Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
4-2022
Abstract
A thermohygrometer is an instrument that is able to measure relative humidity and air temperature, which are two of the fundamental parameters to estimate human thermal comfort. To date, the market offers small and low-cost solutions for this instrument, providing the opportunity to bring electronics closer to the end-user and contributing to the proliferation of a variety of applications and open-source projects. One of the most critical aspects of using low-cost instruments is their measurement reliability. This study aims to determine the measurement performance of seven low-cost thermohygrometers throughout a 10-fold repeatability test in a climatic chamber with air temperatures ranging from about −10 to +40 °C and relative humidity from approximately 0 to 90%. Compared with reference sensors, their measurements show good linear behavior with some exceptions. A sub-dataset of the data collected is then used to calculate two of the most used indoor (PMV) and outdoor (UTCI) comfort indexes to define discrepancies between the indexes calculated with the data from the reference sensors and the low-cost sensors. The results suggest that although six of the seven low-cost sensors have accuracy that meets the requirements of ISO 7726, in some cases, they do not provide acceptable comfort indicators if the values are taken as they are. The linear regression analysis suggests that it is possible to correct the output to reduce the difference between reference and low-cost sensors, enabling the use of low-cost sensors to assess indoor thermal comfort in terms of PMV and outdoor thermal stress in UTCI and encouraging a more conscious use for environmental and human-centric research.
Keywords
temperature, relative humidity, indoor environmental quality monitoring, IoT, low-cost sensing technology, performance evaluation
Discipline
Energy Policy | Engineering
Research Areas
Integrative Research Areas
Publication
Buildings
Volume
12
Issue
5
First Page
1
Last Page
20
ISSN
2075-5309
Identifier
10.3390/buildings12050579
Publisher
MDPI
Citation
SALAMONE, Francesco; CHINAZZO, Giorgia; DANZA, Ludovico; MILLER, Clayton; SIBILIO, Sergio; and MASULLO, Massimiliano.
Low-cost thermohygrometers to assess thermal comfort in the built environment: A laboratory evaluation of their measurement performance. (2022). Buildings. 12, (5), 1-20.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cis_research/610
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12050579