Ensuring Comfort in Office Buildings: Designing a KNX Monitoring and Control System

As a first stage task, this paper presents the study on what represents and how it is possible to ensure the indoor office comfort, which are the most important types of comfort (thermal, visual, acoustic, air quality, etc.) and how each of them could be analyzed (characterized). Few of them have a mathematical interpretation, more or less precise, which permits to make estimations. All types of comfort could be described using their characteristic parameters. When it is necessary specific building installations react to correct the parameters values, using different predefined methods, for establishing in this way a higher comfort level. Usually it is not possible to ensure the same comfort level for all occupants, due to the differences which exist between them (metabolism, activities, clothing, etc.). After the study presentation, it is described the design of a KNX automation system, dedicated for ensuring the comfort into an office/classroom space, which is able to control the lighting, heating and air conditioning.