Evaluating the thermal comfort performance of heating systems using a thermal manikin with human thermoregulatory control

The evaluation of the local thermal comfort and application of thermal manikins can further assist the design and selection of heating systems. This study aimed at evaluating the thermal comfort performance of different heating systems using a newly developed thermal manikin with an enhanced thermal control. The heating systems for a workstation, included a conventional radiator (convector) mounted under the window, heated floor in the occupied zone and an infrared heater mounted to the ceiling. The experiments were conducted in a test room with a façade attached to a climate chamber to simulate outdoor winter conditions. In these experiments, the supplied power for the different systems was kept constant to independently quantify the differences in their thermal comfort performance at same energy consumption. The thermal manikin was deployed in the occupied zone to evaluate the local and overall thermal comfort under each system using the equivalent temperature (Teq) approach. The thermoregulatory control used in the manikin operation is based on a model of human thermoregulation that interacts accurately with the surrounding environment through real-time measurements. The results showed that at the same energy consumption of the different systems, the variations in local thermal comfort levels were up to 1 on the comfort scale.