Lecture 5 - Thermal Comfort
Lecture 5 - Thermal Comfort
Lecture 5 - Thermal Comfort
A climate of comfortable
heat in a building can be
achieved using natural and
passive methods, and the
exploitation of beneficial
aspects from the climate can
contribute to a comfortable
environment in a building, for
example in a traditional
Malay house.
• Temperature and air movement factor will cause someone to feel hot,
very hot, neutral, cold or very cold.
• Human sense receptor (i.e skin, eyes, nose etc) will receive the signal and
send it to the brain to trigger response towards the change in
environmental temperature.
• The need for comfortable heat in a building does not only depend on air
temperature factor, but also the level of air movement, the effect of sun
ray, relative humidity, environment surface temperature, type of activity
and clothing or attire.
• The study of comfortable heat and body mechanism, and how they are
influenced by environmental changes should also be taken into
account.
Body Temperature
37 oC 34 oC
Hot Cold
Perception of Thermal Environment
Heat sensor in Hypothalamus
send impulses when
temperature exceeds 37 oC.
Heat Heat
Produc
-ed
Lost
Factors Affecting
Thermal Comfort
Human thermal comfort
Indoor thermal comfort
Outdoor thermal comfort
1) Human thermal comfort
a) Physical Comfort
• heat balance requirement
• biological need
• hygiene requirement
• physical needs
b) Comfort Satisfaction
• depend on individual ages
• occupation
• social status
• personal preferences
b) Clothing choices
• types of material (cotton – comfort, nylon etc)
• depend on individual to control heat changes between body
surface and the environment.
• sleeping - cotton
• working in air-conditioned room –nylon, mix
Relative Humidity - RH
Relative humidity is the ratio of the water vapor pressure - pw, to the vapor pressure of
saturated air at the same temperature - pws, expressed as a percentage. Relative
humidity is a relative measure. The moisture-holding capacity of air increases with air
temperature. In practice relative humidity indicates the moisture level of the air
compared to the airs moisture-holding capacity.
Note ! The moisture holding capacity of air increases dramatically with temperature!
Relative humidity lines in the chart are curved lines that move upward to the right. The line
representing saturated air where the relative humidity - RH is 100%, is the uppermost curved line in
the chart.
Enthalpy - h
Enthalpy is the measure of the total energy in the air, the energy content per unit air weight
(Btu/lbda) (dry air). Enthalpy is read from where the appropriate wet-bulb line crosses the diagonal
scale above the saturation curve. Air with same amount of energy may either be dry hot air (high
sensible heat) or cool moist air (high latent heat).