Topic B6: Prediction & Measurement

An Improved Method to Evaluate Indoor Microclimatic Data: Case Study of a Book

Archive in a Hot and Humid Climate
Maisarah ALI1, Majeed OLADOKUN2,*, and Samsul B. OSMAN1
1

Department of Manufacturing and Material Engineering, International Islamic University,

Malaysia (IIUM) P. O. Box 10, 50728, Gombak, Malaysia.
2
Department of Architecture, Building Services Engineering, IIUM.
*

Corresponding email: lyday011@yahoo.com

Keywords: Indoor Microclimatic Parameters, Comfort Assessment, Indoor Air Quality, TimeSeries Data, Hygrothermal Profile
SUMMARY
Indoor microclimatic parameters are recurrently used to monitor building performance for
indoor environmental quality appraisal. Inputs for such assessment come from time-series of
microclimatic parameters taken with array of sensors and data loggers. Existing methods
analyse the data using averages, cumulative frequencies, frequency distribution, standard
deviation, ranges and other variability tests on the microclimate profiles to benchmark the
results against existing standards. However, the approach is less efficient as only such
variability tests are insufficient to report the microclimatic conditions. This study considers a
different approach by comparison between standardised values of the raw data within similar
time-step, at different data-points for in-depth analysis of indoor microclimatic parameters. The
case study was selected of a book archive which conforms to ASHRAE standards on
preservation with application of the current approach but reveals microclimate stratification as
the proposed methodology is applied. This paper reports the approach, data collection,
manipulation, analysis and presentation of the proposed method.

INTRODUCTION
In the sustainable development policy, buildings are required to provide a safe haven for its
occupants - the living (human beings, pets and livestock) and non-living (building fabrics,
archives of books and monuments) without being detrimental to the environment. Comfort
parameters are established for occupants health: thermal, visual and acoustical comfort; other
indoor air quality specifications and energy efficiency. Despite these, buildings still contribute
negatively to its occupants well-being (Di Giuseppe, 2013) a situation that keeps challenging
the built environment practitioners. As a result, making the building comfortable remains a
great concern to the built environment academic and industrial practitioners.
Benchmarks for discrete microclimatic parameters are set in standards and guidelines to assess
the indoor environmental quality (IEQ): air temperature, air velocity, air humidity and other
indoor air quality (IAQ) parameters. Conventionally, in a typical indoor comfort assessment,
time-series data are measured to give the time-step profiles of microclimatic parameters. The
existing methodologies estimate averages, cumulative frequencies, frequency distribution,
standard deviation, ranges and other variability tests from the measured microclimatic
parameters to: benchmark against appropriate standards (Corgnati et al., 2009; Mickal et al.,

2014) and compare with simulated results for performance optimisation (Baggio et al., 2004;
Chang and Falk, 2009). Other studies use the microclimate mean to examine the performance
of prediction models (Cornick and Kumaran, 2008), to compare reliability of building
performance simulation software (Steeman et al., 2010) and investigate design decision on
performance (Janssen and Christensen, 2013). In addition, an attempt to examine the difference
in microclimatic parameters at different points within the same occupied zone was set forth by
Garca-Diego and Zarzo (2010) but despite the accrued benefits of the approach, it fails to
examine the datas normality - a validity condition suggested in Tabachnick and Fidell (2007)
and also failed to use time-weighted average against the BS 6069 (British Standards Institution,
1994) guideline. It is apparent from the earlier studies cited above that analysis are carried out
by benchmarking the average indoor microclimate conditions against standards. Contrastingly,
only temperature and relative humidity averages over time are insufficient to tell the story of
indoor microclimatic conditions (Chang and Falk, 2009; Luther and Horan, 2009) as some
areas can witness peak values which average cannot reveal. Therefore, analytical approach that
reveal each data-point performance within similar time step and at different points in the indoor
space would be more beneficial for in-depth microclimate analysis. To the authors best of
knowledge, not much have been published in this regards.
This study proposes a methodology that focuses on the application of a multivariate approach
to indoor microclimatic data assessment by standardising measured values to investigate the
variability and uniformity in the indoor microclimate at different locations within an occupied
zone. The methodology was applied to a book archive with a null hypothesis that the air is
well-mixed, hence the microclimate is uniform at all the monitor points.
METHODOLOGIES
Standardisation Approach in Time-Series analysis of Microclimatic Parameters
Assuming that indoor microclimatic parameters are normally distributed, the study develops
an approach to use standardised values of microclimatic parameters measured in various
locations within the same indoor environment for an improved assessment. Standardisation
makes sense of direct comparison of raw data (Vincent and Weir, 2012) as it reflects the
magnitude of data-points deviation from the mean. Various approaches to standardisation
exists (OriginLab, online) but Z-score is most preferred (BEBLOG, online) due to its ability to
report each data-point position within normal distribution. In a mechanically ventilated indoor
environment the air is well-mixed and hence, the microclimate is expected to be uniformly
distributed (Steeman et al., 2010). In such case, similarity in standardised data for differing
sensors location measurements (at a particular time-step) implies uniform distribution of the
microclimate or otherwise indicates the reverse.
The study employs time-series data of indoor microclimatic parameters obtained from array of
sensors mounted in different locations of the indoor environment for medium term
measurement. Data from time-series measurements is huge and this, according to Horan and
Luther (2010) pose difficulty in interpretation and presentation. As data are useless, until they
undergo appreciable refinements (Corgnati et al., 2009), a 24hours sample data is randomly
selected from the hourly data. The data are arranged in a matrix of 24 observations by k
variables (where k represent the monitor points in columns) for each of the microclimatic
parameters. The first step in time-series analysis is plotting the observed series, the study
presents the measured parameters on graph with the time intervals on x-axis while the timeseries variables (microclimatic parameters) on the y-axis to reveal the fluctuations and other
points of interests in the series (Dennis et al., 2012; Imdadullah, 2013). It is an interesting

approach to visualise indoor microclimatic data on psychrometric chart, although customising

the chart electronically to present measured and/or computed data-points mystifies most
researchers despite its importance in revealing the data-point positions relative to the comfort
zone (Horan and Luther, 2010). This study develops, using MATLAB (MATLAB, Release
2012b), a psychrometric chart to visualise the data within a customisable comfort zone with
flexible ranges to present the indoor microclimate. The data are standardised, using Z-score,
for comparison of different sensor locations at distinctive time-steps. The Z-score is estimated
from equation (1) below at 95% level of confidence (p<0.05):

(1)
Where: = Z-score, = raw score, x = sample mean score and = sample standard deviation.
The Z-score is calculated for both the indoor temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH). In
order to improve the clarity of data-point comparison, Z-score values are often transformed to
percentile score by adding 50 to the z-scores values obtained from normal distribution table
(Vincent and Weir, 2012). Referring to the comfort zone height of 1.2m to 1.8m (Nielsen et
al., 2007), the standardised (percentile) data within the entire occupied zone was interpolated
and the results presented as contour plots to reveal the intensities and variations of the indoor
microclimatic parameters distributions.
Application of the Proposed Method to a Case Study (Case Study Selection)
The case study was selected of a book archive on one of the campuses of a public university in
Malaysia. The library building (located about 80m above sea level) was constructed in 1989
with (presently) a total collection of about 150,000 volumes of archival materials. There had
been a growing concern by the librarys staff over the microclimate in the level that housed the
manuscript in its ability to properly preserve the collections hence the selection. The overall
size is 35.33m x 16.05m x 3.2m high (Area = 567.05m2, Volume = 1814.55m3, and A/V ratio
= 0.31). Three of the boundary walls are located adjacent to other indoor spaces, hence only
one wall is exposed to the external ambient weather (Fig. 1). The ventilation system comprises
of all-air central air conditioning system which controls both air temperature and relative
humidity. The library operates between 8:30 am - 7:30 pm (weekdays) and closed (on
weekends and public holidays).

Figure 1: Layout of the case study book archive MP-01 to MP-06 represents the monitor
points where the indoor microclimatic parameters were measured.

Data Collection
Six (6) data loggers were installed within the book archive for a period of eight (8) days from
27/9/2013 to 4/10/2013. The data loggers were HOBO U12 from Onset Computer Corp. They
were calibrated before and after measurements to ensure measurement consistency and
reliability. The uncertainty of the measured T and RH were in accordance with the data logger
manufacturer specifications. The measurement accuracy are 0.35C, T and 2.5%, RH with
precision 0.03C, T and 0.03%, RH. To reduce the measurement error and improve the data
representativeness, time-weighted average is employed as time-averaging reduces
measurement errors - BS 6069-5.1 (British Standards Institution, 1994). The sensors logged
data at every 10minutes result in six time-steps data per hour to give a total of 1152 (i.e
6datapoints x 24hours/day x 8days) rows of microclimatic parameters. This was later reduced
to 192 rows 24hrs data from day 1 to day 8 of the observation using the time-weighted average
of the hourly data.
Sample Selection and Data Analysis
Distributed into twenty-four (hours) strata in eight (days) clusters, the study adopts stratifiedclustered sampling to select a 24 hours data from the observation period to have a daily
performance overview of the microclimate. The probability sampling approach gave each day
equal chance of being selected for any of the hourly periods in 24hours. Data from the monitor
points were arranged in a matrix comprised of 24 observations (time instance in rows) by 6
variables (monitor points in columns) for each of the microclimatic parameters (T and RH).
Results of the normality test (Table 1) shows that the kurtosis and skewness falls with the limits
(Vincent and Weir, 2012), hence the data normality assumption is valid. For the sample
representativeness of the population, table 2 reveals that the sample mean (x) falls within the
population mean () range an indication that the 24-hrs sample is suitable to represent the
entire microclimatic parameters of the case study (Quirk et al., 2010; Vincent and Weir, 2012).
Table 1: Normality Test results on the 24-hrs sample from indoor microclimate of the case
study
Temperature
Humidity
Sensor
Locations
Zskew
Zkurt
Zskew
Zkurt
Monitor_Point1
-0.54
-0.53
-0.81
-1.61
Monitor_Point2
-1.83
0.25
-0.20
-1.45
Monitor_Point3
-0.86
-0.13
-0.98
-1.15
Monitor_Point4
-1.88
0.18
-0.41
-1.21
Monitor_Point5
-0.44
-0.91
0.46
-1.08
Monitor_Point6
-1.07
-0.23
-0.74
-1.65
Zskew and Zkurt 2.00 is acceptable ranges of normality condition at p<0.05 (Vincent and Weir, 2012)
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Existing Approach
In order to reveal the microclimate daily performance, the study presents time-series plots of
days against the indoor T (Fig.2a) and RH (Fig. 2b). It was observed that the evolution of T
and RH along the time axis is parallel for all the monitored points suggesting a uniform
microclimate distribution within the book archive. To further check the microclimate
performance with reference to preservation standards, the microclimatic parameters is
presented on a psychrometric chart (Fig. 3). From the figure, the circles represent the mean
indoor T and RH of the monitor points while the shaded region denotes the ASHRAE

(ASHRAE, 2010) comfort zone (Class A) for archival materials with values ranging from 15C
25C and 40% 60% for T and RH respectively. The results show that the indoor conditions
operates within ASHRAE limits. If the earlier methodologies of indoor microclimate
assessment is to be applied, it seems that the book archive conforms to ASHRAE conservation
class.
Table 2: Temperature and Humidity range of values for the population from which 24-hrs
sample was randomly selected
Temperature
Humidity
Sensor
Sample
Locations
Population Mean
Mean
Population Mean
Sample
Range
(x)
Range
Mean (x)
Monitor_Point1
20.95 21.72
21.33
42.48 44.48
43.48
Monitor_Point2
20.06 20.96
20.51
45.95 48.53
47.27
Monitor_Point3
21.22 21.82
21.52
42.32 43.95
43.14
Monitor_Point4
20.16 20.72
20.44
47.76 49.93
48.85
Monitor_Point5
19.12 20.13
19.63
45.67 49.06
47.36
Monitor_Point6
20.71 21.43
21.07
43.71 45.92
44.81
(a)

(b)

Figure 2: Time Series of Indoor Microclimate (Humidity and Temperature) of the Archival
Building

Figure 3: The psychrometric chart showing the comfort zone and the mean (monitor points)
indoor microclimatic parameters of the archival building

Proposed Approach
Table 3 represents the standardised microclimate (part of 24hr data) magnitude which makes
it easier to compare between data-points with lower values depicts low magnitude and vice
versa. The table revealed that the microclimate varies greatly between the monitor points across
the time-steps. For instance, compare T for all the monitor points at 8:00am, MP1 is the hottest
point with value of 0.44 while the coldest appears to be MP3 with value of -0.69; the same
applicable to RH at say 9:00am with MP2 being least humid with lowest value of 0.21 and
MP5 as the most humid point with Z-value of 1.44.
Table 3: Table of Standardised values (Z-Score) for the indoor Microclimatic Parameters
(Temperature and Relative Humidity)
Temperature
Relative Humidity
Time of
the Day MP1 MP2 MP3 MP4 MP5 MP6 MP1 MP2 MP3 MP4 MP5
8:00 AM -0.67 -0.27 -0.69 -0.53 0.44 -0.30
0.39
0.07 0.26 0.25 -0.11
9:00 AM 1.04 0.99 0.28 0.36 -1.09 0.99
0.37
0.21 0.38 0.73 1.44
1:00 PM 1.01 0.74 0.86 -0.03 1.67 0.92
0.70
0.64 0.63 1.33 -0.17

MP6
0.14
0.68
0.91

Results of the contour plots (Fig. 4 to 6) revealed hygrothermal profile stratification in the book
archive. Generally, low temperature and high humidity characterises the book shelve area as
against area close to the operation counter. At 8:00am, the archive shows a relatively cold
interior with the corresponding higher humidity (Fig. 4).

Figure 4: Indoor Microclimate distribution within the book archive at 8:00am

Figure 5, the condition at 9:00am, shows an increase in the interior temperature which suggest
increase in the heat gains from lighting and other heat sources. It also reveal a highly stratified
humid condition at the book shelve area with the lower right corner being very humid.

Figure 5: Indoor Microclimate distribution within the book archive at 9:00am

In the afternoon (Fig. 6) when the external ambient condition is thermally critical, hot region
is revealed around the external wall yet the book shelve area remain relatively colder a situation
that results in higher humid condition.
Results of the contour plots further revealed an uneven hygrothermal distribution within the
book archive a consequence of not well-mixed air. From the foregoing, it is evidenced that
the mean of the micro-climatic parameters, when compared with the standards indicates

compliance as the values fall within the specified ranges. Whereas, application of the proposed
methodology shows variations in the results. This invariably negates the assumption of wellmixed air and as such the null hypothesis rejected. This disparity in the microclimate parameter
distribution can be felt as draught and dead-spots in temperature and humidity distributions
within the indoor space. It can also lead to mould problems which pose serious health and
conservation issue to the book archive environment.

Figure 6: Indoor Microclimate condition within the book archive at 1:00pm

The approach will be beneficial in analysing air distribution at different points within the indoor
space and therefore promises to be more beneficial for continuous monitoring of archives and
monuments preservations where uniform air and moisture distribution is of great importance.
Similarly, the approach will be useful to verify the HVAC system performance in maintaining
the required hygrothermal profile at different locations within the conditioned space in addition
to global verification that mean comparison can offer. Lastly, one of the many benefits of CFD
(computational fluid dynamics) simulation is in the data visualisation as contour plots. The
methodology herein proposed can thus serve as a good primer to compare between measured
and simulated results.
CONCLUSIONS
The phenomenon of indoor microclimatic parameters measurement is well known and
documented in the literature. The output of measurement result in large volume of data which
require in-depth analysis for mining useful information in indoor air quality assessment.
Previous studies analyse indoor microclimatic data based on comparison of averages,
cumulative frequencies, frequency distribution, standard deviation, ranges etc., to have a global
comparison with the standards. Standardising raw data for comparison at every instance
provides a clearer aperture to data comparison. This study presented an improved procedure in
analysing indoor microclimatic parameters by standardising raw data from indoor
microclimatic measurements. The results shows that when mean values are benchmarked
against the standard, the indoor conditions show conformance but reveals discrepancies in
outputs from different sensors when the new methodology was applied. The new methodology
is thus useful to investigate indoor microclimatic conditions, hygrothermal profile and other
air distribution analysis in addition to benchmarking indoor microclimate performances against
standards. Therefore, draught and dead-spots in air movements, temperature and moisture
distributions, HVAC load balancing, etc. can be assessed with more details.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The results presented in this study is part of a multidisciplinary research project (FRGS12-0670126) engineered towards indoor mould growth prediction using thermal characteristics in the
tropical climate buildings by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) Malaysia. The
financial supports is gratefully acknowledged.

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