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COMFORT

What is meant by thermal comfort?


To have "thermal comfort" means that a person wearing a normal amount of
clothing feels neither too cold nor too warm. Such comfort is important both for
one's well-being and for productivity in office work, and can be achieved only
when the air temperature, humidity and air movement are within the specified
range often referred to as the "comfort zone".
Where air movement is virtually absent and when relative humidity can be kept
at about 50%, the ambient temperature becomes the most critical and debated
factor for maintaining thermal comfort. Unfortunately, however, temperature
preferences vary greatly among individuals and there is no one temperature that
can satisfy everyone. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that an office which is too
warm makes its occupants feel tired; on the other hand, one that is too cold
causes the occupants' attention to drift, making them restless and easily
distracted.
Maintaining constant thermal conditions in a building is important. Even minor
deviation from comfort may lead to impaired performance and safety.
Conversely, workers already under stress are less tolerant of uncomfortable
conditions

What temperature should an office be?


A general recommendation is that the temperature be held constant in the range
of 21C - 23C. In summertime when outdoor temperatures are higher it is
advisable to keep air-conditioned offices slightly warmer to minimize the
temperature discrepancy between indoors and outdoors.

What humidity level and air velocity should an office be?


When relative humidity is kept at about 50%, office workers have fewer
respiratory problems (specifically in the winter) and generally feel better. Higher

humidity makes the office feels "stuffy". More important, it can contribute to the
development of bacterial and fungal growth (especially in sealed buildings).
Humidity lower then 50% causes discomfort by drying out the mucous
membranes, contributing to skin rashes, and causing some electrostatic
disturbances to both office equipment and their users.
Air velocities below 0.25 metres/second do not create any significant distraction
even in tasks requiring sustained attention.

In general, what temperature is 'right' for various activities?


Table 1 summarizes some typical responses to various temperatures.
Table 1
Responses

Temperature
C
25
24
22
21
18

Optimal for bathing, showering. Sleep is


disturbed
People feel warm, lethargic and sleepy. Optimal
for unclothed people.
Most comfortable year-round indoor
temperature for sedentary people.
Optimum for performance of mental work.
Physically inactive people begin to shiver.
Active people are comfortable.

Thermal Comfort
The main influences, which affect human comfort, are:

1.

Temperature

2.

Air Movement

3.

Radiation

4.

Humidity

1. Temperature
Attempts have been made in the past to assess human comfort by considering
temperatures defined in certain ways.

Suitable temperatures are between 21oC and 23oC.


In warmer countries room temperatures up to 25oC can be acceptable.

The air temperature can be measured with a mercury-in-glass thermometer.


The average room temperature should be taken near the middle of the room, well
above floor level but not above head height.

The Mean Radiant Temperature is the mean temperature of a room due to surfaces
radiating heat into the room as if all the air is exhausted.

The Environmental Temperatures are the assumed temperatures inside (tei) and
assumed temperatures outside (teo) a building.

The inside environmental temperature (tei) is a combination of radiant and air


temperatures i.e.

tei = 2/3 tr +

1/3 ta

where:
tr = mean radiant temperature
ta = air temperature (dry bulb)

EXAMPLE 1
If tr = 23oC and ta = 20oC

Then:

tei

/3 x 23

tei

15 1/3 +

tei

22oC

/3 x 20

6 2/3

The inside environmental temperature (tei) 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.

Comfortable Temperature

What temperature is comfortable or optimum?


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.
It is difficult to generalize since some factories such as high-tech operations may
require a higher room temperature.
Generally speaking if the occupants of a room are sedentary or mostly seated then
they will not generate as much body heat those who are working very strenuously.
Therefore the design room temperature varies with activity.

Also clothing has to be considered. In winter time room occupants may wear
heavier clothes than in the summer and some accommodation of the seasons may be
necessary in deciding room conditions.
Another factor that should be considered is the age of the room occupants. Small
babies and elderly people require a higher room temperature, up to 24oC, to feel
comfortable.
Room design temperature should be carefully considered and the CIBSE guide has
an appropriate table to guide the engineer.

2. 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.
To allow for dry bulb temperature the graph below gives acceptable values for
comfort.

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.

3. 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.

4. Humidity
Humidity is the amount of moisture in air.
This moisture is also known as water vapour.
Also the moisture in air can be regarded as low pressure steam.

Unlike the other measures of moisture, relative humidity the most familiar term
is not an absolute measure of moisture content. Rather, as its name suggest, it is a
measure only of the relative amount of moisture contained by air. 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.
If the weatherman says 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 cab 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.

RH %

x 100

See Calculation of Air Properties section in the Properties of Air part of the Science
notes in this site.

Comfort Recommendations

lding /Room

ference /
rdrooms
llings rooms

llings rooms

llings stairs/landings
llings hen

The CIBSE guide A Section 1.3 gives details of recommendations on suitable


winter and summer temperature ranges, outdoor air supply rates, filtration
grades, maintained illuminances and noise ratings for a range of room and
building types.

The Table below is an example of these recommendations.

Winter Dry Resultant


Summer Dry Resultant
Temperature range for activity Temperature range for activity Air Supply
Filtration
and clothing levels
and clothing levels
per person
Grade
Temperature Activity Clothing Temperature Activity Clothing (l/s/person)
(oC)
(oC)

Illuminanc
e
(lux)

22-23

1.1

1.0

23-25

1.1

0.65

F6-F7

300/500

26-27

1.2

0.25

26-27

1.2

0.25

15

G2-G4
(Extract)

100

0.4 to 1.0
AC/h to

G2-G4

17-19

0.9

2.5

23-25

0.9

1.2

19-24

1.8

0.75

21-25

1.8

0.65

100

17-19

1.6

1.0

21-23

1.6

0.65

60 l/s

G2-G4
(Extract)

300

0.4 to 1.0
AC/h to

control
moisture

G2-G4

100

llings - living
ms

22-23

1.1

1.0

23-25

0.9

1.2

llings - toilets

19-21

1.4

1.0

21-23

1.4

0.65

More than
5 Ac/h

G2-G4

ces - executive

21-23

1.2

0.85

22-24

1.2

0.7

F7

500

ces - general
ces open

21-23

1.2

0.85

22-24

1.2

0.7

F6-F7

500

21-23

1.2

0.85

22-24

1.2

0.7

F6-F7

500

22-24

1.1

0.9

24-25

1.1

0.65

F5-F7

50-200

aurants /
ng rooms

control
moisture

50-200

100

Notes on Table

The summer comfort temperatures given apply to air conditioned


buildings.
Reference should be made to the table of recommended illuminances in
the Code for Interior Lighting
and CIBSE Lighting Guides for design guidance on specific applications.

Thermal Indices
Since there a quite a few comfort indicators, some more important than others,
many attempts have been made to devise indices which combine some or all of
these variables into one value which can be used to evaluate how comfortable
people feel.
The index that has been adopted by CIBSE is the Dry resultant Temperature.

Dry Resultant Temperature

Dry resultant temperature combines air and mean radiant temperatures into a
single index temperature, as follows:

Where;
tc

dry resultant temperature (C),

t ai

inside air temperature (C)

tr

mean radiant temperature (C)

air speed (m/s).

The above equation is simplified at indoor air speeds below 0.1 m/s, as shown
below.

tc

Fanger's Research

0.5 t ai + 0.5 t r

Fanger researched comfort criteria in Denmark and produced a series of comfort


charts and tables based on subjective tests which considered the metabolic rate
for various activities and the clothing worn.
The volume of data provided enables comfort predictions to be made with a high
level of accuracy.

Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied


(PPD)

These indices are more complicated than the Dry Resultant Temperature.
They combine the influence of air temperature, mean radiant temperature, air
movement and humidity with that of clothing and activity level into one value.

The PMV index is a method of predicting if occupants will feel comfortable in a


room.
Research was carried out in various locations to find out if people felt
comfortable and this is used to determine levels of comfort.

The PMV index may be defined as the mean value of the votes of a large group
of persons, exposed to the same environment with identical clothing and activity.

The predicted percentage dissatisfied (PPD) as a function of predicted mean vote


(PMV).

The predicted percentage dissatisfied (PPD) can be obtained from the PMV
using the following equation.

PPD = 100 95 exp [(0.03353 PMV 4 + 0.2179 PMV2)]

The graph below shows typical comfort zones for winter and summer.

SIX FACTORS FOR COMFORT OUTDOORS


There are six factors that influence how a person will feel when going outside. They are
sunlight, wind, evaporational cooling, temperature, humidity and clothing. The
combination of these six factors determines whether a person feels cold, warm,
comfortable or uncomfortable. Let's take a look at each of the six factors.
Direct sunlight makes a person feel warmer because electromagnetic radiation is being
embedded directly into the skin. If the temperature feels uncomfortably cool in the
shade, standing in direct sunlight will make one feel warmer.
Wind makes a person feel cooler especially when the wind is blowing over moistened
skin. This effect is very apparent if you have gotten out of a swimming pool on a windy
and dry day. The wind evaporates moisture from the body. Since evaporation is a cooling
process and absorbs latent heat away from the body, the person feels colder. Skin always
has moisture on it. Just like a tree transpires, the human body is constantly having water
evaporated from it. Wind intensifies this process. A hot day with a breeze will feel more
comfortable than a hot day with calm wind. Wind and evaporational cooling are closely
linked. The higher the wind, the greater the amount of evaporational cooling, especially
if air is dry.
Perhaps the most important factor in determining comfort is temperature. If the
temperatures are cold, the human body conducts energy to the surrounding air and
gradually loses heat (you shiver and feel cold!). If temperatures are too warm, excess
heat builds in the body and the body has trouble releasing that heat to the surrounding
air (water loss rate from your skin increases from sweat and you feel hot!).
The humidity is important because it determines the overall loss of water from your
body. If the air is dry, the effect of evaporational cooling on the body is maximized.
Evaporational cooling and a wind breeze can partially or completely offset temperatures
that would normally be considered uncomfortably hot. When the humidity is high, the
effect of evaporational cooling is reduced. Because of this, heat builds in the body. At the
same temperature, a humid day will feel more hot and uncomfortable than a dry day.

The last factor is clothing. Clothing can obviously make you feel comfortable on a day
that is considered warm or cold. Clothes are added to counter the chill in the air. The
wind chill value is only relevant to exposed skin. There are variables the wind chill index
does not consider including direct sunlight and some assumptions in the wind chill
equation do not mirror reality perfectly. On a cold day it is best to dress in layers. The
goal is to maximize the heat between the skin and the clothes on a cold day. On a hot day,
white clothes and loose fitting clothes are the best. Everyone has a slightly different
temperature they consider being the "comfortable temperature". This range for any one
person tends to be from 68 to 78 F.
All the six factors mentioned go into determining how a person will feel. The
combination of all these factors is so complex that no formula using all these factors has
been developed. The two that are commonly used today by weathermen are the wind
chill and heat index. Wind chill considers wind and temperature while the heat index
considers heat and humidity. These two indices do not take into account several other
factors that determine how one will feel. The heat index does not consider wind and
direct sunlight.
In summary, when a person is outside, if you feel cold you can step into the sunlight,
reduce the wind, increase the temperature, increase the humidity, and increase clothing.
If you feel hot, you can step out of direct sunlight, increase the wind, decrease the
temperature, decrease the humidity and take off clothes. Off course, we can not control
all these variables that occur in the atmosphere except for three ways: (1) wear proper
clothing (2) go inside to a comfortable building (3) evaporational cooling through adding
water to the skin surface on a hot day.

MODES OF HEAT TRANSFER


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 and Radiation.
Heat is transferred by conduction within a body or substance
by direct molecular communication. It is characterised by a
continuously decreasing temperature in the direction of heat

flow and by the absence of motion within the substance. It is the


only mechanism of heat transfer within solids. When a steel
plate is heated on one side, the other side becomes warm by
conduction.
Moving fluids can transfer heat from one body or region to
another by convection. When the fluid motion is due to a
density difference arising from a temperature difference, the
heat transfer is termed natural convection.
When a container of water is heated on a stove, the hot lowdensity water near the bottom rises and transfers heat to the
upper regions of the container by natural convection.
Where the fluid flow is produced by a fan, pump, or any
mechanism other than temperature differences within the heat
transfer device, the process is termed forced convection.
In a car radiator heat is transferred from the water (circulated by
the pump) to the radiator surface by forced convection. Forced
convection also accounts for the transfer of heat from the
radiator surfaces to the air (flow due to fan and/or vehicle
movement).
Heat transfer by radiation involves a wave action similar to
light transmission. A hot body can raise the temperature of the
medium separating the two bodies. Heat can be transferred by
radiation through a vacuum, most gases and some liquids. The
sun transmits solar energy to the earth by radiation; a hot stove
heats surrounding objects primarily by radiation.

Conduction
The Fourier equation may be used to assess the amount of heat transfer by
conduction.
The Fourier equation in this form is used for non-composite structures i.e. one
layer of thickness.

( k / l ) x A x T

Where;
Q

Heat transfer by conduction (Watts)

Thermal conductivity of material (W/m deg.C)

Area of material (m2)

Temperature difference across the material (deg.C)

Thickness of material (m)

Since k / l = 1 / R, where R is resistance to heat flow (m2deg.C/W), the above


equation may also be written;

( 1 / R ) x A x T

Where;
Q

Heat transfer by conduction (Watts)

Resistance to heat flow (m2deg.C/W)

Area of material (m2)

Temperature difference across the material (deg.C)

Also this can be written;

A x T / R

In building heat losses: 1/ R = U value (W/m 2degC) or Thermal


transmittance value.
Therefore:

U . A . T

Where a wall is composed of several different materials


an overall resistance and overall U value of the
composite structure is required. This will include the
internal and external surface resistances giving the
expression;
Q

Uoverall . A . T

For more details of heat losses see Thermal Transmission section in Heating
notes.

Example 1

Calculate, using the Fourier equation, the heat transferred by


conduction through a steel boiler wall if the boiler surface area
is 0.6m2.
Compare this with stainless steel and copper alloy.
Use the thermal conductivity values for; Steel (1% carbon), Stainless
steel 316 and Copper alloy 11000 in the Table of Solid Material
Properties in this section.

DATA
Average gas side hot surface temperature = 85 oC
Average water side temperature = 80oC
Thermal conductivity Steel (1% carbon) = 43 W/m K
Thermal conductivity Stainless steel 316 = 17 W/m K
Thermal conductivity Copper alloy 11000 = 388 W/m K.
Boiler wall thickness = 6mm

(k / l ) x A x T

Heat transfer by conduction (Watts)

Thermal conductivity of material (W/m deg.C)

Area of material (m2)

Temperature difference across the material (deg.C)

Thickness of material (m)

Where;

Therefore for Steel (1% carbon) ; Q

( 43 / 0.006 ) x 0.6 x

( 7166.66 ) x 0.6 x

( 85 80 )
Q
(5)

21,500 Watts = 21.5

( 2833.33 ) x 0.6 x

8,500 Watts = 8.5 kW.

Therefore for Copper alloy 11000;

( 64,666.66 ) x 0.6 x

194,000 Watts = 194

kW.

Therefore for Stainless steel 316;

( 17 / 0.006 ) x

0.6 x ( 85 80 )
(5)

( 388 / 0.006 ) x

0.6 x ( 85 80 )
(5)
kW.

Therefore we can conclude that Stainless steel does not transfer


as much heat by conduction in the boiler as Steel (1% carbon)
and Copper alloy transfers a lot more heat than the other two
metals.

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