The floor heating units used in wooden housing do not dissipate all of heat provided from the heat source machine to the living space; some amount of heat is dissipated outside via the underfloor space. To evaluate the energy efficiency of housing, it is important to estimate the heat dissipation of the floor heating unit above the floor. As the testing standard for heat dissipating characteristic of a floor heating unit, the Center for Better Living has established a heat dissipation characteristic test in the Quality Housing Components (BL Components) certification standard and testing method book “Heating/Cooling system (Floor heating unit) BLT HS/B-b-8:2020”. The current heat dissipation test method for hot water floor heating unit has a permissible range for its testing condition parameter, and the result is not compensated by the actual test condition. In this paper, we propose a result standardizing method using the known heat characteristic of previously tested floor heating unit, and we evaluation the method. The result of evaluation showed that this method could standardize the test results in the range from of - 4.0~6.2% to 0.2~1.4%, compared with the nominal result. In addition, we evaluated parameters such as floor surface heat transfer coefficient to understand their effect on the standardizing method.

This paper discusses an estimation method for the radiative heat emitted from hot equipment such as a commercial kitchen range, and a flyer. Radiative heat cannot be captured by local exhaust ventilation systems; therefore, it becomes the heat load of HVAC systems and influences human comfort. The laboratory experiment method for radiative heat is explained in this paper. First, the surface temperature of the equipment and surrounding walls are measured at many points. Then, the view factor between surfaces are simulated numerically. The radiative heat emitted from the equipment to the surroundings is evaluated on the basis of the measured surface temperatures and the simulated view factors. High-temperature surfaces such as the top of a griddle emits a large amount of radiative heat to the ceiling and wall facing it.

Owing to the popularization of LED (Light Emitting Diode) lighting, it might be possible to improve indoor comfort by changing the color temperature setting. In a previous study, the experimental results under various thermal conditions and correlated color temperatures when subjects move between chambers showed that the correlated color temperature affected the evaluation of the thermal environment corresponding to the hue-heat effect when recovered from a large thermal stress. In this study, we investigated the influence of correlated color temperature at different air temperatures in an experimental chamber on indoor thermal comfort. Experiments were conducted with subjects in a laboratory similar to an office after the subjects received thermal stress outdoors. The results showed that the correlated color temperature influenced their evaluation of the thermal environment corresponding to the hue-heat effect in several items. However, the effect was not as apparent as expected. Accordingly, we assumed that there were individual differences in the ease with which the effect appeared, and we grouped the subjects depending whether the effect appeared based on their personal responses. The results showed that there are individual differences in the ease of appearance of the hue-heat effect, and there is no consistency on which item it appears. However, it was suggested that most people were affected by correlated color temperature. Therefore, it is considered that setting the correlated color temperature of LED lighting appropriately is psychologically effective when setting the room temperature of air conditioning.

In general, the internal load of recent buildings tends to decrease with energy saving, including the use of LED lighting and the decline of standby power of electronic devices. As a result, the appropriate performance evaluation of air conditioning systems during the heating operation is more important than ever. In recent years, variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems have made significant progress owing to their high energy efficiency and improved design flexibility. However, as there are operating characteristics that have not been evaluated by the performance test method established by JIS including defrost operation in winter. Therefore, it is important to clarify these behaviors and their energy consumption characteristics for appropriate operation management, which will lead to effective energy saving. In this study, the basic characteristics of the heating operation in cold regions under actual operations have been analyzed using a real-time performance evaluation device for VRF systems developed by the authors. Additionally, the characteristic analysis was performed not only on the electric driven heat pump systems but also on the gas driven heat pump systems, which are combustion machines.

We have developed an open-cycle type adsorbent thermal storage system. Based on the adsorbent of HAS-Clay, the thermal storage system can utilize low-temperature waste heat. The characteristics of charging and discharging operation were studied experimentally for a packed bed of HAS-Clay. In addition, the simulation model of an adsorption thermal storage tank was developed. In this study, the thermal storage system with the adsorbent weight of approximately 2 tons class was evaluated by a verification test for charging and discharging performance in three actual plants of Hino Motors, Ltd. The thermal storage density of 500 kJ / liter or more was confirmed in the discharging operation tests for the resin pellet drying process. The improvement of the heat supply efficiency was verified by the air flow control in the discharging operation tests for the hot water washing process. We confirmed the possibility of an offline heat transport system by using the adsorption thermal storage tank.