Schedule for today

13:05-13:35
• Seminar discussion
13:35-13:50
• Summary
13:50-14:00
• Break
14:00-14:30
• Class exercise: comfort analysis (small groups)
14:30-13:50
• Summary discussion (all)
14:50-15:00
• Upcoming tasks
Human thermal comfort
ABY22U
Introduction to Bio-Climatic Design
What is thermal comfort?
IT IS SUBJECTIVE!

“That condition of mind which expresses satisfaction with the

thermal environment”

ISO 7730 standard/ASHRAE 55-74 standard

Thermal comfort refers to the thermal perception of our surroundings, hence it

depends on many parameters:
• physical factors (environmental, personal)
• physiological differences (e.g. metabolic rate <> activity)
• psychological factors (experiences, expectations, etc.)
Conditions of thermal comfort

1. The sensation of thermal neutrality via the combination

of skin and core temperatures
(i.e. the person feels neither too cold or too hot)

2. Fulfilment of the body’s energy balance

(metabolic heat production = heat loss from the body)
Thermoregulation
Deep body temperature needs to be maintained within ± 1°C of 37°C. This is
achieved via thermoregulation.

1. under warm conditions

• vasodilation: the expansion of blood vessels as a result of excess heat
• sweating

2. under cold conditions

• vasoconstriction: reduce blood circulation in the skin
• shivering
Critical body temperatures
When the thermoregulation cannot maintain these temperatures within the critical range,
hyperthermia, hypothermia or eventually death occurs.

sweating
comfort condition >
shivering

Approx. critical body and skin temperatures (Auliciems and Szokolay, 2007)
The thermal sensation

The body doesn’t have specific sensors for the perception of these parameters!

The human body can only register

– the temperature of the skin, and
– the temperature of the blood flow passing the hypothalamus

It is measured on a seven-point numerical scale:

Thermal neutrality

jogging in
cold environment
Thermal neutrality is achieved when the
combination of skin temperature and deep
body temperature results in the same
magnitude of WARM and COLD impulses. reading in a room

sleeping in a room
Factors affecting human thermal comfort
Environmental
air temperature (Ta) CONVECTION
relative humidity (RH)
EVAPORATION
air velocity (v)
mean radiant temperature (Tmrt) RADIATION

Human Additional
metabolic rate [met] age and gender
clothing insulation [clo] body shape and weight
state of health
acclimatization
Human factors
The human body continuously produces
heat via:
a) basal metabolism,
b) muscular metabolism.

Metabolic rate expressed as met.

seated position: 1 met = 58.2 W/m2.

Insulation of clothing is expressed as clo.

normal business suit: 1 clo
The thermal balance of the human body
where
M – metabolic rate
R – net radiation
E – evaporative heat loss
Cv – convection
Cd – conduction
∆S – change in heat stored

∆S is the parameter related to comfort.

In general, when
∆S > 0 the body temperature increases
M ± R ± Cv ± Cd - E = ∆S [W]
∆S < 0 the body temperature decreases.

The body will a;empt to counteract this change with thermoregula<on!

 Thermo-physiological models
Thermo-physiological models describe the complex heat transfer of
the human body and its physiological responses under different
environmental conditions mathematically.

Source: Katic et al. 2016

Good to know:

The effect of which parameters operative, equivalent and effective temperatures combine?
 There are over 200 indices, yet none of them can be considered an absolute standard for HTC!

Thermal comfort and heat/cold stress indices

Source: Yoram and Daniel, 2006

Thermal comfort and heat/cold stress indices
A. Direct indices
• based on the measurement of basic environmental variables

B. Empirical indices
• based on field surveys that gather data on the thermal environment and the subjects’
thermal sensation
• attempt to statistically correlate the two

C. Rational indices
• based on laboratory experiments (i.e. on climate chamber studies) that measure the
physiological changes in the human body under various thermal conditions
• rely on a human thermo-physiological model to explain the response of people to the
thermal environment
• most comprehensive, but difficult to calculate
Thermal comfort and heat/cold stress indices
Thermal comfort indices have been developed for:

I. Setting exposure limits or thresholds (e.g. for the army or work places).

II. Defining comfort (i.e. the ‘comfort zone’) indoors or outdoors.

III. Evaluating past exposures (e.g. in court cases).

IV. Determining the optimum control measures (e.g. in building or system design).

V. Classifying climate (e.g. tourism, energy studies).

Predicted mean vote (PMV)
• developed by Fanger
• it predicts the mean value of subjective ratings from a group of people

• physiological reaction approximated from thermo-physiological model

• model considers 4 environmental and 2 human parameters
• it assumed that comfort (neutral temperatures) occurs when there is no perceptible
seating on skin
• the thermal votes (mean vote) are correlated with the calculated thermal loads
(change in heat stored)

• comfort is measured on a seven point scale (between -3 and +3)

• comfort = "slightly cool" to "slightly warm"
• forms the basis of both ISO and ASHRAE standards
Predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD)
• also developed by Fanger
• addresses the variability of thermal sensation between people
• predicts the percentage of people that will be dissatisfied with given thermal conditions

5% always dissatisfied!
Non-uniform environments
(Local thermal discomfort)
1. Draught (localized air movements)
• Function of: air velocity + air temperature
• Assessed via Draught Rate

2. Radiation asymmetry

3. Vertical air temperature differences.

• 3°C is acceptance level for at sedentary activity (ISO 7730)

4. Floor temperature.
• Floor temperatures between 19°C and 29°C are acceptable
at sedentary activity (ISO 7730)
Predicted mean vote (PMV)

Shortcomings
• relatively narrow range of acceptable levels for achieving thermal comfort

Ø Ta=20°C at RH=30% for heating

Ø Ta=22°C at RH=60% RH for cooling

• it’s applicability limits its use in the tropics (30 ºC, 0.1 m/s)

• meta analysis shows that PMV is unbiased (good predictor) for thermal comfort in buildings
with AC

• inadequate for naturally ventilated buildings or ‘free running’ buildings (overestimates warm
discomfort, especially in warm climates)
The adaptive thermal comfort model
• developed from surveys in actual buildings
• correlates outdoor conditions with indoor conditions
• defines comfort on a wider range
• suitable to ‘free running’ buildings (without AC) where people need both to control their
environment (e.g. by opening/closing windows, blinds) and to modifying their clothing to
achieve thermal comfort

• it accounts for the adaptive ability of humans

“If a change occurs such as to produce discomfort, people react in ways which tend to
restore their comfort.”
The adaptive thermal comfort model

The relationship between monthly mean outdoor and comfort temperatures. Each point
represents the mean value for one survey (J. F. Nicol & M. A. Humphreys, 2002)
The adaptive thermal comfort model
optimum comfort temperature:
Tc = 17.8 + 0.31• To

where To – mean outdoor air temperature;

relationship valid for the 10–30 ̊C range

80% acceptability range Tc ± 3.5 K

90% acceptability range Tc ± 2.5 K

In naturally ventilated buildings, the

preferred temperature increases by
roughly one degree for every three
degree increase in mean monthly
outdoor temperature.

The correlation for naturally ventilated building between indoor comfort NOTE: Tc refers to the same thing as Tn in the
temperature and outdoor air temperature (R de Dear & Brager, 2001) slide before.
The adaptive thermal comfort model
The adaptive thermal comfort model acknowledges that human thermal comfort is
(a) influenced by cultural and social factors and
(b) the subject of change as a result of the adaptive ability of humans.

Adaptation:
• physiological: long-term (cultural, gender, age), and short-term (recent past)

• psychological: past experiences and future expectations affect the attitude,

preference and expectations of a person

• behavioral: abilities of occupants to influence their personal environment

Comfort analysis exercise
1. Load all year data and see where most of your Ta-RH points fall on the PMV scale (ISO
7730)
• Experiment with additional parameters (clothing, metabolic rate, air velocity and mean
radiant temperature) and observe how they influence the PMV ranges.

2. Load all year data an analyze where most of your Ta-RH points fall.
• What is the main (passive) strategy for achieving HTC?

3. Analyze each seasons:

• Can thermal comfort be achieved and via which passive strategies? (Besides air
temperature and humidity, you might want to overlay solar radiation or wind speed also.)

Note: You can save your figures as .svg files.

Groups
1 Tundra climate (ET): Tarfala 6 Mediterranean (Csa): Aleppo, Jerash
Phatcha Petchrod Ruba + Delav + Tagreed

2 Subarctic climate (Dfc): Luleå 7 Cold arid steppe climate (BSk): Damascus
Emelie + Tara Deaa + Feras

3 Humid continental (Dfb): Karlstad, Grand Rapids 8 Cold desert climate (BWk): Isfahan
Josef & Kim + Jonas
Sahar, Pardis & Hedayat

4 Temperate oceanic climate (Cfb): Stockholm

9 Cold desert climate (BWh): Bahrai, Khartoum
Nils + Julia
Reem & Nicol

5 Temperate oceanic climate (Cfb): Malmö

Dino + Rami
Tasks for next week
Compulsory
Fanger, P. O. (1970). Practical assessment of thermal environments (Chapter 4). In Thermal comfort.
Analysis and applications in environmental engineering. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book
Company. (pp. 107-142)
WMO. (2018). Urban observations (Volume III, Chapter 9). In Guide to Meteorological Instruments
and Methods of Observation (WMO-No. 8). World Meteorological Organisation: Geneva,
Switzerland. (pp. 371-399). Available at:
https://library.wmo.int/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=12407#.WDVYPdXyuM8

Additional readings
WMO. (2018). Measurement of meteorological variables (Volume I). Ibid.

Other tool (good to know)

CBE Thermal Comfort Tool, from Berkeley: https://comfort.cbe.berkeley.edu/EN
Climate Consultant, from UCLA: http://www.energy-design-tools.aud.ucla.edu/climate-
consultant/request-climate-consultant.php

Assignment 1
Psychrometric Chart by Andrew Marsh: http://andrewmarsh.com/software/psychro-chart-web/