Studying occupant’s heat exposure and thermal comfort in the kitchen through full-scale experiments and CFD simulations

Abstract

This study investigated kitchen heat exposure and thermal comfort through full-scale experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Experiments were conducted in a kitchen-style climate chamber with three stove conditions, three exhaust flowrates of range hood, three external conditions and three makeup air sources. CFD simulations were conducted accordingly to explore more nuances aspects of kitchen thermal environment. The experimental results showed that as the existence of a high-temperature stove, the air temperatures around the cooking staff, the net thermal radiations and local skin temperatures at exposed body parts increased significantly during the cooking period. External conditions and the makeup air source can significantly affect thermal distributions across the kitchen space and the heat exposures around the cooking staff. By adding partitions, using induction cooktops, and turning on the kitchen air conditioner can help to reduce cooking staff’s heat exposure from the gas-burning stove. The CFD simulations were consistent with the measured experimental results. The heat exposure in the cooking zone is shown to be dominated by horizontal thermal asymmetry. The occupants’ thermal comfort in the kitchen can be improved if the makeup air source came from the cooler side with a higher flowrate of range hood.

Evaluating the dynamic thermal sensitivities of human body with high-dense contacting thermal stimuli

“…The dynamic thermal sensitivity obtained in this study has the potential to guide the air conditioning control in a dynamic environment. In an unsteady or ununiform environment such as the kitchen, 1 the air temperature, humidity, thermal radiation and other thermal parameters could vary significantly during a short period. Under such context, the temperature of the kitchen air conditioner should change rapidly in the opposite direction to compensate for the variation in the ambient temperature.…”

“…Compared with uniform and steady thermal environment, people tend to experience spatially ununiform and temporally unsteady thermal conditions in real life, including but not limited to the asymmetric heat radiation in the kitchen, 1 the water contact in a shower, 2 the heated or ventilated vehicle seat and steering wheel 3 and so on. To improve occupants' thermal comfort in such environments, researchers have attempted to explore the thermal sensation under ununiform and unsteady thermal environments.…”

Extending the IFC-Based bim2sim Framework to Improve the Accessibility of Thermal Comfort Analysis Considering Future Climate Scenarios

“…Thermal comfort in general and the Fanger [11] model in particular have been used in different simulation scenarios, but oftentimes for a specialized purpose or situation, such as thermal comfort in trains [12], the prediction of thermal comfort in indoor swimming pools [13], the heat exposure in a kitchen environment [14], or the investigation of rural heating systems' efficacy [15]. In early design stages, suitable models for occupant behavior allow the designers to evaluate design decisions with respect to their combined influence on comfort and the building's energy consumption [16].…”