Client
University of California at Berkeley
Project Objectives
- Develop a psychological model using human subject testing to predict human thermal comfort in transient non-uniform thermal environments
- The human thermal psychological model will allow for the development of more efficient climate control systems to improve vehicle fuel efficiency
Summary of Project and Results (Non-Confidential)
- The prediction of human thermal comfort was separated into the prediction of both local (body
segment) thermal comfort, and global (overall body) thermal comfort, in transient non-uniform
thermal environments - The first step of the project was to design and build an apparatus to control the skin temperature
of a local body segment - Fabric enclosures that were velcroed to each body segment, were coupled to an air temperature
controller to control the skin temperature of each body segment - Systems were designed to measure the skin temperatures and body core temperatures of the
human subjects - A series of human subject tests were carried out to measure both local and global thermal
comfort responses when exposed to transient non-uniform thermal environments - A mathematical model was formulated to predict both local and global comfort based on the
skin and body core temperatures - A regression was performed using the data from the human subject tests to determine the
coefficients in the thermal comfort model - The model was then validated against human subject tests in vehicle thermal environments
Arm Skin Temperature Conditioning Apparatus
Head Skin Temperature Conditioning Apparatus
Skin Temperature Sensors
Wireless Sensor for Measuring the Human Core Temperature