Abstract
This paper investigates adaptive thermal comfort during summer in medical residences that are located in the French city of Troyes and managed by the Association of Parents of Disabled Children (APEI). Thermal comfort in these buildings is evaluated using subjective measurements and objective physical parameters. The thermal sensations of respondents were determined by questionnaires, while thermal comfort was estimated using the predicted mean vote (PMV) model. Indoor environmental parameters (relative humidity, mean radiant temperature, air temperature, and air velocity) were measured using a thermal environment sensor during the summer period in July and August 2018. A good correlation was found between operative temperature, mean radiant temperature, and PMV. The neutral temperature was determined by linear regression analysis of the operative temperature and Fanger’s PMV model. The obtained neutral temperature is 23.7 °C. Based on the datasets and questionnaires, the adaptive coefficient α representing patients’ capacity to adapt to heat was found to be 1.261. A strong correlation was also observed between the sequential thermal index n(t) and the adaptive temperature. Finally, a new empirical model of adaptive temperature was developed using the data collected from a longitudinal survey in four residential buildings of APEI in summer, and the obtained adaptive temperature is 25.0 °C with upper and lower limits of 24.7 °C and 25.4 °C.
Highlights
Indoor thermal comfort has become an important topic in the context of sustainable living
The majority of thermal comfort studies are related to healthy groups of occupants, with few studies exploring the thermal comfort of disabled people due to a lack of knowledge in this area [3]
This paper presents the adaptive thermal comfort model based on the “Black Box” theory in the residential buildings of Association of Parents of Disabled Children (APEI)
Summary
Indoor thermal comfort has become an important topic in the context of sustainable living. The main findings of this research are as follows: (i) only 12 papers where there was a comparison TSV with PMV; (ii) an adequate thermal environment for professionals and patients is necessary; (iii) little explored study topics, such as staff productivity or consideration of patient health status in the assessment of thermal comfort. To overcome this issue, this paper presents the adaptive thermal comfort model based on the “Black Box” theory in the residential buildings of APEI. This paper proposes an adaptive model of temperature to create a more sustainable environment in which disabled patients are more comfortable
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