Center for the Built Environment

This paper describes the instrumentation and measurement protocol used in ASHRAE research project RP-462, field study of environmental conditions and occupant comfort in 10 office buildings located in the San Francisco Bay region. During this study, we made a total of 2342 visits to 304 participants during two seasons collecting a full set of physical measurements and subjective responses at each visit. In this paper we describe the design of equipment and techniques for gathering physical measurements with the detail and accuracy required by both ASHRAE Standard 55-81 (ASHRAE 1981) and ISO Standard 7726 (ISO 1985). In a addition, the project developed a laptop microcomputer-based thermal assessment survey that collected a substantial subjective data set in machine-readable form. These components performed reliably during nine months of field use, providing a detailed description of the monitored workstation environments with a concurrent portrait of subjective occupant response. The system is recommended for further use.