Effectiveness of personal comfort systems on whole-body thermal comfort – A systematic review on which body segments to target

Wei Luo,Rick Kramer,Yvonne De Kort,Wouter Van Marken Lichtenbelt

doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.111766

Wei Luo, Rick Kramer + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.111766

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Abstract

Personal comfort systems (PCS) promise individualized thermal comfort, energy-savings and may even contribute to health by locally heating/cooling specific body segments. To date, however, insights into PCSs’ specific design guidelines or their effectiveness on whole-body thermal comfort are scarce. The fundamental question on which body segments should be targeted has not yet been answered. This paper attempts to answer this question by systematically reviewing studies on PCSs’ effects on local body segments and the whole body restricted to office scenarios.The results imply that the local thermal discomfort distribution over the body determines the PCSs’ effectiveness and that PCSs should eliminate local thermal discomfort by targeting it directly or indirectly. In a typical office scenario, local cooling may affect thermal perception in non-targeted body segments, however local heating may not. Therefore, PCSs could heat uncomfortable body segments directly in cold environments while indirect cooling may also effectively relieve discomfort in warm environments. Moreover, moderate local conditioning does not affect skin temperatures in most non-targeted body segments. The findings suggest that human thermoregulation may be stimulated, and hence, benefit our health, without compromising thermal comfort. Directions for future PCS design are proposed to bridge thermal comfort, energy-efficiency and health in offices.

Highlights

The results section first introduces the local effect of Personal comfort systems (PCS) on targeted body segments (Section 3.1, Table 1) and non-targeted body segments (Section 3.2, Table 2)
The changes in skin temperature of targeted body segments are more pronounced in limbs as compared to the torso and face when the thermal conditions deviate from the neutral [39,40]
Near the neutral thermal condition, the change in skin temperature in response to local heating/cooling is larger in those targeted body segments that have lower/higher initial skin temperature [43]

Summary

Introduction

The building sector is responsible for up to 40% of the global energy consumption [1], of which half is used for indoor temperature control [2,3]. The primary aim of temperature control is to achieve thermal comfort, mostly by keeping indoor temperature uniform and constant. Tion, and thermoregulatory ability are substantial and cannot be neglected [6,7]. Thermal comfort complaints of building occupants are still prevalent [8]. Besides thermal comfort and energy efficiency, a healthy indoor climate is of great importance as well. Staying in a neutral temperature most of the time impedes our thermal acclimatization abilities (‘temperature training’), resulting in decreased thermal resilience [14,15,16]

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Discussion

Conclusion