Thermal performance of a circular perforated panel personalized ventilation system: Thermal manikin measurement and tropically acclimatised people's response

Abstract

The thermal performance of a circular perforated panel (CPP) for personalized ventilation (PV) system in an indoor environment chamber was examined using a breathing thermal manikin and tropically acclimatized subjects. Supplying treated outdoor air, the PV systems were adjusted according to experimental conditions which were designed in a balanced matrix, and presented blind to the subjects. The mean values of subjective evaluation indices, i.e., inhaled air temperature perception and acceptability of facial air movement, were compared with the inhalation temperature and draft risk obtained from objective measurements of the manikin. The perceived inhaled air temperature (PAT) is mainly determined by ambient-PV temperature combinations, and PAT was found to correlate linearly with the measured breathing manikin's inhaled temperature (R2 = 0.75). PV air supply temperature dominated PAT in Low- Tu conditions, while High-Tu PAT depended more on ambient temperature. The acceptability of facial air movement of tropically acclimatized people depends on facial air velocity, ambient-PV temperature combination and turbulence intensity. The most acceptable facial air movement increases with the ambient temperature. At 26°C ambient environment, a facial air velocity between 0.5-0.7m/s was most preferred, compared to 0.5-0.6m/s at 23.5°C environment when PV air was supplied with low turbulence intensity.