Winter and summer thermal comfort and air flow measurements in a naturally ventilated room

Abstract

The objective of this research is to investigate thermal comfort and air flow distribution inside a test room that is naturally ventilated. The test room is situated in a relatively sheltered location and is ventilated through adjustable louvres. The air pressures and velocities across the openings together with indoor air temperature and velocity at four locations and six different levels are measured. The outside local temperature, wind velocity and direction are also monitored. The collected data are used to predict thermal comfort parameters across the test room. Tests were carried out over winter and summer times. The experimental results demonstrate that for both winter and summer the air was entering the test room at the bottom and leaving at the top louvre. The amount of air flow over the winter was increased as the heat input varied from 2 kW to 4 kW. The predicted thermal comfort indicated that PPD values (percentage of people dissatisfied) for summer are significantly improved with a higher temperature difference between inside and outside and higher wind velocity. Over the winter period with internal heat load of 4 kW the PPD values were improved by 40%.