Relative humidity is an important environmental factor that could affect thermal comfort in a building. The influence of relative humidity on thermal comfort was studied in an environment chamber. Twenty subjects, ten males and ten females, were engaged in the study and were exposed to nine combinations of air temperature and relative humidity. Skin temperatures on different parts of the body were monitored, and their thermal sensation was evaluated by questionnaire while their thermal environments were measured during the chamber tests. These results were evaluated by statistical analyses which indicate that for higher temperature, relative humidity could have a significant effect on skin temperature and thermal sensation. Higher humidity could cause a negative effect on the subject's thermal comfort. To avoid causing discomfort, the relative humidity limit should be taken into consideration and there should be a humidity limit specified by the appropriate building code for the acceptable air temperature range to allow an appropriate control of indoor environment.

No abstract

No abstract

Thermal adaptation has been interpreted well by behavioral, physiological, and psychological factors, but the mechanism and interaction between the three factors remain in the "black box". This paper aims to apply the theory of general system and information entropy to investigate the quantitative relationships of the three thermal adaptation processes. Based on the database from the field survey and laboratory experiments conducted in the hot summer and cold winter climate zone of China, three typical adaptive indices: clothing insulation (Clo), thermal sensation votes (TSV) and sensory nerve conduction velocity (SCV) were selected to calculate Clo entropy, TSV entropy, SCV entropy and total entropy. The regression models were developed between these entropies and the indoor air temperature to quantify the weights of the three adaptive categories. The models were used to compare the differences between China and Pakistan as well as between adaptive approaches and climate chamber experiments. The thermal comfort and acceptable temperature ranges were obtained using the entropy models. Our findings propose a new perspective using entropy to quantify the behaviorally, physiologically, and psychologically adaptive approaches, which contribute to a better understanding of opening the "black box" of thermal adaptation.