Study On Comprehensive Validity Evaluation Of Residential Kitchen Functions

Kitchen is playing a relatively prominent role in the functionality of residential building, and kitchen work is featured by strong operability and high demands in functionality and comfort. With the development of society, the demand of kitchen for resources and energy consumption is increasing. Currently, residential kitchen is commonly encountered with the following problems: designers do not pay attention to the environmental precise design of kitchen functions, and design results are seriously out of step with use requirements; kitchens that have been built or occupied are featured by poor comfort, poor facilities or low efficiency, leading to prominent waste of resources or ergonomics; builders’ blind pursuit of high standards and comfort for kitchen have brought enormous consumption of environmental resources; irrational cooking energy applications have serious impacts on the environment. In order to address these problems, an objective, quantitative and manageable kitchen evaluation standard is in urg ent need to guide the design and renovation of residential kitchen and adapt to the goal of sustainable development. The main objective of this study is, on the basis of meeting kitchen functional requirements, to establish quantitative evaluation indicato rs for kitchen resource validity and ergonomic validity, construct a comprehensive validity evaluation system for kitchens so that users of different levels can make an effective evaluation on kitchen design, current condition and renovation measure.According to the data and information obtained from basic researches on residential kitchens, on the basis of systematically analyzing the physical and performance features of residential kitchens, this paper connected resource sustainability and operational comfort that meet kitchen functions, respectively, with resource consumption of the kitchen and physical consumption of the using subjects, determining the four carrier elements for kitchen functions that affect kitchen evaluation, proposing resource validity and ergonomics indicators and constructing a comprehensive validity evaluation system for kitchens under the evaluation mode of sub-item validity indicators and comprehensive efficiency targets; under the comprehensive validity evaluation system, quantit ative evaluation studies were conducted for sub-item validity indicators based on the types of kitchen carrier elements, and by simulation and testing methods, the parameters of kitchen space, cooking energy application, furnishings and other physical elem ents were taken as variables, and the resource consumption and efficiency of the corresponding item was taken as an index; then by analyzing their simulation and test results, an evaluation model for sub-item resource validity indicators and ergonomics targets was built on the basis of the parameter characteristics of kitchen carrier elements; based on quantitative sub-item validity indicators, the criteria of comprehensive validity evaluation system for kitchens and the weight of each sub-item validity indicator were determined, thus constructing a comprehensive function evaluation system from the whole to the details according to the quantitative analysis results of the sub-item validity and indicators of kitchen carriers.The main research results are as follows:(1) establishing the concept of evaluation efficiency for physical elements concerning kitchen;(2) putting forward the new comprehensive validity evaluation model by taking kitchen resource validity and efficiency as quantitative indicators;(3) constructing the resource validity and ergonomic validity model based on kitchen element features;(4) proposing and validating the efficiency-indicator quantitative method where a heart-rate measuring instrument was used to test the heart-rate incremental ratio as operator’s relative physiological load index so that the physiological load index quantification for kitchen efficiency is operable.The study on comprehensive validity evaluation system for kitchen is characterized by scientific, objective and systematic nature, reflecting the ideas of delicate building featuring comfort and efficiency, and saving energy and resource under the concept of sustainable development; resource validity and ergonomic indicators are unfolded around kitchen features, which are sensitive and easy to operate; the evaluation results have validated the guidance and operability of the comprehensive validity evaluation system in kitchen’s functional evaluation, which can provide a necessary reference basis for decision-making on kitchen design, renovation or construction.