Experimental study on the influence of environmental parameters on human multi-node warming sensitivity and demand

Abstract

The thermal comfort of personnel can be improved by optimizing the thermal environmental parameters. And local temperature regulation can enhance the body's comfort in hotter or colder environments. This study systematically investigates the changes in skin temperature, local thermal sensation, and thermal comfort in eight parts before and after heating stimulation under four ambient temperatures and six air velocities, and develops multi-node physiological models of human warming sensitivity and demand. The results indicate that post-stimulation ambient temperature and air velocity have weaker effects on thermal sensation vote and thermal comfort vote than pre-stimulation. The warming demand of the face shows poorer sensitivity to ambient temperature, which is 66.88% lower compared to the abdomen. The air velocity strongly influences the warming demand of the neck, which is 75.01% higher than the lower legs. In addition, the warming sensitivity of the trunk is more influenced by ambient temperature than by air velocity, whereas the extremities' sensitivity is more susceptible to air velocity. The effect of air velocity on warming demand is 2.01–5.91 times greater than the ambient temperature. This study also presents the optimum comfortable temperature and the corresponding equilibrium velocity, providing a certain design basis for pulsating air supply, task-ambient air conditioning, and other variable air supply parameters methods.