READING MATERIAL FOR CLIMATOLOGY

CHAPTER 3: THERMAL COMFORT

DEFINE THERMAL COMFORT:

• “That condition of the mind which expresses satisfaction with the thermal
environment” (ISO 7730)

ENUMERATE AND ELABORATE ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND PERSONAL

FACTORS AFFECTING HUMAN THERMAL COMFORT

Environmental Factors

Human Factors

AIR TEMPERATURE
• The inside environmental temperature (ti) is a fairly good guide to comfort if there are
no unusual draughts or humidity conditions in a room.
 • The outside environmental temperature (teo) is a complex combination of outside air
temperature and the readiness of a surface to receive radiant heat, from solar radiation
or to radiate heat outwards.
• Factors such as activity being done, age, sex and also clothing needs to be considered
while deciding the comfortable temperature for most of the occupants
– About 20oC to 22oC is OK for some sedentary situations, but if activity is
taking place then a lower temperature is necessary, for example, in a factory
the air temperature of 16 oC to 17 oC may be satisfactory.
– Small babies and elderly people require a higher room temperature, up to
24oC, to feel comfortable.
AIR MOVEMENT
• Large air movements in rooms can cause discomfort especially if the air is cold in
winter time. Cooler air tends to travel at floor level and can cause discomfort at the
ankles.
• Very low levels of air movement can also cause a feeling of discomfort and stuffiness
in a room especially if the ceiling height is low and the dry bulb temperature is too
high in summer.
• Air velocities between 0.10 m/s and 0.45 m/s are generally acceptable, but this
depends on conditions such as dry bulb temperature, humidity and clothing.
• For general use in buildings where the air temperature is suitable a figure of 0.15 m/s
can be used for acceptable air velocity.
• Air velocities less than 0.10 m/s can cause a feeling of discomfort as can higher
values over 0.45 m/s at which draughts can result.
• Less than 0.01 m/s results in stagnant conditions.
• As a general rule higher values of air movement are more acceptable in summer than
in winter
• Older buildings tend to have areas such as cracks around doors and windows where
air can be admitted to the inside thus causing increases in overall air movement in
rooms.
• Modern buildings, on the other hand, can be so well sealed that little air movement is
the result.
• Badly designed ventilation systems can also be the cause of high air velocities in
rooms and care should be taken when designing air diffuser systems with exit velocity
and throw values.
• Air movement can be measured with a hot wire anemometer to ascertain if comfort is
compromised.
RADIATION
• Radiation is completely independent of any intermediate medium and will occur just
as readily across a vacuum as across an air space.
• The intensity of radiation varies with the square of the distance between the point of
origin and the receiving surface.
• In a room with four walls, a floor and a ceiling there will always be an exchange of
radiant heat energy if all the surfaces are at different temperatures and different
textures.
• If radiant heating is used in a room then there will be an exchange of radiant energy
from the heater to the room surfaces and occupants.
• It is possible to feel uncomfortable in a room with radiant heating, particularly if
overhead heating panels emit radiant heat downwards onto the head.
• Similarly it is possible to feel uncomfortable if a room surface is cold and the body
radiates heat to that surface.
• This can happen when people occupy an unheated building and the walls and other
surfaces are cold.
• Even when the central heating system has been on for a while the air temperature may
be satisfactory but the surfaces are still at a temperature much less than the air
temperature, thus causing an excessive radiant heat exchange from body to surfaces.
• In general the dry bulb temperature should not exceed the mean radiant temperature
of the surroundings in summer.
• In winter the dry bulb temperature should be less than the mean radiant temperature.
• This means that in winter the mean radiant temperature should be higher than the dry-
bulb. In practice this is difficult to achieve since external walls and windows are at a
lower temperature than the air inside a room unless radiant panels are attached to
walls.
RELATIVE HUMIDITY
• regarded as low pressure steam.
• absolute Humidity the amount of moisture actually present in unit mass or unit
volume of air, (g/kg) or (g/m3).
• relative humidity : the ratio of actual amount of moisture present to the amount of
moisture the air could hold at the given temperature%
• More specifically, it is the moisture content of the air relative to the maximum amount
of moisture which air at a given dry bulb temperature can hold when saturated.
• the relative humidity is 70 percent and the temperature is 23oC: it means that the air
contains 70 percent of the moisture it could possibly hold at 23oC.
 • Relative humidity is not really considered to be of vital importance in human comfort
since body tolerances are quite wide. We can tolerate a low humidity of about 40%,
but with lower values complaints are made of dry skin and dryness of the eyes.
• From 40% to 60% is usually regarded as comfortable. At above 80% it may become
uncomfortable especially if activity increases and perspiration becomes less easy.
One effect of a considerable rise in humidity is that occupants feel a few degrees
warmer
• than they really are if the air temperature is already quite high.
• The amount of moisture or water vapour or steam in air is very small.
• At 0oC 1 kg of air can contain 3.7 grams of moisture.
• At 20oC the amount of moisture increases to 14.4 grams, therefore warmer air can
hold more moisture.
• The relative humidity is a ratio of vapour pressures.
• It is the amount of moisture contained in air expressed as a percentage of the
maximum which could be contained in air at a given temperature.
• Actual vapor pressure
• Saturation vapor pressure
• at a given temperature
•
RH % at given Temp= Actual Vapor Pressure x 100
• Saturation Vapor Pressure
CLOTHING
• Another determinant of thermal comfort is clothing. In the majority of cases, building
occupants are sedentary or slightly active and wear typical indoor clothing. Clothing,
through its insulation properties, is an important modifier of body heat loss and
comfort.
• The insulation properties of clothing are a result of the small air pockets separated
from each other to prevent air from migrating through the material. Newspaper, for
example, can serve as good insulation if several sheets are separated so that there are
layers of air between the layers of paper; this can be used as a crude, but effective,
emergency blanket to cover the body. Similarly, the fine, soft down of ducks is a poor
conductor and traps air in small, confined spaces. In general, all clothing makes use of
this principle of trapped air within the layers of cloth fabric.
• Clothing insulation can be described in terms of its clo value. The clo value is a
numerical representation of a clothing ensemble’s thermal resistance. 1 clo = 0.88 ft
2.hr.°F/Btu (0.155 .m2.°C/W).
 • A heavy two-piece business suit and accessories have an insulation value of about 1
clo, while a pair of shorts is about 0.05 clo. Clo values for common articles of
clothing are listed in Table 1.3. The total insulation value of a clothing ensemble can
be estimated as the sum of the individual garment clo values.
• Comfortable clothing levels are expressed as a function of operative temperature,
which is based on both air and mean radiant temperatures. At air speeds of 8 fpm (0.4
m/s) or less and MRT less than 120°F (50°C), the operative temperature is
approximately the average of the air and mean radiant temperatures and is equal to the
adjusted dry-bulb temperature.

METABOLISM
• As part of the process of being alive, people metabolize (oxidize) the food taken into
the body, converting it into electro-chemical energy. This energy is used for growth,
regeneration, and operation of the body’s organs, such as muscle contraction, blood
circulation, and breathing. It enables us to carry out our normal bodily functions and
to perform work upon objects around us.
• As with all conversions from one form of energy to another, there is a certain
conversion efficiency. Only about 20 percent of all the potential energy stored in the
food is available for useful work. The other 80 percent takes the form of heat as a by-
product of the conversion. This results in the continuous generation of heat within the
body, which must be rejected by means of sensible heat flow (radiation, convection,
or conduction) to the surrounding environment or by evaporating body fluids. If more
food energy is ingested than is needed, it is stored as fat tissue for later use.
 • When the body heat loss increases and the internal temperature begins to drop,
metabolism increases in an effort to stabilize the temperature even though there is no
additional mental or physical activity. In this case, all of the additional energy
metabolized is converted into heat.
• In general, the metabolic rate is proportional to body weight, and is also dependent
upon the individual’s activity level, body surface area, health, sex, age, amount of
clothing, and surrounding thermal and atmospheric conditions.
• Metabolism rises to peak production at around 10 years of age and drops off to
minimum values at old age. It increases due to a fever, continuous activity, or cold
environmental conditions if the body is not thermally protected.

EXPLAIN THE MODES OF HEAT EXCHANGE BETWEEN HUMAN BODY AND

AMBIENT ENVIRONMENT
• Heat Transfer is the transfer of energy from one body to another due to a temperature
difference between the bodies.
• The bodies may be solids or flowing fluids as in a heat exchanger.
• There are three fundamental methods of heat transfer:
– Conduction
– Convection
– Radiation
• Conduction heat transfer is the transfer of heat by means of molecular excitement
within a material without bulk motion of the matter. Occurs with touch only.
 • Convection is one of the main ways that heat transfer between people and the
environment occurs.
• Radiant heat can be a problem in some cases. Everything gives of radiant heat – the
amount depends on the surface temperature.
– In thermal comfort situations it is unusual to find hot surfaces that give off
significant radiant heat.
– However, solar radiation can be a problem in some cases, particularly in
buildings such as offices with lots of windows.
WHAT IS HEAT BALANCE. EXPLAIN THE FACTORS INFLUENCING HUMAN
BODY HEAT BALANCE WITH THE HELP OF EQUATIONS AND SKETCHES.
• The human body is essentially a constant-temperature device. Heat is continuously
produced by bodily processes and dissipated in an automatically regulated manner to
maintain the body temperature at its correct level despite variations in ambient
conditions. In terms of physiology, the experience of comfort is the achievement of
thermal equilibrium with the minimum amount of body regulation.
• The human body normally rejects heat to the environment using evaporative cooling
(sweating) and the heat transfer mechanisms of radiation, convection, and conduction.
• The relative roles of these heat transfer mechanisms are determined by the
individual’s metabolism, clothing, and activity level, as well as by the surrounding
environmental conditions of radiation, humidity, air temperature, and air motion.
• The thermal balance of the body can be expressed by an equation.
• If the heat gain and heat loss factors are:
Gain: Met = metabolism (basal and muscular)
Cnd = conduction (contact with warm bodies)
Cnv = convection (if the air is warmer than the skin)
Rad = radiation (from the sun, the sky and hot bodies)
Loss: Cnd = conduction (contact with cold bodies)
Cnv = convection (if the air is cooler than the skin)
Rad = radiation (to night sky and cold surfaces)
Evp = evaporation (of moisture and sweat)
then thermal balance exists when
Met – Evp ± Cnd ± Cnv ± Rad = 0