Experimental Study on Occupant Control Behaviors Over a Thermostat of Air-Conditioning System and a Ceiling Fan

Occupants’ behaviors over air-conditioning systems influence building energy consumption to a great extent. It is important to explore occupant use behaviors in buildings. However, when having access to controlling air-conditioning thermostat, and a ceiling fan speed, it is unclear how subjects would control the two cooling strategies. The objective of this experimental study is to explore how occupants use air-conditioners and fans, and develop predictive models for occupants’ control behaviors. 20 subjects participated in the experiments. The initial indoor temperatures were set at 26, 28 and 30 °C. And two modes were set up, i.e. subjects using a ceiling fan or not. The results showed that in a user-controlled environment, indoor temperatures, thermal comfort and occupant’s control behaviors over a thermostat of air-conditioning system had exponential relationships over time. Besides, with or without fans, non-linear correlations between skin temperatures and occupant’s requirements for lowering indoor temperatures were found.