Comfort map

Keywords: comfort parameters, office, desk-share, thermal comfort, lighting, acoustics, air quality, algorithm

The comfort map is a smart application that helps desk-sharing office workers to choose the optimal workstation for their daily tasks. The use of the application also contributes to reducing the negative comfort and health impacts associated with the comfort parameters of an office space. 

The comfort map shows the differences in temperature, air quality, lighting and acoustic comfort between workstations in each office space. The data needed to develop a comfort map for a given office space are provided by instrumental measurements. Once the measurements have been taken, mathematical algorithms are used to identify the comfort parameters specific to the different workstations and to the office space as a whole. The comfort parameters are uploaded to the comfort map application database. The comfort map application displays the comfort parameters associated with each workstation. Based on this information, workers can decide which workstation can provide the optimum comfort level for their individual comfort needs and their specific work task. By improving comfort at work, both worker satisfaction and productivity can be improved.

The Comfort Map is a tool that allows you to display multiple comfort parameters at the same time and filter within comfort parameters. The Comfort Map can be integrated into reservation systems, allowing employees to choose the most suitable workplace for them. It can be used to increase the overall satisfaction of those using the comfort space.
The method consists of taking a small number of measurements at points in the surveyed space with extremely different comfort parameters. The interpolation procedure is used to approximate the thermal comfort parameters at the points in the test space where no measurements have been taken. To apply the interpolation, the Comfort Map must be plotted on a rectilinear two-dimensional grid. In the grid, each cell represents a point in the study space and the comfort parameters from the measurements are recorded in the corresponding cell.
The representation of the comfort parameter results obtained by the algorithm can be in the form of parameter fields, or by plotting the parameters on a scale, or a combination of both. If more than one comfort parameter is to be displayed on the Comfort Map, it is preferable to use a combination of fields and scales for transparency. In this case, each part of the field is assigned a colour to the value of the comfort parameter to illustrate the difference between different points in the space. On the resulting Comfort Map, scales can be assigned to each point to give a representative representation of the evolution of other comfort parameters.
The resulting Comfort Map provides information on the thermal comfort (PMV) of the workstation.