Assessment of thermal comfort under transitional conditions

Abstract

This paper explores thermal comfort assessments under transitional states. Toward this end, multiple groups of participants moved in a laboratory building through a number of spaces with different thermal conditions. The thermal sensation and comfort evaluations of the participants were assessed before transition, immediately after the spatial transition, and after a short period of adaptation. The main objective of the study was to compare participants' thermal comfort assessments immediately after a spatial transition with those of thermally adapted participants. The results suggest that changes in people's thermal sensation vote (TSV) subsequent to a thermally relevant transition from one room to another, are consistent with the temperature difference between the two rooms. Transition-related changes in thermal comfort vote (TCV), however, are more consistent with a proposed new measure of the “thermal distance” between the two rooms, namely the effective temperature difference (Δθeff). This measure compares the distance to comfort temperature before and after the transition.