On the use of wearable face and neck cooling fans to improve occupant thermal comfort in warm indoor environments

Abstract

Face and neck cooling has been found effective in improving thermal comfort during exercise in the heat despite the fact that the surface area of human face and neck regions accounts for only 5.5% of the entire body. Presently very little documented research has been conducted to investigate cooling the face and neck only to improve indoor thermal comfort. In this study, 16 subjects (8 males and 8 females) used two highly energy efficient wearable face and neck cooling fans to improve occupant thermal comfort in two warm indoor conditions (30 and 32 °C). Results showed that both cooling fans could significantly reduce local skin temperatures at the forehead, face and neck regions. Local thermal sensation votes at the face and neck and the overall thermal sensation votes decreased obviously at 30°C and 32°C. Both cooling fans could raise the acceptable HVAC temperature setpoint to 32.0 °C, which will significantly reduce the energy consumption of HVAC.