Thermal comfort of people in the hot and humid area of China—impacts of season,climate, and thermal history

We conducted a climate chamber study on the thermal comfort of people in the hot and humid area of China. Sixty subjects from naturally ventilated buildings and buildings with split air conditioners participated in the study, and identical experiments were conducted in a climate chamber in both summer and winter. Psychological and physiological responses were observed over a wide range of conditions, and the impacts of season, climate, and thermal history on human thermal comfort were analyzed. Seasonal and climatic heat acclimatization was confirmed, but they were found to have no significant impacts on human thermal sensation and comfort. The outdoor thermal history was much less important than the indoor thermal history in regard to human thermal sensation, and the indoor thermal history in all seasons of a year played a key role in shaping the subjects' sensations in a wide range of thermal conditions. A warmer indoor thermal history in warm seasons produced a higher neutral temperature, a lower thermal sensitivity, and lower thermal sensations in warm conditions. The comfort and acceptable conditions were identified for people in the hot and humid area of China.     

感知控制对湿热地区户外庭园空间热舒适性的影响——以华侨大学“世外·花缘”生活实验室为例

户外热舒适对城市景观空间的使用具有显著影响。目前对户外热舒适的研究较少考虑感知控制(Perceived Control)的影响作用。通过在选定实验区域内对志愿者进行问卷调查,分析感知控制对庭园空间热舒适的影响。结果表明：1)感知控制对湿热地区庭园空间的夏季中性温度具有一定影响,但对秋、冬季中性温度影响微弱;2)感知控制受限会导致热感觉的敏感程度增强,热舒适范围变窄;3)在中性温度范围附近,感知控制对热舒适感的影响十分微弱,而在热感觉为“冷”“凉”“暖”“热”的热环境中,感知控制对不适感具有一定缓解作用;4)感知控制在一定程度上扩大了人们对庭园热环境的可接受范围,当感知控制受限时,人们对热环境的接受度会有所下降。     

教学组团夏季室外热环境特征与计算模型验证

对湿热地区典型教学组团的夏季室外热环境进行了33 h昼夜连续实测.根据气象参数,行人高度上温度、湿度、风速和湿球黑球温度（WBGT）分布以及典型地表温度等的测试结果,得到湿热地区教学组团夏季室外热环境的主要特征.测试结果表明,组团内的天井、架空、透水砖可有效降低夏季白天行人高度处的空气温度及WBGT,一些建筑设计手法对组团夏季白天室外热舒适的改善效果依次为：架空>天井>透水砖路面>不透水砖路面>混凝土路面.夜间,各测点的热舒适性基本一致.将测试结果对组团室外风速和WBGT现有计算模型进行验证研究.研究表明,数学公式计算值的相对误差均不超过6%,与实测统计值相吻合.     

湿热地区老年人夏季室外热舒适阈值研究

旨在探索湿热地区老年人夏季室外热舒适阈值。以课题示范工程、样本量集中的广州市老人院为研究案例,结合现场实测与问卷调研,获得各气象要素（空气温度、相对湿度、黑球温度、风速）的逐时数据及老年人室外热舒适状况;借助Rayman模型,计算生理等效温度PET,运用SPSS进行回归分析建立老年人室外热舒适评价模型;并评析不同类型测点空间的热环境情况与特点。结论如下：（1）湿热地区夏季老年人室外热环境中性PET值为25.60℃;台湾、香港、广州等湿热气候地区,老年人与混合年龄层中性PET值接近,人群中性PET值具有一定普适性;（2）老年人热感觉中性范围为23.79℃~27.41℃,较混合年龄层窄;老年人室外环境热舒适PET范围为22.70℃~32.53℃,老年人对偏凉感觉（PET=23.10℃）更感舒适;老年人达到90%可接受率的PET范围是22.62℃~31.15℃;（3）老年人夏季热敏感度为3.62PET（℃）/TSV,夏季老年人对室外热环境敏感度明显高于混合年龄层,因此室外热环境设计对老年人具有更大影响;（4）在适当遮荫条件（植物或建筑）下,老年人在夏季依然乐于接受室外阳光辐射;但需综合运用遮阳、通风、降温等设计策略才能满足老年人对热环境的舒适需求。以期为湿热地区室外环境适老设计提供研究方法和设计目标的参考。     

Thermal sensation of Hong Kong people with increased air speed,temperature and humidity in air-conditioned environment

In the warm and humid climate zone, air-conditioning (AC) is usually provided at working places to enhance human thermal comfort and work productivity. From the building sustainability point of view, to achieve acceptable thermal sensation with the minimum use of energy can be desirable. A new AC design tactic is then to increase the air movement so that the summer temperature setting can be raised. A laboratory-based thermal comfort survey was conducted in Hong Kong with around 300 educated Chinese subjects. Their thermal sensation votes were gathered for a range of controlled thermal environment. The result analysis shows that, like in many other Asian cities, the thermal sensation of the Hong Kong people is sensitive to air temperature and speed, but not much to humidity. With bodily air speed at 0.1–0.2 m/s, clothing level 0.55 clo and metabolic rate 1 met, the neutral temperature was found around 25.4 °C for sedentary working environment. Then recommendations are given to the appropriate controlled AC environment in Hong Kong with higher airflow speeds.     

现代徽民居空调采暖效果实测对比分析

以安徽省黄山市潜口镇政府主导的新建住宅为测试对象,通过对同一房间在采暖、非采暖状况下某一时段内表征热环境各项特征的实测数据进行阐述和比较,包括室内外空气温湿度、各围护结构壁面温度、室内外空气交换的风速,定量表述了在目前通用的建筑构造做法和当地居民冬季惯用的空调采暖模式下,室内热舒适度和热环境品质提升的程度;根据测试结果分析得出影响采暖与节能效果的若干问题,参照目前关于夏热冬冷地区人体热舒适的相关研究与相关规范,并给出解决建议。     

Field study of human thermal comfort and thermal adaptability during the summer and winter in Beijing

This study was conducted during the summer and winter in Beijing. Classrooms and offices in a university were used to conduct the survey. The respondents’ thermal sensation and thermal adaptability in both seasons were analyzed. During the study, indoor environmental parameters including air temperature, mean radiant temperature, relative humidity, and air velocity were measured. The respondents’ thermal sensation was determined by questionnaire.A relationship between indoor temperature and thermal sensation was found. In the summer study, the “scissors difference” between TSV and PMV was observed in the air-conditioned environments if the temperature was out of the neutral zone. People had higher tolerance in the hot environment than PMV predicted. During winter, the outdoor temperature had a prominent influence on thermal adaptability. The low outdoor temperature made people adapt to the cold environment. When the indoor temperature was heated to a high temperature by space heating facilities, respondents felt uncomfortable since their adaptability to the cold environment was nullified.Furthermore, the differences in thermal responses between respondents from North and South China showed that the different climates of people's native regions also affected their thermal comfort and adaptability.     

A comparative analysis of short-term and long-term thermal comfort surveys in Iran

This paper describes two field studies of thermal comfort conducted in Ilam, a city located in western Iran. The first study consisted of two short-term surveys carried out during two climatically extreme periods—a hot summer and a cold winter—in 1998. The second study consisted of a long-term survey that collected data throughout the whole of 1999. Both studies were performed in naturally ventilated buildings. This paper shows some comparative analysis between the findings from the short-and long-term studies. For the hot season the neutral temperatures from the short-and long-term studies were 28.4 and 26.7 °C, respectively. For the cold season the short-and long-term neutral temperatures were 20.8 and 21.2 °C, respectively. The results show a very good agreement between both studies in Iran. The main points of interest from the studies were the variability of acceptable conditions, a good relationship between neutral temperature and room temperatures and also, more importantly, between indoor comfort and outdoor conditions. The findings reveal that the people in the study could achieve comfort at higher indoor air temperatures compared with the recommendations of international standards such as ISO 7730.     

Analysis of the CPMV index for evaluating indoor thermal comfort in southern China in summer,a case study in Nanjing

With the rapid development of building technology, transparent envelope is more and more widely used, which makes the indoor environment of buildings more and more affected by solar radiation. However, the effects of solar radiation are not included in the PMV model. The Corrected Predicted Mean Vote (CPMV) model considering solar radiation was previously proposed and verified in northern China. In order to expand the applicability of the CPMV model to the hot summer and cold winter (HSCW) zone of southern China, a field study was conducted in an office building in Nanjing. A total of 686 valid questionnaires were recovered during the surveys in two summers in 2019 and 2020. The results show that the evaluation value of CPMV is highly consistent with the actual thermal sensation vote (TSV) when the corrected operative temperature is below 30 °C. However, when the corrected operative temperature is above 30 °C, the CPMV value is higher than TSV, because it underestimates the tolerance of human body to the hot environment in Nanjing. The thermal neutral temperature is 26.12 °C (CPMV) and 26.28 °C (TSV) respectively, which is higher than that in winter and summer in northern China. This study fills the blank in the application of CPMV model in southern China. The CPMV model can accurately evaluate the thermal comfort of indoor environment affected by solar radiation, which is worthy of promotion and application to other types of buildings and areas.     

Thermal effect of temperature gradient in a field environment chamber served by displacement ventilation system in the tropics

The effect of vertical air temperature gradient on overall and local thermal comfort at different overall thermal sensations and room air temperatures (at 0.6 m height) was investigated in a room served by displacement ventilation system. Sixty tropically acclimatized subjects performed sedentary office work for a period of 3 h during each session of the experiment. Nominal vertical air temperature gradients between 0.1 and 1.1 m heights were 1, 3 and 5 K/m while nominal room air temperatures at 0.6 m height were 20, 23 and 26 °C. Air velocity in the space near the subjects was kept at below 0.2 m/s. Relative humidity at 0.6 m height was maintained at 50%. It was found that temperature gradient had different influences on thermal comfort at different overall thermal sensations. At overall thermal sensation close to neutral, only when room air temperature was substantially low, such as 20 °C, percentage dissatisfied of overall body increased with the increase of temperature gradient. At overall cold and slightly warm sensations, percentage dissatisfied of overall body was non-significantly affected by temperature gradient. Overall thermal sensation had significant impact on overall thermal comfort. Local thermal comfort of body segment was affected by both overall and local thermal sensations.     

Predictions of thermal comfort in stratified room environment

Studies of thermal comfort of occupants started in the early part of the 20th century to describe the comfort level in terms of environmental variables. Field studies have indicated that many of the complaints about unsatisfactory indoor environment can be attributed to the thermal environment. Hence, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are used in buildings to create thermal environments that are capable of providing comfort to the occupants. Among different ventilation systems, displacement ventilation (DV) systems have become popular as more energy efficient room air distribution systems compared with the other more common forms of air distribution systems, such as mixing ventilation. However, local cold discomfort at the lower extremities due to vertical temperature gradient is often reported with DV systems. Although many studies are reported in the literature that compare the performance of the DV systems with the other more conventional types of ventilation systems, the performance of different displacement ventilation types in providing thermal comfort need further investigation. The aim of the current work is to compare the ventilation performance, as predicted by an advanced thermal comfort model, of three commonly used DV air terminal devices (ATDs) for room ventilation: a flat wall diffuser (ATD1), semi-cylindrical wall diffuser (ATD2) and floor swirl diffusers (ATD3). The CBE (Center for the Built Environment at Berkeley) comfort model has been implemented in this study to compare the thermal comfort provided by the three ATDs due to its good performance in non-uniform thermal environments. Based on the test conditions and the results obtained from the comfort model, the predicted occupant’s local sensations for the case of ATD2 were better than those for ATD1 and ATD3 and it showed better overall thermal sensation. Since the local comfort of the CBE model is a function of both local and overall thermal sensations, the predicted occupant’s local comfort values for ATD2 were better than those for ATD1 and ATD3 and consequently it provided better overall thermal comfort.     

Research on seasonal indoor thermal environment and residents' control behavior of cooling and heating systems in Korea

Indoor thermal environments and residents' control behavior of cooling and heating systems were investigated in Seoul, Korea and compared with the results of previous studies. Twenty-four houses in summer, six houses in autumn and 36 houses in winter were used in this study. The measurement of temperature, humidity and air conditioner usage behavior was carried out. The clo-value, thermal comfort, sensation and basic data of the houses were also investigated. The indoor thermal environment in the summer had a high temperature and a high humidity ratio compare to standard comfort zone. Most of the indoor thermal environments at the time of starting the air conditioner in the summer were out of the comfort zone. Some of the data recorded while the air conditioner was stopped were in the comfort zone, but in many cases the temperature was relatively higher than comfort zone. Most indoor climate distributions in the winter were in the comfort zone and the indoor climate in autumn coincided well with the criteria of the comfort zone. Compared with results of previous studies in these 25 years, indoor ambient average temperature in winter has increased and the comfort temperature has increased in the heating period and decreased in the cooling period. This result indicates that the development of an HVAC system has created an expectation of comfort for residents and has shifted their thermal comfort zone warmer in winter and cooler in summer.     

Air movement acceptability limits and thermal comfort in Brazil's hot humid climate zone

In hot humid climates, natural ventilation is an essential passive strategy in order to maintain thermal comfort inside buildings and it can be also used as an energy-conserving design strategy to reduce building cooling loads by removing heat stored in the buildings thermal mass. In this context, many previous studies have focused on thermal comfort and air velocity ranges. However, whether this air movement is desirable or not remains an open area. This paper aims to identify air movement acceptability levels inside naturally ventilated buildings in Brazil. Minimal air velocity values corresponding to 80% and 90% (V80 and V90) air movement acceptability inside these buildings. Field experiments were performed during hot and cool seasons when 2075 questionnaires were filled for the subjects while simultaneous microclimatic observations were made with laboratory precision. Main results indicated that the minimal air velocity required were at least 0.4 m/s for 26 °C reaching 0.9 m/s for operative temperatures up to 30 °C. Subjects are not only preferring more air speed but also demanding air velocities closer or higher than 0.8 m/s ASHRAE limit. This dispels the notion of draft in hot humid climates and reinforce the broader theory of alliesthesia and the physiological role of pleasure due to air movement increment.     

上海世博园部分建筑室内空调环境状况测试分析

为了了解上海世博园建筑室内空调环境状况和行为节能情况,采用实测方法对上海世博园13栋建筑的夏季室内空调环境进行了测试分析。结果表明:一些被测建筑的夏季室内空气温度偏低,最低室温为21.7℃;对于南方湿热地区的剧场建筑,采用开敞式建筑方案不利于室内热舒适环境的营造和节能,且仅利用自然通风和蒸发冷却降温手段难以营造出满足人体基本热舒适性要求的室内环境;展厅观众人数快速增加时室温变化较大,但相对湿度变化较小;一些展馆外门常开,冷风渗漏现象比较严重,加强行为节能是展馆建筑节能设计和运行管理需要考虑的一个重要问题。     

夏热冬暖地区小城镇住宅建筑节能潜力的调研与评价

通过对福建省永定县凤城镇居住建筑围护结构、住宅能耗水平及室内温湿度的实地调研和测试,对比分析了夏热冬暖地区小城镇住宅单位面积能耗与全国非采暖城镇平均能耗的差异;并测评了其居住热舒适环境.在此基础上,结合当地实际情况提出以下3种研究方法探讨该地区小城镇的建筑节能潜力,即①现状建筑条件下未来(空调普及后)的建筑能耗;②仅采...     

Field experiments on thermal comfort in campus classrooms in Taiwan

This paper presents the results of the ASHRAE methodology for thermal comfort study applied in Taiwan. Field experiments conducted in 10 naturally ventilated and 26 air-conditioned campus classrooms used survey questionnaires and physical measurements to collect data. A total of 944 individuals in seven universities completed 1294 questionnaires. The chi-square tests were applied to find the significant aspects that affect students’ thermal sensations. The results show that air temperature, air movement and mean radiant temperature have significant influence, but humidity has no statistical significance. By using probit regressive analyses, the thermal neutrality and thermal preference of students occurred at 26.3 °C ET^* and 24.7 °C ET^*, respectively. Responses from those students suggest a wider acceptable temperature range for occupants in Taiwan. The margins of the acceptable zones obtained from direct and indirect acceptability assessing methods are 21.1–29.8 °C ET^* and 24.2–29.3 °C ET^*, respectively. When compared with similar studies elsewhere, this finding supports the sentiments on climatic adaptation.     

Numerical simulation of passive and active solar strategies in buildings with complex topology

In this paper a numerical software, that simulates the building thermal behaviour with complex topology in transient conditions, was developed and used in the study of kindergarten thermal response and the occupants’ thermal comfort and air quality in Mediterranean conditions. In this numerical model a new building three-dimensional grid generation philosophy, closer to the reality, that considers the building and the surrounding buildings used in the long and short-wave calculus, the external and internal shading devices, the energy and mass balance integral equations philosophy generated by the building geometry, the equation system resolution done by the Runge-Kutta-Felberg with error control and the human thermal comfort level evaluated through human thermo-physiology, are developed. In the simulation, with a real occupation cycle, the compartments, the building opaque bodies, the building transparent bodies, and the external shading devices were considered. In passive strategies the kindergarten is equipped with multiple inclined aluminium shading devices placed above the transparent windows level and in front to the transparent door facing south, removable inclined tissue shading devices placed in front to the transparent windows facing east, and horizontal fabrics shading devices placed above the transparent panel levels facing south, south-west and west. In this study, made with natural and forced ventilation, the summer and winter conditions were used. In summer conditions, the forced ventilation active strategies in all spaces with cold air from the external environment during the night, and in occupied spaces with stored cold air from the underground space were used. In winter conditions forced ventilation from an internal greenhouse, to heat the internal occupied cold spaces, was used.     

夏热冬冷地区住宅建筑新风系统全年运行工况分析

根据夏热冬冷地区的空调期、除湿期和采暖期的划分方法,提出了住宅建筑新风系统全年运行的转换条件,以及新风热湿处理工况要求。并针对该地区气候潮湿、除湿期时间长的特点,认为节能住宅采用温湿度同时监控的独立新风系统,有利于改善室内热环境质量和室内空气质量。     

A field investigation of the thermal environment and adaptive thermal behavior in bedrooms in different climate regions in China

Sleep thermal environments substantially impact sleep quality. To study the sleep thermal environment and thermal comfort in China, this study carried out on-site monitoring of thermal environmental parameters in peoples’ homes, including 166 households in five climate zones, for one year. A questionnaire survey on sleep thermal comfort and adaptive behavior was also conducted. The results showed that the indoor temperature for sleep in northern China was more than 4°C higher than that in southern China in winter, while the indoor temperatures for sleep were similar in summer. Furthermore, 70% of people were satisfied with their sleep thermal environment. Due to the use of air conditioning and window opening in various areas in summer, people were satisfied with their sleep thermal environments. Due to the lack of central heating in the southern region in winter, people feel cold and their sleep thermal environment needs further improvement. The bedding insulation in summer and winter in northern China was 1.83clo and 2.67clo, respectively, and in southern China was 2.21clo and 3.17clo, respectively. Both northern China and southern China used air conditioning only in summer. People in southern China opened their windows all year, while those in northern China opened their windows during the summer and transitional periods.     

Assessment of thermal environment using a thermal manikin in a field environment chamber served by displacement ventilation system

This paper presents a thermal comfort study using a thermal manikin in a field environment chamber served by the Displacement Ventilation (DV) system. The manikin has a female body with 26 individually heated and controlled body segments. The manikin together with subjects was exposed to 3 levels of vertical air temperature gradients, nominally 1, 3 & 5 K/m, between 0.1 and 1.1 m heights at 3 room air temperatures of 20, 23 and 26 °C at 0.6 m height. Relative humidity at 0.6 m height and air velocity near the manikin and the subjects were maintained at 50% and less than 0.2 m/s, respectively. The aims of this study are to assess thermally non-uniform environment served by DV system using the manikin and correlate the subjective responses with measurements from the manikin. The main findings indicate that room air temperature had greater influence on overall and local thermal sensations and comfort than temperature gradient. Local thermal discomfort decreased with increase of room air temperature at overall thermally neutral state. The local discomfort was affected by overall thermal sensation and was lower at overall thermally neutral state than at overall cold and cool sensations.