Integrated Built Environment that Meets Human Needs for Thermal Comfort

Transition from thermal comfort to thermal pleasure: Explanation of the factors that shape thermal quality perception in the built environment

Different sensory stimuli, such as light, color, smell, sound and texture, play an important role in perceiving the quality of an environment. Heat, like other sensory stimuli, can contribute to the richness of an environment and provide a greater benefit to people. The fact that a person in addition to the thermal comfort of a particular environment can also benefit from its thermal quality, i...

Integrated Modeling to Predict Occupant Thermal Comfort

The two primary functions of a vehicle climate control system are safety through de-icing and de-fogging windows, and occupant thermal comfort. However, vehicle air-conditioning systems can significantly impact fuel economy and tailpipe emissions of conventional and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and reduce electric vehicle (EV) range. In order to meet the new U. S. Supplemental Federal Test P...

Thermal Insulating Concrete Wall Panel Design for Sustainable Built Environment

Air-conditioning system plays a significant role in providing users a thermally comfortable indoor environment, which is a necessity in modern buildings. In order to save the vast energy consumed by air-conditioning system, the building envelopes in envelope-load dominated buildings should be well designed such that the unwanted heat gain and loss with environment can be minimized. In this pape...

[Correlations between human needs and conditions of buildings for comfort].

The human thermoneutral and thermal comfort zones: Thermal comfort in your own skin blood flow

Human thermoregulation is achieved via autonomic and behavioral responses. Autonomic responses involve 2 synchronous 'components'. One counteracts large thermal perturbations, eliciting robust heat loss or gain (i.e., sweating or shivering). The other fends off smaller insults, relying solely on changes in sensible heat exchange (i.e., skin blood flow). This sensible component occurs within the...