Indoor Thermal Environment Survey in Air-Conditioned Shopping Malls in Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an indoor environment survey in air-condi tioned shopping malls in Hong Kong. Three key parameters, the indoor air temperature, relative humidity and air speed, were measured in the occupied zone and their mean values were calculated. Subjective feelings of the occu pants and their views on the indoor environment were surveyed by question naires. A subjective system of assessment was used in which the overall per ception of the environment in terms of the mean values of air temperature, air relative humidity and air speeds was expressed by five grades: very comforta ble, comfortable, acceptable, uncomfortable and very uncomfortable. The design and operation of the air-conditioning systems that were installed and the number of occupants staying at the mall were also investigated. In the survey, it was found that the overall perception of the indoor air quality was affected by odours. Furthermore, people in Hong Kong prefer to have higher air speeds to give a feeling of air movement. They feel comfortable in a shop ping mall with a mean air temperature of 20-24 ° C, mean relative air humidi ty of 50-65% and mean air speed of 0.2-0.4 mÚs-1.