0.0 1.6 0.8 2nd Floor
26-27 0.0 18.4 9.2 Temperature Window 3rd Floor
Range [°C] North Center Mean
>27 0.0 0.0 0.0
<20 33.7 0.0 16.8
In all four buildings, the operative temperature in the
20-22 39.7 35.2 37.5
morning at several workplaces was on the cool side. As the
subjective evaluation is missing, it is not possible to determine 22-25 26.7 44.8 35.7
if this caused a real comfort problem. Using existing interna- 25-26 0.0 1.6 0.8
tional standards, such as ISO 7730 or CR 1752, these spaces
would be judged as cool during several days. This could be 26-27 0.0 18.4 9.2
avoided by decreasing the hours of cooling during the night. >27 0.0 0.0 0.0
Before revision of the international standards how to
make long-term evaluations must be carefully discussed. It 710. Atlanta: American Society of Heating, Refrigerat-
seems inappropriate to use the same clothing level for the ing and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc.
whole summer period from May to September. ISO. 1998. ISO 7726-1998, Ergonomics of the thermal envi-
ronment—Instruments for measuring physical quanti-
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