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Standard 55 – Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy

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Standard 55 specifies conditions for acceptable thermal environments and is intended for use in design, operation, and commissioning of buildings and other occupied spaces.

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For thermal comfort—this is the standard.

ASHRAE Standard 55 specifies conditions for acceptable thermal environments and is intended for use in design, operation, and commissioning of buildings and other occupied spaces.

The 2020 edition of ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55 incorporates eight published addenda to the 2017 edition. This edition steers users toward the analytical method (and companion elevated airspeed method) and replaces the graphical method with a series of examples that use the analytical method. With multiple freely available third-party implementations of the analytical method, barriers to its use have been greatly reduced, allowing for greater flexibility and accuracy than with the graphical method.

The standard includes a separate adaptive model for determining acceptable thermal conditions in occupant-controlled naturally conditioned spaces, with newly expanded applicability in this version. Users are now allowed to use the adaptive model when an air-conditioning unit is installed but not operating.

Additional changes in the 2020 edition include:

  • Replacement of the graphical method with normative graphical examples of specific conditions using the analytical method and elevated airspeed methods
  • Expanded applicability of the adaptive model used for naturally conditioned spaces that have a mechanical cooling system installed
  • New method for avoiding draft risk at the ankle region

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