Study on indoor thermal comfort of different age groups in winter in a rural area of China’s hot-summer and cold-winter region

Abstract

In this paper, both onsite measurements of thermal parameters and a subjective questionnaire of thermal comfort were conducted to investigate thermal comfort of different age groups during the winter season. This study was performed in a rural area of Tianmen, a city of China’s hot summer and cold winter region. Indoor environmental parameters were measured and a total of 1440 questionnaire samples were collected. The volunteers were divided into four groups, i.e., children, young people, middle-aged people and old people. The results indicated that in a cold environment with the temperature below 6 °C, old people were the most sensitive to cold and in a warm environment with the temperature above 19 °C, children were the most sensitive to heat. The neutral SET* (standard effective temperature) of children, young people, middle-aged people and old people in winter was 21.3 °C, 20.8 °C, 23.9 °C and 24.7 °C, which indicated discrepancies of SET* among different age groups. The neutral SET* model of different ages was predicted based on Newton interpolation. This study revealed differences in indoor thermal comfort among different age groups and could provide useful guidance for creating thermal comfortable environment for different ages.