Air movement and thermal comfort

Journal Article · Sun Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1993 · ASHRAE Journal (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers); (United States)

OSTI ID:5795670

Fountain, M E ^[1]; Arens, E A ^[2]

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1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
2. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Architecture

Recent HVAC design innovations, energy conservation concerns and new laboratory data on drafts have brought substantial attention to the issue of acceptable levels of air movement in office environments. Air movement may provide desirable cooling in warm conditions, but it may also increase the risk of unacceptably cool drafts. Detectable air movement may be perceived by the occupants as providing freshness and pleasantness to the breathing air, yet it may also be perceived as annoying. Clearly, a specific air speed has many possible physiological and subjective consequences. These range from a pleasant sense of coolness to an unpleasant sense of draft, depending on the air temperature, mean radiant temperature, humidity, clothing, metabolic rate and air movement preference of the occupant. Since the turn of the century, ASHRAE and thermal comfort researchers have worked to define levels of air movement that are acceptable to the widest possible group of individuals within an evolving architectural setting, and to incorporate these results into an indoor environmental standard. This article outlines the current state of this discussion. Reference is also made to research investigating the effect of air movement on thermal comfort and the development of air velocity limits in the latest ASHRAE thermal comfort standard.

• OSTI ID: 5795670
• Journal Information: ASHRAE Journal (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers); (United States), Journal Name: ASHRAE Journal (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers); (United States) Vol. 35:8; ISSN 0001-2491; ISSN ASHRAA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320106* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Building Equipment-- (1987-)
AIR FLOW
AIR QUALITY
BUILDINGS
ENERGY SYSTEMS
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
FLUID FLOW
GAS FLOW
HUMIDITY
SPACE HVAC SYSTEMS
THERMAL COMFORT