Adaptive thermal comfort in primary school classrooms creating and validating PMV based comfort charts ter Mors, S. Link to publication Disclaimer This document contains a student thesis (bachelor's or master's), as authored by a student at Eindhoven University of Technology. Student theses are made available in the TU/e repository upon obtaining the required degree. The grade received is not published on the document as presented in the repository. The required complexity or quality of research of student theses may vary by program, and the required minimum study period may vary in duration. This is the linal report for the graduation work of Sander ter Mors . This research was done as a graduation project for the Master program Building Services at Eindhoven University of Technology. The report consists ol a paper on the research which was performed, and some related appendices. The paper gives a brief description of the background of the subject, the method used in the research , and the results/discussion with conclusions. The appendices offer extra information on the research and graduation process. Appendix 1 (Dutch) contains the questionnaires which were used in the research, and this appendix could be added to the paper. The other appendices are sorted in a similar way to the paper, so first the introduction and literature review are treated, followed by the method and finally the results/discussion . This research would not have been possible without the help and advice of various persons . First, I would like to thank my supervisors, Jan Hensen , Marcel Loomans and Atze Boerstra, for !heir support and valuable input, both on the subject and the process. They also helped me contact Michael Humphreys who offered me briel but valuable input from his own research and other relevant references. Wout van Bommel provided me with much needed support with the measurements, which on their own could not have taken place without the co-operation of the primary schools, their teachers and the children from the classrooms. I would also like to thank all my fellow students, with whom it was a great pleasure to work during the past years I spent at the university. Finally I would like to thank my parents and the rest ol the lamily, who encouraged and supported me throughout this study. Sander ter Mors In this research the thermal comfort and therm al comfort parameters for non-office conditions have been investigated, specifically for children in primary school classrooms. Actual thermal sensation and clothing insulation ol children (age 9-11) in non-air-conditioned classrooms in three different schools in the Netherlands have been obtained. Resulls are available for a lolal of 24 days, covering winIer, spring and summer condilions (year 2010). Questionnaires have been applied 10 obtain Ihe actual Ihermal sensalion and clolhing insulalion in Ihe morning and afternoon ol regular school days . In Ihis period physical parameters (temperature, relalive humidity, elc.) were recorded as weil in order 10 derive the PMV. The results show that children adapt clothing during the year Irom mean values around 0.9 clo in winter to 0.3 clo in summer, with the largest changes occurring in the mid-season. There is a small difference in clolhing adaplalion belween male and lemale children, with Ihe females showing more adaptation. Comparison ol the aclual mean vote wilh the calculated PMV, based on the measured data, indicates a clear difference. The conclusion is Ih al the PMV model does not predict the thermal sensalion of Ihese children accurately; il undereslimates the mean therm al sensation up 10 1.5 scale point. This can be explained by the lacl that the children's heat balance with the thermal environment is different lrom adull's, on which PMV is based. This difference lies mainly in !he influence ol metabolic rate on Ihermal sensalion. Wh en Ihe actual Ihermal sensalion votes are compared 10 comlort predictions based on adaptive lemperature limits il shows thaI children preIer lower lemperalures Ihan predicled by Ihese melhods.
Particularly, he showed that the PMV was not accurate enough to set the optimal comfort for primary school children REF .
Adaptive thermal comfort in primary school classrooms: Creating and validating PMV-based comfort charts
Building and Environment
Engineering