Abstract
This study focused on the effect of glass structures of modern architecture on the indoor thermal environment during summer. In particular, this study examined how solar radiation significantly altered people’s thermal sensations. Laboratory tests on convection–radiation air conditioning systems were conducted, encompassing 12 different scenarios, including diverse indoor open areas, terminal forms, and levels of solar radiation. These tests aimed to explore the physiological and psychological responses of the human body to solar radiation penetrating through windows into the inner room. During the experiments, the participants’ subjective thermal sensations and thermal comfort were recorded, along with continuous monitoring of their physiological and environmental parameters. Results showed that solar radiation significantly increased local skin temperature, with a maximum rise of 2.15 °C. Operative temperature is a reliable indicator of human skin temperature and thermal sensation vote (TSV). This study established two models that could predict the skin temperature of individuals indoors through operative temperature under conditions without or with solar radiation, and identified sensitive ranges of operative temperature for both models, to be specific, 26.32 °C to 28.43 °C and 28.51 °C to 34.11 °C, respectively. Furthermore, this study established the relationship between skin temperature and TSV under conditions with and without solar radiation. The results indicate that solar radiation enhances the human body’s adaptability to indoor environmental parameters; a convection–radiation system (FC+RF) could be used to optimize indoor thermal control under solar radiation, achieving more stable environmental temperatures and improved indoor comfort.
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Abbreviations
- DBP:
-
diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)
- f p :
-
projected area factor
- F i→j :
-
angle factor between the interior surface of the ith enclosure structure and the interior surface of the jth transparent enclosure structure
- F S→i :
-
angle factor between the human body and the ith interior surface of the surrounding environment
- F S→j :
-
angle factor between the human body and the interior surface of the jth transparent enclosure structure
- h c :
-
convection heat-transfer coefficient (W/(m2·°C))
- h r :
-
radiative heat-transfer coefficient (W/(m2·°C))
- I b :
-
direct solar radiation incident on the subject (W/m2)
- I bh :
-
direct solar radiation incident on the floor (W/m2)
- I dj :
-
diffuse radiation entering indoors through the jth transparent enclosure structure (W/m2)
- N :
-
number of interior surfaces of the enclosure structures involved
- N g :
-
number of glazed surfaces
- PR:
-
pulse rate (bpm)
- SBP:
-
systolic blood pressure (mmHg)
- T a :
-
air temperature (°C)
- T mrt :
-
mean radiant temperature (°C)
- T op :
-
operative temperature (°C)
- T i :
-
temperature of the ith interior surface in the surrounding environment (K)
- T skin :
-
mean skin temperature (°C)
- Z-value:
-
standard test statistic
- α SW :
-
human body’s absorption rate of shortwave radiation
- ε S :
-
emissivity of the human body
- ρ i :
-
reflectivity of the interior surface of the ith enclosure structure
- ρ floor :
-
reflectivity of the floor surface
- σ :
-
Stefan–Boltzmann constant, 5.67 × 10−8 W/(m2·K4)
- BMI:
-
body mass index
- FC:
-
fan coil convection cooling system
- FC+RF:
-
convection–radiation cooling systems
- PMV:
-
predicted mean vote
- RF:
-
radiant floor cooling system
- SCV:
-
sudomotor conduction velocity
- TCV:
-
thermal comfort vote
- TSV:
-
thermal sensation vote
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Open Fund (No. 202303 and No. 202304) of the Sichuan Province Engineering Technology Research Center of Healthy Human Settlement and Key R&D Plan of Sichuan Science and Technology Program (No. 2022YFG0138-LH).
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Guanyu Li: experimental test, writing–original draft, and editing. Dong Liu: writing—original draft, review and supervision. Anjie Hu: review and editing. Qidong Yan: acquisition and analysis of data. Lina Ma: experimental test. Liu Tang: supervision. Xiaozhou Wu: supervision. Jun Wang: supervision. Zhenyu Wang: supervision. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Li, G., Liu, D., Hu, A. et al. Effect of solar radiation on human thermal sensation and physiological parameters in a convection–radiation air conditioning environment. Build. Simul. 17, 1359–1377 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-024-1133-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-024-1133-6