Abstract
Existing thermal comfort field studies are mainly focused on the relationship between the indoor physical environment and the thermal comfort. In numerous chamber experiments, physiological parameters were adopted to assess thermal comfort, but the experiments’ conclusions may not represent a realistic thermal environment due to the highly controlled thermal environment and few occupants. This paper focuses on determining the relationships between upper extremity skin temperatures (i.e., finger, wrist, hand and forearm) and the indoor thermal comfort. Also, the applicability of predicting thermal comfort by using upper extremity skin temperatures was explored. Field studies were performed in office buildings equipped with split air-conditioning (SAC) located in the hot summer and cold winter (HSCW) climate zone of China during the summer of 2016. Psychological responses of occupants were recorded and physical and physiological factors were measured simultaneously. Standard effective temperature (SET*) was used to incorporate the effect of humidity and air velocity on thermal comfort. The results indicate that upper extremity skin temperatures are good indicators for predicting thermal sensation, and could be used to assess the thermal comfort in terms of physiological mechanism. In addition, the neutral temperature was 24.7 °C and the upper limit for 80% acceptability was 28.2 °C in SET*.
Highlights
Thermal comfort is defined as “the condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment” [1], which is a major condition in indoor environment and has received increasing attention [2,3,4,5]
In the 20th century, Gagge [10,11,12] started a series of studies on human heat balance models and proposed the standard effective temperature (SET*)
The results indicated that finger temperature (30 ◦ C) and finger-forearm temperature gradient (0 ◦ C) are significant thresholds for overall thermal sensation
Summary
Thermal comfort is defined as “the condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment” [1], which is a major condition in indoor environment and has received increasing attention [2,3,4,5]. There are two main models for evaluating thermal comfort: the heat balance model [6,7]. The adaptive model [8,9]. The heat balance model is based on climate chamber experiments while the adaptive model is derived from field studies. In the 20th century, Gagge [10,11,12] started a series of studies on human heat balance models and proposed the standard effective temperature (SET*). Adaptive approaches focus on analyzing the real thermal environment, which incorporate the effects of physical, climatic, adaptive, social and cultural factors. As thermal comfort is subjective and multi-factor dependent, it differs depending on individual preference, clothing, activity level, etc. The two models can explain the relationship between subjective thermal sensation and thermal environment, but they cannot explain why and how a thermal environment influences the thermal sensation
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
