Browsing by Author "Akkurt, Gulden Gokcen"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9

Citation - WoS: 30
Citation - Scopus: 36
Development of a Personalized Thermal Comfort Driven Controller for Hvac Systems
(Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd, 2021) Turhan, Cihan; Simani, Silvio; Akkurt, Gulden Gokcen; Energy Systems Engineering
Increasing thermal comfort and reducing energy consumption are two main objectives of advanced HVAC control systems. In this study, a thermal comfort driven control (PTC-DC) algorithm was developed to improve HVAC control systems with no need of retrofitting HVAC system components. A case building located in Izmir Institute of Technology Campus-Izmir-Turkey was selected to test the developed system. First, wireless sensors were installed to the building and a mobile application was developed to monitor/ collect temperature, relative humidity and thermal comfort data of an occupant. Then, the PTC-DC algorithm was developed to meet the highest occupant thermal comfort as well as saving energy. The prototypes of the controller were tested on the case building from July 3rd, 2017 to November 1st, 2018 and compared with a conventional PID controller. The results showed that the developed control algorithm and conventional controller satisfy neutral thermal comfort for 92 % and 6 % of total measurement days, respectively. From energy consumption point of view, the PTC-DC decreased energy consumption by 13.2 % compared to the conventional controller. Consequently, the PTC-DC differs from other works in the literature that the prototype of PTC-DC can be easily deployed in real environments. Moreover, the PTC-DC is low-cost and user-friendly. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Impact of Green Wall and Roof Applications on Energy Consumption and Thermal Comfort for Climate Resilient Buildings
(Mdpi, 2025) Turhan, Cihan; Carpino, Cristina; Austin, Miguel Chen; Ozbey, Mehmet Furkan; Akkurt, Gulden Gokcen; Energy Systems Engineering; Mechanical Engineering
Nowadays, reducing energy consumption and obtaining thermal comfort are significant for making educational buildings more climate resilient, more sustainable, and more comfortable. To achieve these goals, a sustainable passive method is that of applying green walls and roofs that provide extra thermal insulation, evaporative cooling, a shadowing effect, and the blockage of wind on buildings. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of green wall and roof applications on energy consumption and thermal comfort in an educational building. For this purpose, a university building in the Csb climate zone is selected and monitored during one year, as a case study. Then, the case building is modelled in a well-calibrated dynamic building energy simulation tool and twenty-one different plant species, which are mostly used for green walls and roofs, are applied to the envelope of the building in order to determine a reduction in energy consumption and an increase in thermal comfort. The Hedera canariensis gomera (an ivy species) plant is used for green walls due to its aesthetic appeal, versatility, and functional benefits while twenty-one different plants including Ophiopogon japonicus (Mando-Grass), Phyllanthus bourgeoisii (Waterfall Plant), and Phoenix roebelenii (Phoenix Palm) are simulated for the green roof applications. The results show that deploying Hedera canariensis gomera to the walls and Phyllanthus bourgeoisii to the roof could simultaneously reduce the energy consumption by 9.31% and increase thermal comfort by 23.55% in the case building. The authors acknowledge that this study is solely based on simulations due to the high cost of all scenarios, and there are inherent differences between simulated and real-world conditions. Therefore, the future work will be analysing scenarios in real life. Considering the limited studies on the effect of different plant species on energy performance and comfort, this study also contributes to sustainable building design strategies.
Citation - WoS: 12
Citation - Scopus: 15
An Integrated Decision-Making Framework for Mitigating the Impact of Urban Heat Islands on Energy Consumption and Thermal Comfort of Residential Buildings
(Mdpi, 2023) Turhan, Cihan; Atalay, Ali Serdar; Akkurt, Gulden Gokcen; Energy Systems Engineering
Urban heat island (UHI) is a zone that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural zones as a result of human activities and rapid and dense urbanization. Excessive air temperature due to the UHI phenomenon affects the energy performance of buildings and human health and contributes to global warming. Knowing that most of the building energy is consumed by residential buildings, therefore, developing a framework to mitigate the impact of the UHI on residential building energy performance is vital. This study develops an integrated framework that combines hybrid micro-climate and building energy performance simulations and multi-criteria decision-making techniques. As a case study, an urban area is analyzed under the Urban GreenUP project funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme. Four different strategies to mitigate the UHI effect, including the current situation, changing the low-albedo materials with high-albedo ones, nature-based solutions, and changing building facade materials, are investigated with a micro-climatic simulation tool. Then, the output of the strategies, which is potential air temperature, is used in a dynamic building energy simulation software to obtain energy consumption and thermal comfort data of the residential buildings in the case area. Finally, a multi-criteria decision-making model, using real-life criteria, such as total energy consumption, thermal comfort, capital cost, lifetime and installation flexibility, is used to make a decision for decreasing the UHI effect on residential energy performance of buildings. The results showed that applying NBSs, such as green roofs and changing existing trees with high leaf area density ones, have the highest ranking among all mitigation strategies. The output of this study may help urban planners, architects, and engineers in the decision-making processes during the design phase of urban planning.
Citation - WoS: 11
Citation - Scopus: 12
Integration of Psychological Parameters Into a Thermal Sensation Prediction Model for Intelligent Control of the Hvac Systems
(Elsevier Science Sa, 2023) Turhan, Cihan; Ozbey, Mehmet Furkan; Lotfi, Bahram; Akkurt, Gulden Gokcen; Energy Systems Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; Department of Mechanical Engineering; Manufacturing Engineering
Conventional thermal comfort models take physiological parameters into account on thermal comfort models. On the other hand, psychological behaviors are also proven as a vital parameter which affects the thermal sensation. In the literature, limited studies which combine both physiological and psychological parameters on the thermal sensation models are exist. To this aim, this study develops a novel Thermal Sensation Prediction Model (TSPM) in order to control the HVAC system by considering both parameters. A data-driven TSPM, which includes Fuzzy Logic (FL) model, is developed and coded using Phyton language by the authors. Two physiological parameters (Mean Radiant Temperature and External Temperature) and one psychological parameter (Emotional Intensity Score (EIS) including Vigour, Depression, Tension with total of 32 subscales) are selected as inputs of the model. Besides the physiological parameters which are decided intentionally considering a manual ventilated building property, the most influencing three sub- psychological parameters on thermal sensation are also selected in the study. While the physiological parameters are measured via environmental data loggers, the psychological parameters are collected simultaneously by the Profile of Mood States questionnaire. A total of 1159 students are participated to the questionnaire at a university study hall between 15th of August 2021 and 15th of September 2022. The results showed that the novel model predicted Thermal Sensation Vote (TSV) with an accuracy of 0.92 of R2. The output of this study may help to develop an integrated Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system with Artificial Intelligence - enabled Emulators that also includes psychological parameters.
Latent Psychological Pathways in Thermal Comfort Perception: The Mediating Role of Cognitive Uncertainty on Depression and Vigour
(MDPI, 2025) Ozbey, Mehmet Furkan; Turhan, Cihan; Alkan, Nese; Akkurt, Gulden Gokcen; Energy Systems Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; Department of Psychology
Thermal comfort is the condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment, and it is assessed through subjective evaluation, according to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers. While research has traditionally emphasised physical factors, growing evidence highlights the role of the state of mind in shaping thermal perception. In a prior Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis, six mood subscales-Anger, Confusion, Vigour, Tension, Depression, and Fatigue-were examined for how they affect the absolute difference between actual and predicted thermal sensation. Depression and vigour were found to be the most influential, while confusion appeared least impactful. However, to accurately assess the role of confusion, it is necessary to consider its potential interactions with other mood subscales. To this end, a mediation analysis was conducted using Hayes' PROCESS tool. The mediation analyses revealed that confusion partially mediated depression's effect in males and vigour's effect in females. These results suggest that, despite a weak direct impact, confusion critically influences thermal perception by altering the effects of key mood states. Accounting for the indirect effects of mood states may lead to more accurate predictions of human sensory experiences and improve the design of occupant-centred environments.
Citation - WoS: 25
Citation - Scopus: 24
A Novel Data-Driven Model for the Effect of Mood State on Thermal Sensation
(Mdpi, 2023) Turhan, Cihan; Ozbey, Mehmet Furkan; Ceter, Aydin Ege; Akkurt, Gulden Gokcen; Energy Systems Engineering; Mechanical Engineering
Thermal comfort has an important role in human life, considering that people spend most of their lives in indoor environments. However, the necessity of ensuring the thermal comfort of these people presents an important problem, calculating the thermal comfort accurately. The assessment of thermal comfort has always been problematic, from past to present, and the studies conducted in this field have indicated that there is a gap between thermal comfort and thermal sensation. Although recent studies have shown an effort to take human psychology into account more extensively, these studies just focused on the physiological responses of the human body under psychological disturbances. On the other hand, the mood state of people is one of the most significant parameters of human psychology. Thus, this paper investigated the effect of occupants' mood states on thermal sensation; furthermore, it introduced a novel "Mood State Correction Factor" (MSCF) to the existing thermal comfort model. To this aim, experiments were conducted at a mixed-mode building in a university between 15 August 2021 and 15 August 2022. Actual Mean Vote (AMV) and Profile of Mood States (POMS) were used to examine the effect of mood state on thermal sensation. The outcomes of this study showed that in the mood states of very pessimistic and very optimistic, the occupants felt warmer than the calculated one and the MSCFs are calculated as -0.125 and -0.114 for the very pessimistic and very optimistic mood states, respectively. It is worth our time to note that the experiments in this study were conducted during the COVID-19 Global Pandemic and the results of this study could differ in different cultural backgrounds.
Citation - WoS: 3
Citation - Scopus: 2
Reconstructing Energy-Efficient Buildings After a Major Earthquake in Hatay, Türkiye
(Mdpi, 2024) Saleh, Yousif Abed Saleh; Akkurt, Gulden Gokcen; Turhan, Cihan; Energy Systems Engineering
T & uuml;rkiye's earthquake zone, primarily located along the North Anatolian Fault, is one of the world's most seismically active regions, frequently experiencing devastating earthquakes, such as the one in Hatay in 2023. Therefore, reconstructing energy-efficient buildings after major earthquakes enhances disaster resilience and promotes energy efficiency through retrofitting, renovation, or demolition and reconstruction. To this end, this study proposes implementing energy-efficient design solutions in dwelling units to minimize energy consumption in new buildings in Hatay, Southern Turkiye, an area affected by the 2023 earthquake. This research focused on a five-story residential building in the district of Kurtlusar & imath;maz & imath;, incorporating small-scale Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) with thin-film photovoltaic (PV) panels, along with the application of a green wall surrounding the building. ANSYS Fluent v.R2 Software was used for a numerical investigation of the small-scale IceWind turbine, and DesignBuilder Software v.6.1.0.006 was employed to simulate the baseline model and three energy-efficient design strategies. The results demonstrated that small-scale VAWTs, PV panels, and the application of a green wall reduced overall energy use by 8.5%, 18%, and 4.1%, respectively. When all strategies were combined, total energy consumption was reduced by up to 28.5%. The results of this study could guide designers in constructing innovative energy-efficient buildings following extensive demolition such as during the 2023 earthquake in Hatay, T & uuml;rkiye.
Citation - WoS: 14
Citation - Scopus: 10
The Relation Between Thermal Comfort and Human-Body Exergy Consumption in a Temperate Climate Zone
(Elsevier Science Sa, 2019) Turhan, Cihan; Akkurt, Gulden Gokcen; Energy Systems Engineering
Human body exergy balance calculation method gives minimum human body exergy consumption rates at thermal neutrality (TSV = 0) providing more information on human thermal responses than other methods. The literature is lacking the verification of this method in various climatic zones. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between thermal comfort and human body exergy consumption in a temperate climate zone. A small office building in Izmir Institute of Technology campus, Izmir/Turkey, was chosen as a case building and equipped with measurement devices. The occupant was subjected to a survey via a mobile application to obtain his Thermal Sensation Votes. Objective data were collected via sensors and used for predicting occupant thermal comfort and for exergy balance calculations. Under given conditions, the results show that Thermal Sensation Votes are generally zero at a T-i range of 21-23 degrees C and, are mostly lower than Predicted Mean Votes in summer while the opposite is observed in winter. Predicted Mean Votes at minimum Human Body Exergy Consumption rates were on slightly warm side while Thermal Sensation Votes are zero. It means that for given case, the HBexC rate calculation gave a better prediction of the environmental parameters for the best thermal comfort. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Citation - WoS: 18
Citation - Scopus: 21
Thermal Comfort Analysis of Historical Mosques. Case Study: the Ulu Mosque, Manisa, Turkey
(Elsevier Science Sa, 2021) Diler, Yusuf; Turhan, Cihan; Arsan, Zeynep Durmus; Akkurt, Gulden Gokcen; Energy Systems Engineering
Mosques are sanctuary places for Muslims where they can perform their religious activities and also can communicate with each other. On the other hand, historical mosques may contain artworks which have cultural heritage values. These mosques originally have not any Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning systems. For this reason, obtaining thermal comfort becomes a significant issue. In this study, a systematic approach on monitoring and evaluating thermal comfort of historical mosques were developed. As a case study, The Ulu Mosque, Manisa/Turkey was monitored from 2015 to 2018, and thermal comfort evaluation of the mosque was conducted during prayer times based on the method provided by ISO 7730. A dynamic Building Energy Performance Software, DesignBuilder, was used to model the mosque, and the model was calibrated by using hourly indoor temperature data. The calibrated model was then used to evaluate existing conditions of the mosque and develop retrofitting scenarios in order to increase thermal comfort of prayers. Thirteen different scenarios were proposed to improve thermal comfort of prayers during worship periods. The results were evaluated according to EN 16883 for conservation of cultural heritage of the mosque. Electrical radiator heating with intermittent operating schedules was obtained as the best scenario to protect cultural heritage via artworks, while decreasing disssatisfaction level of the prayers from 45% to 10% in winter months. Additionally, intermittent operation saved 46.9% of energy compared to continuous operating schedule. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.