Advanced Thermal Manikin for Thermal Comfort Assessment in Vehicles and Buildings

Abstract

Among the factors that influence the resilience and sustainability of cities in general, and of inhabited spaces in particular, there are extreme temperatures and, in particular, for people, thermal comfort is something that should be considered. This problem includes all aspects of comfort for users of inhabited spaces in both buildings and vehicles. The purpose of this paper is to present the details of a recently designed and created thermal manikin that comprises 79 superficial zones with independent neuro-fuzzy temperature regulation. Both the component parts of the manikin and the acceptance strategy are described. Flexible heating elements were used to control the temperature, on which five digital sensors are positioned. In order to establish the relationship between heat loss and ambient temperature, the thermal manikin was calibrated in a climatic chamber. The thermal manikin was able to predict local sensations through the equivalent temperature concept of the so-called Predicted Mean Vote.