AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTS OF AIR VELOCITY AND MOVEMENT ON THE THERMAL COMFORT INSIDE AN AUTOMOBILE

Abstract

In this study, heat loss from various parts of human body, generated sweat mass and skin wetness depends on this are determined and their effect on thermal comfort are investigated. In the model human body is examined as divided into 16 parts and heat and mass transfer from each parts is simulated, as air flow velocity over the surface and thermal and evaporation resistance of clothing are accounted for the model. After checking the validity of the model (in comparison with results as an experimental study) heat transfer coefficients, sensible and latent heat loss, skin wetness and variations of predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD) are investigated for various air velocities, air temperatures and clothing groups. It is included that, average skin wetness decreases with increasing air velocity and sensible and latent heat losses increase due to the increase in heat transfer coefficient with increasing air velocity. However increase in sensible heat loss is more than latent heat loss. The most sensitive parameter to the air velocity is PPD