Finding the perfect and optimal point of comfort is hard. Thermal comfort is something that is different for everyone; factors such as metabolism and our body clock, as well as the region you live in are known to greatly affect your comfort. Here's why.
Our previous research indicated that users in New York have a wider range of preferred temperatures compared to Singaporeans. On the "Freezing" end, New Yorkers peaked at 67 degrees Fahrenheit, while Singaporeans appeared to find a broad range of temperatures to be "freezing”. There is also a general misunderstanding that temperature is the only factor that affects thermal comfort - but that’s just a misconception. According to ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers), human thermal comfort depends on multiple factors, such as temperature, humidity, airflow, clothing, sunlight and metabolism.
So why is this important?
While your body temperature is constantly fluctuating throughout the day (and different seasons), most air conditioners are unable to be flexible enough. This means that you constantly need to adjust your air conditioner manually to satisfy your ever-changing needs. The fact that air conditioners today only allow you to set a temperature makes it even more frustrating. So how do you manage your comfort effectively and solve these problems, you ask?
Comfort Mode
Comfort mode, also known as the most popular mode in our companion app, can help you solve these problems. Smart sensors in Ambi Climate detect your surrounding temperature, humidity, sunlight and collects local weather data online. Through the free Ambi Climate app, all users have to do is provide feedback on a scale of “freezing” to “hot” under the Comfort Mode tab.
As you go and provide more feedback, Ambi Climate will remember your preferences and parameters and the smart sensors will work with our robust artificial intelligence technology to learn how various factors affect your comfort; eventually building your individualized, tailored profile. Ambi also tracks the time of day, as it will make slight adjustments to suit your natural metabolic cycle. For example, Ambi Climate takes into account that our body temperature generally drops during our sleep.
“I am a very sensitive sleeper and have always been used to waking in the middle of the night just to change the air con settings or turn it off/on. I'm getting less interrupted sleep...not just because I don't have to wake up for myself, but because of my toddler as well.”
- KS, Singapore
Ambi Climate will start learning from the 3rd feedback onward and start auto-adjusting your air conditioner to create the most suitable environment for you. It's important and beneficial to give extra feedback to optimize your environment - this is especially useful during sudden weather or seasonal changes, but also during different times of day. This way, your Ambi will know how to provide you with the ultimate comfort.
“Ambi Climate knows exactly what needs to happen to get the room to be comfortable, whether it be cooling, drying or whatever"
- Steven, New Zealand
Insights & Analytics
For users who like to view concrete statistics and patterns on this ambiguous term called ‘comfort’, our extensive in-app insights and analytics not only offer a better glimpse into your usage patterns but also show how your unique comfort profile is built.
Comfort feedback Learned - the Comfort Map with colorful dots shows what type of feedback (i.e. freezing, a bit cold, comfortable, hot) you have given in specific conditions – temperature and time of the day.
Importance of Comfort Factors - a radar chart that gives a nice insight (as well as percentages) into the factors that determine your personal comfort based on the feedback you’ve given. A peaking axis indicates that the factor plays a large role in your comfort. In this case, weather and metabolism are the most important factors that influence comfort for the user below.
Ready to introduce comfort into your life?
That is it for this post! Let us know in the comments what ‘FAQ & How To‘ posts you would like us to do next. Start enjoying the benefits of Comfort Mode now!
