Thermal Comfort:

Thermal comfort is the condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal
environment and is assessed by subjective evaluation (ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55).
Maintaining this standard of thermal comfort for occupants of buildings or other enclosures is
one of the important goals of HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) design
architects.

Things Effecting Thermal Comfort:

Thermal comfort is affected by heat conduction, convection, radiation, and evaporative heat loss.
Thermal comfort is maintained when the heat generated by human metabolism is allowed to
dissipate, thus maintaining thermal equilibrium with the surroundings. It has been long
recognized that the sensation of feeling hot or cold is not just dependent on air temperature
alone.

Thermal Discomfort:

Thermal discomfort has been known to lead to Sick Building Syndrome symptoms. The
combination of high temperature and high relative humidity serves to reduce thermal comfort
and indoor air quality. The occurrence of symptoms increased much more with raised indoor
temperatures in the winter than in the summer due to the larger difference created between
indoor and outdoor temperatures.

Factors to Keep In Mind:

 Personal factors (health, psychology, sociology & situational factors)

 Insulative clothing (Clo Value)
 Activity levels (Met Rate)
 General Factors
 Air temperature
 Mean radiant temperature
 Relative humidity (see also perspiration)
 Drifts and ramps in operative temperature
 Localized factors
 Air movement/velocity (see wind chill factor)
 Radiant asymmetry
 Floor surface temperatures (see underfloor heating)
 Air temperature stratification

Metabolism:
When measuring metabolic rates, many factors have to be taken into account. Each person has a
different metabolic rate, and these rates can fluctuate when a person is performing certain
activities, or under certain environmental conditions. Even people who are in the same room can
feel significant temperature differences due to their metabolic rates, which makes it very hard to
find an optimal temperature for everyone in a given location.

Food and drink habits may have an influence on metabolic rates, which indirectly influences
thermal preferences. These effects may change depending on food and drink intake.

Body Shape:

Body shape is another factor that affects thermal comfort. Heat dissipation depends on body
surface area. A tall and skinny person has a larger surface-to-volume ratio, can dissipate heat
more easily, and can tolerate higher temperatures than a more rounded body shape.

Clothing:

During cold weather, layers of insulating clothing can help keep a person warm. At the same
time, if the person is doing a large amount of physical activity, lots of clothing layers can prevent
heat loss and possibly lead to overheating. Generally, the thicker the garment is the greater
insulating abilities it has. Depending on the type of material the clothing is made out of, air
movement and relative humidity can decrease the insulating ability of the material.

Relative Humidity:

The human body has sensors that are fairly efficient in sensing heat and cold, but they are not
very effective in detecting relative humidity. Relative humidity creates the perception of an
extremely dry or extremely damp indoor environment. This can then play a part in the perceived
temperature and their thermal comfort. The recommended level of indoor humidity is in the
range of 30-60%.

How to Measure the Amount of Relative Humidity in the Air:

A way to measure the amount of relative humidity in the air is to use a system of dry-bulb and
wet-bulb thermometers. A dry-bulb thermometer measures the temperature not relative to
moisture. This is generally the temperature reading that is used in weather reports. In contrast, a
wet-bulb thermometer has a small wet cloth wrapped around the bulb at its base, so the reading
on that thermometer takes into account water evaporation in the air.

The wet-bulb reading will thus always be at least slightly lower than the dry bulb reading. The
difference between these two temperatures can be used to calculate the relative humidity. The
larger the temperature difference between the two thermometers, the lower the level of relative
humidity.
Skin Wettedness:

The wettedness of skin in different areas also affects perceived thermal comfort. Humidity can
increase wetness on different areas of the body, leading to a perception of discomfort. This is
usually localized in different parts of the body and local thermal comfort limits for local skin
wettedness differ between different skin locations of the body.

The extremities are much more sensitive to thermal discomfort from wetness than the trunk of
the body. Although local thermal discomfort can be caused from wetness, the thermal comfort of
the whole body will not be affected by the wetness of certain parts.

Recently, the effects of low relative humidity and high air velocity were tested on humans after
bathing. Researchers found that low relative humidity engendered thermal discomfort as well as
the sensation of dryness and itching. It is recommended to keep relative humidity levels higher in
a bathroom than other rooms in the house for optimal conditions.

Thermal Stress:

The concept of thermal comfort is closely related to thermal stress. This attempts to predict the
impact of solar radiation, air movement, and humidity for military personnel undergoing training
exercises or athletes during competitive events. Values are expressed as the Wet Bulb Globe
Temperature or Discomfort Index.

Generally, humans do not perform well under thermal stress. People’s performances under
thermal stress are about 11% lower than their performance at normal thermal conditions. Also,
human performance in relation to thermal stress varies greatly by the type of task you are
completing. Some of the physiological effects of thermal heat stress include increased blood flow
to the skin, sweating, and increased ventilation.

HVACs (Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning):

Many buildings use a HVAC (Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning) unit to control their thermal
environment. Recently, with the current energy and financial situation, new methods for indoor
temperature control are being used. One of these is natural ventilation.

This process can make the controlled indoor air temperature more susceptible to the outdoor
weather, and during the seasonal months the temperatures inside can become too extreme.
During the summer months, the temperature inside can rise too high and cause the need for open
windows and fans to be used. In contrast, the winter months could call for more insulation and
layered clothing to deal with the less than ideal temperatures.

Operative Temperature:

The ideal standard for thermal comfort can be defined by the operative temperature. This is the
average of the air dry-bulb temperature and of the mean radiant temperature at the given place in
a room. In addition, there should be low air velocities and no 'drafts,' little variation in the radiant
temperatures from different directions in the room, and humidity within a comfortable range.

The operative temperature intervals varied by the type of indoor location. They also vary by the
time of year. ASHRAE has listings for suggested temperatures and air flow rates in different
types of buildings and different environmental circumstances.

Gender Differences:

Thermal comfort preferences between genders seems to be small, there are some differences.
Studies have found men report discomfort due to rises in temperature much earlier than women.
Men also estimate higher levels of their sensation of discomfort than women.

One recent study tested men and women in the same cotton clothing, performing mental jobs
while using a dial vote to report their thermal comfort to the changing temperature. Many times,
females will prefer higher temperatures. But while females were more sensitive to temperatures,
males tend to be more sensitive to relative humidity levels.

Thermal Comfort Vary On Climate:

In different areas of the world, thermal comfort needs may vary based on climate.

In the hot humid region of Saudi Arabia, the issue of thermal comfort has been important in
mosques where Muslims (followers of Islam, the only religion allowed to operate publicly in
Saudi Arabia, according to the Shariah) go to pray. They are very large open buildings which are
used only intermittently (very busy for the obligatory noon prayer on Fridays) making it hard to
ventilate them properly. The large size requires a large amount of ventilation but this requires a
lot of energy since the buildings are used only for short periods of time.

Some mosques have the issue of being too cold from their HVAC systems running for too long
and others remain too hot. The stack effect also comes into play due to their large size and
creates a large layer of hot air above the people in the mosque. New designs have placed the
ventilation systems lower in the buildings to provide more temperature control at ground level.
Also new monitoring steps are being taken to improve the efficiency.

Thermal Comfort of Humans:

Although thermal comfort of humans is the main focus of thermal comfort studies, the needs of
livestock must be met as well for better living and production. The Department of Animal
Production in Italy produced a study on ewes, which tested rumen functions and diet digestibility
of ewes chronically exposed to a hot environment. These two bodily functions were reduced by
the hot temperatures offering insight that thermal comfort levels are important to livestock
productivity.