PERSONAL THERMAL COMFORT SENSING: REVIEW ON EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS, LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Abstract

According to International Energy Agency (IEA), the worldwide energy demand is forecasted to be tripled by 2050. The usage of air-conditioning is predicted to be the second-largest cause for worldwide electricity market growth after the industry sector, and the main moving force for buildings by 2050. With thermal comfort as the main driver for delivering a comfortable and productive indoor environment, it has become one of the most crucial indoor environment qualities. Studies have shown that uncomfortable thermal comfort settings, especially in a warmer environment, can lead to illnesses and reduced efficiencies. The current standards only provide for population-level comfort models that often fail to address individuals differences and transient conditions needs, giving rise to the trend of personal comfort models. Such models were developed by making use of physiological parameters to detect the thermal discomfort.

This dissertation would focus on reviewing studies that used physiological parameters as the basis to detect thermal discomfort. While there are review papers out there in this field, they do not focus on the physiological parameters themselves. Therefore, seventy two studies were filtered and selected from various scientific depositories. They were categorised into four main physiological basis – skin temperature, heart rate variability, sweat rate, metabolic as well as a combination of these mentioned parameters. Experiment conditions, number of subjects, surveys and results of the experiments were summarized. Limitations and future directions of the studies were discussed and reviewed as potential developments for future authors to look out for, in order to further improve their accuracies and results.

The findings from the data analysis provided extensive information for authors to understand the trends and potentially serve as a guide for future studies. Likewise, the in-depth literature review could equip readers with little or no background in understanding personal thermal comfort and its fundamentals.