Zhang F, de Dear R
Indoor Environmental Quality Laboratory, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Indoor Air. 2017 Jan;27(1):78-93. doi: 10.1111/ina.12296. Epub 2016 Apr 6.
As one of the most common strategies for managing peak electricity demand, direct load control (DLC) of air-conditioners involves cycling the compressors on and off at predetermined intervals. In university lecture theaters, the implementation of DLC induces temperature cycles which might compromise university students' learning performance. In these experiments, university students' learning performance, represented by four cognitive skills of memory, concentration, reasoning, and planning, was closely monitored under DLC-induced temperature cycles and control conditions simulated in a climate chamber. In Experiment 1 with a cooling set point temperature of 22°C, subjects' cognitive performance was relatively stable or even slightly promoted by the mild heat intensity and short heat exposure resulting from temperature cycles; in Experiment 2 with a cooling set point of 24°C, subjects' reasoning and planning performance observed a trend of decline at the higher heat intensity and longer heat exposure. Results confirm that simpler cognitive tasks are less susceptible to temperature effects than more complex tasks; the effect of thermal variations on cognitive performance follows an extended-U relationship with performance being relatively stable across a range of temperatures. DLC appears to be feasible in university lecture theaters if DLC algorithms are implemented judiciously.
作为管理高峰电力需求最常见的策略之一，空调的直接负载控制（DLC）涉及按预定间隔使压缩机循环开启和关闭。在大学讲堂中，实施直接负载控制会引发温度循环，这可能会影响大学生的学习表现。在这些实验中，在气候室模拟的直接负载控制引发的温度循环和控制条件下，密切监测了以记忆、注意力、推理和计划这四种认知技能为代表的大学生学习表现。在冷却设定温度为22°C的实验1中，由于温度循环导致的温和热强度和短时间热暴露，受试者的认知表现相对稳定，甚至略有提升；在冷却设定温度为24°C的实验2中，在较高热强度和较长热暴露下，受试者的推理和计划表现呈现下降趋势。结果证实，较简单的认知任务比较复杂的任务对温度影响的敏感度更低；热变化对认知表现的影响呈现出一种扩展的U型关系，即在一定温度范围内表现相对稳定。如果明智地实施直接负载控制算法，那么在大学讲堂中似乎是可行的。
